The Addison Township Board of Trustees was updated Monday night on the status of 80-acres of township property the Oakland Land Conservancy (OLC) would like to purchase in an effort to protect it.
Donna Folland, Executive Director for the OLC, said their purchase of the 80-acre Trask property, located on the northeast corner of Leonard and Haven Rd., will be completed ‘within the next few weeks.?
The purpose of the acquisition is soley to conserve the lakes, wetlands and forest on the property.
Township attorney Robert Davis said about 57 acres of the property will be placed under a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) easement, which would be owned by the state and would be untouchable by the township.
Once the OLC is finished preserving the land, they would assist Addison Township in writing a Michigan Natural Features Trust Fund Grant so the township could acquire the property for the community’s use.
Folland said the OLC will request a certain amount of money from the Trust Fund to reimburse the conservancy for their work, to which Addison would then have to pay 25 percent of that number to become owners of the property.
There will be some legal costs and survey fees the township would incur, but Supervisor Bob Koski said ‘it would not be excessive.?
After the property is transfered to Addison Township, it would be the township Park Committee’s job to maintain the property. Any trails or boardwalks for fishing they may want to add to the conserved area in the future would be funded soley by the township.
Folland told the board she could have a complete draft of the Trust Fund application for the board to review by October.
The Board of Trustees will decide at next month’s meeting if they’d like to go through the process of getting the Trust Fund to purchase the land.