A request for Grand Traverse County to contribute $500,000 toward an endowment fund for the long-term maintenance of the former Camp Greilick/GO-REC property generated extensive discussion about next steps for the site among county commissioners Wednesday. Commissioners are expected to revisit the funding request in August, when they’ll also hear more about plans for the nearly 200-acre property – which the county is preparing to purchase for $3 million to reopen as a public park.

Commissioners voted in May to purchase the Camp Greilick site from the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC) using $3 million in county American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. GTRLC previously purchased the property from Rotary Camps and Services – with the help of an anonymous donor – for $3.25 million to hold the site until the county could buy it. At Wednesday’s meeting, GTRLC Executive Director Glen Chown and Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation President and CEO Dave Mengebier presented a separate funding request for $500,000 from the county for the Forever Camp Greilick Endowment fund to help cover long-term maintenance costs at the park.

Mengebier said the endowment fund – which has already been established – has a $150,000 balance and another $61,000 committed. Supporters are hoping to grow the fund to $1.5 million, which would generate an estimated $60,000 grant annually to go toward Camp Greilick maintenance. A commitment from Grand Traverse County of $500,000 would itself generate an annual $20,000 grant and help “supercharge” the fundraising effort to reach the $1.5 million goal, Mengebier said. Chown agreed, noting that “a contribution of this magnitude will leverage lots of private donations.”

Several local properties have dedicated endowment funds to support their ongoing care, including the Boardman Lake Loop Trail, Maplehurst Natural Area, and Acme Shoreline Park, among others. Mengebier explained that funds from all the Community Foundation’s various operating endowments are pooled together and invested in the market, with a targeted return of 7.5 percent. The goal is to issue annual grants from those returns without touching the endowment principal, which allows the endowment to remain an ongoing funding source. Endowments typically don’t cover all the annual maintenance and operation costs for a park, but they can help with a significant portion and ensure there’s a dedicated funding stream in place for the property, Mengebier said.

“As time progresses, other priorities come up (in the county budget) and oftentimes at the end of the day funding for recreational access and parks actually finishes behind,” he said, explaining the importance of having separate dedicated funding streams. “It’s really intended to be there in perpetuity.”

County Administrator Nate Alger said there are multiple funding sources available from which the county could pull its $500,000 contribution, including marijuana tax revenues, other tax revenues, and interest earnings on county investments. Alger said that at a recent public input session to gather ideas for the Camp Greilick property, many attendees expressed concerns about the site being heavily used for weddings or other high-impact events. An endowment fund could “help offset the need” to rely on revenue-generating events, Alger said, though he noted some events could still occur on the property.

Commissioner Darryl Nelson said that because the county is using federal ARPA dollars to purchase the park, an endowment contribution would be the only “investment” of the county’s own money upfront in the site. “In the big picture, think about what we're getting for it,” he said. “It's a pretty good deal.” However, Commissioner TJ Andrews said the county had a choice of how to spend its ARPA funds and that buying Camp Greilick is “the biggest investment we’ve made in parks in as long as I’ve lived in this community.” Before committing $500,000 to the endowment fund, Andrews said she wanted to hear from the county’s Parks and Recreation board on whether that allocation was best spent solely at Camp Greilick and is the “most pressing need” facing county parks.

Commissioner Ashlea Walter agreed, saying the county has a “big (funding) need for all of our parks.” She asked for a “bigger picture view” from County Parks and Recreation Director John Chase about maintenance needs across the county park system. Walter said she didn’t want to see Grand Traverse County have disparities between “shiny object parks” like Camp Greilick and “parks that are not well-maintained across the rest of the county.” While acknowledging that an endowment fund would be a “huge contribution” toward covering costs at Camp Greilick, Chase agreed there are maintenance needs across the county’s existing eight park properties, which he estimated at a “few million dollars in backlog maintenance.”

Commissioners agreed to defer a decision on the funding request until they could hear input from the Parks and Recreation Commission and get more information from Chase about park needs countywide. Commissioners also hoped to hear more about plans for the Camp Greilick property, which will ultimately help drive its budget. Chase said staff continue to gather public input for the park, noting that reopening the property will be a “phased process” after the purchase is finalized this summer. That could start with “low-hanging fruit” like opening the hiking trails and disc golf course first, followed by more programming to follow over the next few years. As one example, staff are exploring the possibility of kayak rentals for the property, Chase said.

Mengebier said the Community Foundation has a September 30 deadline for endowment contributions in order to generate grants for the following year. Commissioners and staff agreed to try and get the funding request on an August agenda for further discussion and possible action.

Photo credit: Traverse Area Historical Society