Just weeks after adopting a new five-year, county-wide parks and recreation plan, Leelanau County’s Board of Commissioners is getting the ball rolling on one of the plan’s bigger projects: a $100,000 accessibility overhaul of the trail system at Veronica Valley Park. At a special meeting on Tuesday, commissioners voted to schedule a March 18 public hearing for a grant application to fund half that project. If all goes according to plan, the county will move forward with the Veronica Valley upgrades next year.

As the Leelanau Ticker reported in December, the county’s new parks plan is focused heavily on bringing barrier-free “universal accessibility” to local park amenities, including trails and pathways, parking lots, playgrounds, pavilions, picnic areas, and fishing areas. Such improvements, the plan states, will create “enriching recreational opportunities and experiences for multigenerational visitors to enjoy each park.”

According to the plan, developed in collaboration with the MCSA Group – an architecture, planning and design, and landscape architecture firm based in East Grand Rapids – 13.9 percent of Leelanau County’s population is “affected by some form of disability.”

“These individuals will have difficulty participating in recreational programs, accessing facilities, or even getting to designated public areas,” the plan states. “Understanding the disability community of Leelanau County will assist decision-makers in determining programs and appropriate locations for recreational activities. With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), all areas of public service and accommodation became subject to barrier-free requirements, including parks and recreation facilities and programs.”

The top accessibility-related priority identified in the five-year parks plan is a new accessible pathway to encircle the so-called “lower pond” at Veronica Valley Park in Lake Leelanau. Upgrades would include ADA-compliant crushed stone pathways, boardwalks, and pond access areas. Those projects are slated to move forward next year, and carry an estimated $100,000 price tag.

The county hopes to cut that cost in half with help from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund, a grant program that funds both land acquisitions and projects for the development of public recreation facilities. Local units of government can submit grant applications for the program only if they have a DNR-approved five-year recreation plan. Leelanau County sent its new five-year plan to the DNR for approval right after formally adopting the document at a January 21 meeting.

“We’re looking at doing a 50-50 match,” said Interim County Administrator Richard Lewis at the January meeting. “As you may or may not be aware, the county last year, in 2024, put $110,000 into a specialized fund to hold funds for future grant or other capital projects. Also, the parks and rec budget has $55,000 in it for this fiscal year, also to cover capital projects. So, we do have the funds available to undertake the match.”

Commissioners ultimately voted 7-0 at that meeting to direct the MCSA Group to start developing a DNR Trust Fund grant application.

Speaking at Tuesday’s special meeting, Lewis noted that municipalities are required by law to hold public hearings prior to applying for similar grants. State law also requires that such a public hearing be announced with 30 days’ notice. Commissioners voted 7-0 to schedule the public hearing for the DNR Trust Fund grant application for Tuesday, March 18 at 6pm. The deadline for the grant application is April 1.

If Leelanau County secures this grant, it wouldn’t be the first time DNR Trust Fund money shaped the future of Veronica Valley Park. In 2006, the county received a $600,000 DNR Trust Fund grant for the purchase of the 93-acre Veronica Valley property. The deal officially closed in 2008, and the property has been a county park ever since. 

Further accessibility projects will likely follow at Veronica Valley. The new parks and rec plan also calls for ADA-compliant bridge improvements at the park – slotted in as a 2028 project – as well as the construction of three ADA-compliant fishing platforms.

Locals can also expect the county to follow a similar playbook a year from now for a different county park. A grant application for accessibility improvements at Myles Kimmerly Park is on the to-do list for 2026, with those improvements slated to move forward in 2027. Myles Kimmerly will involve a bigger grant ask, as those projects are estimated to cost $150,000.

Other county parks priorities for 2025, meanwhile, include $30,000 for replacing the vault toilet buildings at Myles Kimmerly and Old Settlers Park with portable toilets, $22,000 for a new disc golf practice course and driving range at Myles Kimmerly, and refurbishment or replacement of the gazebo at Old Settlers Park.

The full adopted five-year parks and rec plan can be found here.