FeedsGrant could help fund passive park, pathway system
If state attention is any indicator, a grant to help build a pathway system in Northville Township could be on the way.
Representatives from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) visited the long township-owned site near Six Mile and Ridge roads recently to check out a proposed linear park that could be constructed there.
Plans for the park spring from the Cold Water Springs Nature area just west of Ridge Road, a tract of woods that meanders along the Johnson Creek to the Arcadia Ridge subdivision east of Ridge Road. The park would include pathways and observation decks, according to Traci Sincock, Northville Parks and Recreation director.
“It will help people get access to the Johnson Creek,” she said. “It’s a nice project.”
It’s an expensive one, too. The project would cost about $600,000. The township applied for a grant from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund to pay for the majority of the work. Most of the local match would be contributed by Pulte Homes, which also donated the land to the township.
The trust fund grants are awarded to projects that help preserve the environment, Sincock said, and this project certainly applies. The problem is that there is a finite pool of money available and 148 applications were submitted to the organization.
“They evaluate all the projects based on their merits,” Sincock said. “The ones that float to the top, they come out and do a little more research on.”
That’s why she was only happy to meet a grant coordinator at the site, despite limited warning that they would be coming.
“They just kind of showed up one day,” she said. “I take it as a good sign.”
The grants won’t be awarded until later in the fall, she said, and the township may be contacted for follow up information. If approved, the funds would pay for the pathway system as well as some observation decks. They would lead from the Coldwater Springs Nature Area to Arcadia Ridge. The township hasn’t developed the Cold Water Nature Springs area, yet.
“It’s designed to be more of an outdoor classroom,” Sincock said. “We haven’t done any work there, yet.”
Township Supervisor Mark Abbo said the grant could be another example of using donations to bring improvements to the township without spending taxpayer dollars. He was encouraged with the response from the DNR on the project.
“They liked what they saw,” he said. “We’re guardedly optimistic.”
