SAUGATUCK TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Ninety years ago, Saugatuck bought property to build an airport. Now the city plans to turn the unused site into a park.
“I remember snowmobiling out here, and there would be, like, these hairpin turns,” said Saugatuck Mayor Lauren Stanton.
She recalls that the property was used by a snowmobile club.
Now the city is going to turn the 170 acres that is located along 63rd Street near 134th Avenue into a city park.
“There will be a beautiful overlook that's built so you can just enjoy this gorgeous piece of property that basically has been sitting empty for a really long time,” said Stanton.
Opening this land to the public was possible because of a $160,000 donation made by the family of George Supp.
Stanton said, “They wanted to protect this land from development but they also wanted the public to use it.”
The city will use the Outdoor Discovery Center to build a parking lot, an overlook and establish marked trails.
“We already had a group of eighth graders here from Saugatuck Middle School that came out, and they helped with pulling the invasive species and getting some of that out of here," said Stanton.
A conservation easement was also created to protect the ravines portion of the property from future development.
Stanton said, “We just want to make sure that, you know, it's protected within that overlay, just not allowing anything more to happen with it, and keeping that part untouched.”
After years of people using the property unofficially, Stanton says it was time to establish it as a park. She says, “We just want to get it to a point where it's legitimate trails, where the public can really use it and be safe out here.”
Mayor Stanton says construction on the parking lot and trails will begin in the spring and hopes to have the park open by early summer.
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube
