Traverse City Record-Eagle

Opinion

April 15, 2010

Editorial: Acme nears park milestone

They've been patient. And persistent. Now, they're just a few thousands of dollars away from a real bricks-and-mortars start.

A couple of decades ago voters in Acme Township approved a millage to buy land along the east arm of Grand Traverse Bay and created Bayside Park.

Backers hoped for much more, but at the time it was pie in the sky. Acme was the intersection of U.S. 31 and M-72 and the Grand Traverse Resort; the bay was just something you drove by.

In December 2008 the old dream got a kick-start when the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund awarded Acme a $3 million grant to expand Bayside Park; the plan was to purchase the Knoll Wood Motel, Willow Beach Motel and the Shore Side Inn and tear them down.

Now the township is just $255,000 short of raising the $1 million it needs, along with the $3 million from the state, to complete the purchases for Phase I of the park plan.

The aim is to meet the $4 million goal by June 1; after that the township must make option payments that would require money from the trust fund award. Right now Acme -- through the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy -- will accept any amount from any donor; every dollar counts.

The township won't waste any time after the purchases are made to let residents and donors look at what they bought and imagine Phase II and beyond.

The conservancy's Megan Olds said the old motel buildings will be down within 90 days, "by the end of the summer," giving drivers an unobstructed view of the bay. Township Supervisor Wayne Kladder said the buildings are going to be deconstructed, not demolished; as much material as possible will be recycled, he said.

Township resident Pat Salathiel, co-chair of the Acme Shoreline Preservation Initiative and an original park backer, said the timing is critical.

Many of the 24 privately owned parcels that eventually will be needed are for sale and, as the conservancy puts it, "ripe for redevelopment."

If the township doesn't get its hands on those properties, "The opportunity will be gone for a long, long time," Salathiel said. "It will be lost for at least another generation."

Kladder and others are passionate about the effort. "This is Acme's Open Space," Kladder said, referring to Traverse City's bayside park, which was 40 years in the making.

He emphasized that the township -- which has contributed $150,000 -- has no intention of asking for a millage to raise more. "Absolutely not," he said.

Contributions should be made directly to the Land Conservancy. Make checks to: Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy - Acme Shoreline Project, 3860 N. Long Lake Road, Suite D, Traverse City, 49684. Call the conservancy at 929-7911.

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