A Look At Leelanau County’s New Five-Year Parks And Recreation Plan

Doubling down on grantmaking efforts and local partnerships; focusing more on universal accessibility; looking for opportunities to add new assets, such as an indoor public swimming pool or additional playgrounds, to the county’s parks.

These are just a few of the possibilities identified in Leelanau County’s new five-year parks and recreation plan. That document, which has been in the works since August, is intended to provide a roadmap for how the county will maintain, improve, and grow its park assets between 2025 and 2029. With the public hearing for the document scheduled for next week, the Leelanau Ticker takes a look at the plan and its potential implications for the county.

As the plan explains, counties must update their parks and recreation strategies periodically “both to reflect the changed needs and goals of the community, and to meet the Michigan Department of Natural Resource’s requirements for qualifying for Federal and State funding assistance.” Such funds are “available for land acquisition and facility development and improvements to new and existing parklands,” and adopting this new plan will allow Leelanau County to remain eligible for those dollars for another five years.

The new parks plan has been in the works since August, with the MCSA Group, a Grand Rapids-based landscape architecture firm, assisting Leelanau County with the process. The final draft, which has been available for public viewing since last month, takes into account “an inventory and review of existing facilities; the identification of recreation needs and deficiencies; public opinion; current statewide recreation issues and priorities; and future expectations.” Key deficiencies flagged in the plan include a lack of neighborhood parks throughout Leelanau County and a need for certain types of athletic or recreational amenities.

Neighborhood parks are described in the document as small 5-10-acre parks with amenities for “walking, field games, court games, playground equipment, and picnicking.” Per MCSA, national standards suggest a county should have 1-2 acres of neighborhood parkland for every 1,000 people. Based on Leelanau’s estimated 2022 population of 22,870 people, the county should have 45.74 acres of neighborhood parks. It actually has just 6.5 acres, leaving a 39.24-acre deficiency.

The plan also shows Leelanau lagging behind national standards when it comes to most types of sporting or recreation amenities. Examples include a public running track, a public football field, or an indoor swimming pool. Standards call for at least one of each facility for counties with 20,000 or more people, but Leelanau currently has no facilities in any of those three categories.

Other notable deficiencies include picnic shelters (standards call for 11, Leelanau only has four), public playgrounds (Leelanau has three, versus a recommendation for eight), and tennis or pickleball facilities (Leelanau’s population demands 11, versus its current count of two).

Based on these issues and others, the plan identifies eight big-picture parks and recreation goals for the county to pursue in the next half-decade. Those include:

>Establishing a new annual operations and maintenance program at the county level.

>Upgrading existing parks, such as by expanding parking capacity, adding shelters, replacing maintenance equipment, and “upgrading or renovating surfacing or playgrounds.”

>Committing to “universal accessibility” at parks, including for playgrounds, pathways, parking, or fishing areas. This goal also calls for efforts to make Leelanau’s two main parks – Myles Kimmerly and Veronica Valley – into better four-season destinations.

>Preserving and promoting “the historical and cultural heritage of the parks.” Possible examples might include new signage, partnerships with local schools to utilize county parklands “for their science/natural history education,” or teaming up with the Leelanau County Historical Preservation Society “to promote the cultural history” of the Poor Farm barn, located at Myles Kimmerly Park.

>Developing new signage at parks, including “period, interpretive, environmental and educational signage and displays,” as well as way-finding kiosks or maps.

>Promoting environmental sustainability, such as by limiting mowing of county parks to allow for more “native non-maintained vegetation,” mitigating invasive species, or planting new trees and shrubs with the guidance of partners like the Leelanau Conservation District or the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB).

>Developing new partnerships to improve knowledge sharing, open doors to new funding opportunities, and more. In addition to the aforementioned collaborations with the Historic Preservation Society, the Conservation District, or the GTB, possible partners include local scouts groups (to assist with park upkeep and care) or the Lake Leelanau Lake Association (for invasive species mitigation efforts). This section also calls for creating a “Friends” group of “committed park volunteers for each park,” as well as drawing up a list of volunteer chores available annually at each park.

>Leveraging county funds “into larger sums for park development through grants and other funding sources.” Potential opportunities identified in the plan include annual applications for grants from state programs like the Michigan Natural Resource Trust Fund, the Recreation Passport Grant Program, the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Without grants, Leelanau’s parks budget is approximately $226,761 per year.

In addition to these broad goals, Leelanau’s new parks plan includes an “Action Program and Capital Improvement Schedule,” which lays out a timeline of projects that could happen at area parks in the next five years. In 2025, for instance, the county will execute a $30,000 removal of the vault toilet buildings at Myles Kimmerly and Old Settlers Park; they’ll be replaced “with concrete pads for portable toilets.”

Also on the docket for 2025: a grant application for a new accessible pathway at Veronica Valley Park, a $22,000 upgrade for the disc golf course at Myles Kimmerly, and a refurbishment or replacement of the gazebo at Old Settlers Park.

Longer-term projects include developing a new signage design plan for local parks (2026), building a new shelter and kiosk at Veronica Valley Park (2028), adding a dog park at Myles Kimmerly Park (2030), and acquiring new property “as it becomes available.”

The full 151-page parks and recreation plan can be reviewed on the county website. The public hearing for the document is scheduled for next Tuesday, December 17.