LANSING, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Four Lakeshore communities and the Ottawa County Parks Department will share in a total of over 40 million dollars in state funding for enhancing public outdoor recreation in Michigan.
The state’s Natural Resources Trust Fund Board this week endorsed the grants for final approval by the Legislature. The OCPD will get a total of over five million dollars for acquiring 117 acres along Stearns Creek, 353 acres in critical dune area along the Grand River, and improving the Historic Ottawa Beach Waterfront. Douglas gets more than a million dollars for acquiring the Point Pleasant Marina; Laketown Township gets 640 thousand dollars for expanding Laketown Beach; Grand Haven gets 300 thousand for renovating the 50-year-old-plus Sluka Field baseball complex; and Crockery Township gets 300 thousand for the North Bank Trail pathway.
Those projects were among 166 statewide that were seeking a total of 76.1 million dollars from the board in the annual competitive effort, with scoring criteria developed by the panel over more than 40 years of distributing funds for improving outdoor recreation in Michigan.
