Brandon Twp.- As township and Village of Ortonville officials prepare to approve a joint recreation master plan, they are seeking the input of the community.
A simple, 7-question recreation survey can be completed by residents by going online to brandontownship.us.
‘We’ve had 84 responses to the survey and would like to see a few more,? said Village Manager John Lyons.
The survey seeks to discover what park amenities residents would like to have, including possible walking and bicycling paths and trails, playground structures, soccer fields, baseball and softball fields, lacrosse, courts for basketball, tennis, and sand volleyball, a disc golf course and more.
Respondents can also rank the importance of current recreation programs including youth sports/fitness, adult fitness and wellness, senior programs, senior trips, special events and summer camps.
Comment sections allow residents to expand on answers. All information obtained will be taken into account for the joint recreation master plan. The deadline for completing the survey is Feb. 2. That night, at 7 p.m. at the township board meeting, a public hearing will be held regarding the recreation master plan, after which the board will vote on approval. The village council will hold a public hearing prior to their vote on the master plan at the council’s Feb. 23 meeting.
The township and village agreed last fall to have Carlisle Wortman write a joint recreation master plan at a total cost of $5,650, to be split between the two municipalities. The township’s 5-year recreation master plan needs to be renewed. The village wanted to add information to the plan in order to obtain grants, particularly for connecting to the Iron Belle Trail. In 2012, Gov. Rick Snyder announced plans to begin work on a 924-mile trail from Belle Isle in Detroit to Ironwood, Mich. on the Wisconsin border in the western Upper Pennisula. The trail plan would include using a mix of existing pathways and creating new ones. The plan would require 81 miles of new trail in the Lower Pennisula and 151 miles of additional trail in the Upper Pennisula. According to a map outlining the trailway, Paint Creek and Polly Ann trails in Oakland County were included in the plan. In addition, several areas of the conceptual non-motorized pathway were still under consideration, providing a possible opportunity for a route through Brandon Township and the village to Atlas Township.
The 10-foot-wide asphalt trail could be funded by a Department of Natural Resources grant. The village would be responsible for 20 percent of the cost with the DNR funding 80 percent.
The township and village’s joint recreation master plan will include upgraded playground equipment and possible additions to the park system itself, including paths and trails. It will also include a community profile, a recreation inventory describing facilities, the components of what is in the existing recreation plan, public participation and needs assessment, as well as the township master plan. New to the plan will be eight acres of land acquired by the township across from the Brandon Township Community Park, 1414 N. Hadley Road.