The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund Board is recommending a total of $40.1 million in park project grants around the state for 2018. That includes $278,000 for Oronoko Township. Supervisor Mike Hildebrand tells WSJM News the money will be used for a brand new park located behind the township public safety building. It will feature soccer and baseball fields, along with trails designed to link into a system that goes from St. Joseph to Elkhart. The project is a long time in the making.
“Currently, we use the school district’s athletic facilities as the host of these programs,” Hildebrand said. “Those facilities are, there’s not enough. So, we adding some fields, and hopefully, we will eventually relocate all of the fields to this one central community park.”
Hildebrnad tells us it’s hoped more money can be raised for the park next year and construction could start in 2019.
Also listed in the DNR Trust Fund’s recommended projects for next year is a splash pad at South Beach in South Haven. It’s designed to match the Friends Good Will at the Michigan Maritime Museum, and the grant is for $300,000. Not to mention, Hagar Township has been penciled in for $300,000 to create a brand new kayak park along the Paw Paw River where a landfill used to be. This new development will be part of the Paw Paw River Trail.
Pictured: Plans for the South Haven splash pad.
