Grand Traverse County commissioners voted to support grant applications that would help fund $800,000 in planned upgrades to the VASA Trailhead Park and an AcenTek expansion project to bring fiber internet to rural communities including Mesick, Buckley, and South Boardman. Commissioners also approved brownfield funding for a workforce housing project in Acme Township and contracts to board inmates in three neighboring county jails.

VASA Grant
Commissioners have agreed to commit $300,000 in county capital improvement funds – with TART Trails contributing another $100,000 – to provide a local match to a $400,000 grant application to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) this spring. If successful, the combined $800,000 would pay for significant improvements at the VASA trailhead park off Bartlett Road in Williamsburg.

County Director of Parks and Facilities John Chase noted the 40-acre park is the “only officially designated access point” for the VASA Pathway trail network. An estimated 23,420 users visited the park in 2024, with survey data showing it’s the second-most visited park in Grand Traverse County on a weekly basis after the Civic Center. Chase highlighted its importance as a year-round park, with visitors “pretty evenly split between winter and summer.” However, outside of a skills loop recently built by the Northern Michigan Mountain Bike Association, few improvements have been made to the property in several decades, Chase said.

Thanks to support form TART, the county has undertaken conceptual design and engineering studies for upgrades to the property, including redesigning the driveway and parking lot to mitigate stormwater runoff and flooding and to create 57 designated parking spaces. Chase said the lot holds roughly 42 cars now, though vehicles are often parked haphazardly because of the gravel lot. The redesign would also overhaul the warming hut, create outdoor gathering spaces and fire pits, offer ADA spots, provide improved wayfinding signage, and create a second entry point into the VASA trail system from the warming hut area.

Parks and Recreation staff sought a state Recreation Passport Grant in 2024 but were unsuccessful in that application. Chase said the MNRTF grant offers a higher funding maximum, allowing all planned improvements to be completed at the park at once instead of in phases if awarded. Providing a significant local match should improve the county’s scoring chances for the grant, Chase said. Parks and Recreation is expected to learn in December if the application is approved. If successful, Chase said the county would “be able to put a shovel in the ground” as soon as the snow thaws next year.

AcenTek Expansion
Commissioners approved letters of support for AcenTek to apply for grant funding through the Michigan Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to expand fiber internet into rural communities including Buckley, Mesick, South Boardman, Copemish, and Hoxeyville. AcenTek Operations Manager Corey Compagner said the grant application requires support from any counties in which the expansion is occurring. Grand Traverse County will not provide any funding for the project, however, which Compagner said would be a 60/40 percent split between AcenTek and the state if approved. The commission’s support of AcenTek’s application is not exclusive nor does it prohibit other companies from seeking similar letters of support.

Compagner said 4,000 “passings” – or locations – are planned in the expansion, 300 of which would be in Grand Traverse County. Expanding into rural areas is a “very expensive” proposition, he said – one which AcenTek couldn’t afford without assistance. AcenTek offers one-gig fiber to the home, though Companger said its most popular offering is a 500 Mbps symmetrical plan (meaning that speed is available for both uploads and downloads). If the grant is awarded, AcenTek will have three years to complete the expansion. Michigan has secured over $1.5 billion in funding for the BEAD program, the fourth-largest allocation in the nation. “This is money set aside that's going to go somewhere for rural broadband,” said Commissioner Rob Hentschel. “We definitely want our county to get its fair share of that.”

Oak Shore Commons
Commissioners voted 7-1 to approve a brownfield funding plan for the next phase of Oak Shore Commons, which will bring 135 workforce apartments to the Acme Township site at the former Kmart property. Vice Chair TJ Andrews was the sole ‘no’ vote due to what she deemed as insufficient documentation in the meeting packet, while Commissioner Lauren Flynn was absent.

The brownfield plan calls for developers to be reimbursed between $11.6 million and $14.4 million over the next 25 years. In exchange, apartment rental rates will be restricted to specific income levels for that same time period. The project calls for 40 studios (for tenants earning 60 percent AMI), 17 one-bedrooms (100 percent AMI), 66 two-bedrooms (90 percent AMI), and 12 three-bedrooms (100 percent AMI). That range is for people making roughly $20/hour up to $33/hour, representatives said. The brownfield reimbursement offsets the revenue loss for charging below-market-rate rents, plus costs for infrastructure and improvements – including a TART Trail extension – as part of the workforce housing buildout.

Jail Contracts
Finally, commissioners approved contracts to board Grand Traverse County inmates in neighboring jails in Benzie, Clare, and Leelanau counties when needed due to population overflow. The contracts formalize what has been a longstanding “handshake agreement,” said Sheriff Mike Shea. Grand Traverse County pays $35 per inmate per day when boarding out in another jail. However, Andrews said that rate – while “reasonable for what it is” – doesn’t reflect the county’s true costs, which also include transport and off-site medical expenses.

“I think we have to keep doing this...but it’s certainly not a long-term solution,” Andrews said. She noted that boarding inmates in other counties also makes it more difficult for families to visit those inmates. Shea has long said – as have previous sheriffs – that Grand Traverse County needs a new jail with adequate space and better conditions for both inmates and employees. He agreed with Andrews when she said the county needs to have a “bigger conversation” soon about long-term jail needs.