Cleveland Township Board Questions How It Might Influence Heritage Trail's Controversial Segment 9

The debate over a controversial extension of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail will stretch on at least a little bit longer.

The Cleveland Township Board discussed “Segment 9,” a contentious proposed addition to the Heritage Trail, at its meeting on Tuesday evening, but did not make any formal decision on whether to offer up support for the project. Township Supervisor Tim Stein had added the topic to the meeting agenda after receiving significant communication from local residents concerned about the trail extension. Stein himself expressed reservations about Segment 9, calling the extension’s estimated $15.5 million budget “obscene” and suggesting he’d be unlikely to support such an expenditure.

In progress since 2012, the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail was initially envisioned as a 26-mile paved route. Right now, about 21 of the Heritage Trail’s planned 26 miles are officially on the ground. The main piece remaining is the so-called “Segment 9,” a 4.25-mile stretch from the trail’s current stopping point at Bohemian Road to its long-planned northern terminus at Good Harbor Trail.

Scott Tucker, superintendent of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, told the Leelanau Ticker this spring that the Lakeshore and its project partners – namely, the Michigan Department of Transportation and TART Trails – were “in the final phases of that design.” While Tucker initially said project construction “could start as soon as this fall,” the project partners have since opted to delay work on Segment 9 until at least next spring.

Segment 9 has drawn considerable pushback from a subset of local residents who claim the project would have devastating environmental impacts. One of the core dissenters is the Little Traverse Lake Association (LTLA), which commissioned a study this past spring that showed the proposed Segment 9 route requiring the removal of nearly 7,300 trees.

While the proposed trail extension would go through Cleveland Township, the township board does not technically have an approval right over whether Segment 9 moves forward as planned. As proposed, the trail would be built on Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore land, which is owned by the National Park Service. However, Cleveland Township – as well as other townships through which the Heritage Trail travels – has been involved in the conversation about the trail since the start, and has previously passed resolutions in support of the project, Segment 9 included. During Tuesday’s meeting, township officials seemed to be no longer in support of Segment 9, and even discussed whether they could do something to influence a change in route.

The Cleveland Township Board will revisit the matter – and likely make a final decision on whether or not to offer formal support of Segment 9’s construction – at their September board meeting.