WALKER, Mich. — A developer is in the preliminary stages of proposing a plan that would consist of apartments, single-family homes and a mixed-use facility on the land where Lincoln Country Club sits.
The property sits just off Lake Michigan Drive (M-45) in Walker. An AMF bowling alley and the Lincoln Country Club take up much of the space as of now. The land was previously locally owned before being purchased by AMF several years ago.
A proposal referred to as "very preliminary" by Walker's assistant city manager Frank Wash is making the rounds on social media. The plan shows developers proposing a group of single-family homes in the northern region of the land, 200 single-story apartment units towards the middle and a mixed-use facility, which could end up being an assisted living facility, in the area along Lake Michigan Drive.
“This is not a plug and play site, this is something that really needs to be deliberately planned and designed and with community input," Wash told FOX 17 Thursday.
Before anything at all moves forward, Wash says the developer must schedule and hold a meeting for public comment. Wash says he expects the development plan to change significantly throughout the process leading up to an approved plan.
"Hopefully the feedback from the community meeting they hold, combined with the first public hearing and staff comments, will lead to some significant revisions to this plan, this layout," Wash said Thursday.
The city of Walker has a public comment meeting set for February 19th at 7:00pm. The developer involved has not yet set a date for their meeting.
Neighbors of the land to the north are concerned about what will happen to traffic on some of their roads if the project opens up their neighborhood to major roads running through the development. Mark Hughes, who lives on Maplerow NW, says his family will consider moving if traffic in their area increases substantially.
"I’ve got twins in third grade, friends live who over there and who live over there. They’re constantly running across the street, riding bikes around, so speed is always a concern and the amount of traffic," Hughes said Thursday.
