Recreation Committee reviews site plans for trailhead

By CHARITY SMITH

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Bessemer — The Bessemer Recreation Committee took a field trip across the street last week to the site of the city’s new Iron Belle trailhead, to be located behind city hall.

City manager Charly Loper and council member Terry Kryshak spray painted outlines on the grass of where the pavilion and bike park would be located for the recreation committee to review.

Loper said the plans had been shifted slightly to the right of city hall because of the steep incline of the hill behind the building. The size of the bike park was also decreased, she said, because it was going to be too close to Colby Road. The new plan also calls for angled parking along Colby instead of parallel parking in order to allow for more spots. A sidewalk with benches will also run in front of the bike park to allow parents to sit and watch their children. They also discussed taking down some trees to allow for easier access to the trail.

“I would say you would probably want some view of the trailhead from the trail,” said committee member Trevor Jackovich.

Loper said that all the trees don’t have to come down for the trailhead and committee chair Cheryl Olson suggested taking down the aspen trees as they are older and don’t live very long.

The city is still working on raising funds to provide a match for one of two possible grants with the Economic Development Committee or the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. To date the city has raised $55,000 of the approximately $92,000 needed for a grant match.

“I’m in the process of pretending I’m just going to apply for both and we may end up applying for both,” said Loper. “I don’t feel like I have enough information yet to make a determination on which direction to go.”

She said they are working on an economic impact study with the University of Michigan to fulfill the grant application requirement for the EDC grant.

“As I understand, when you write a grant you got to aim that grant right for what they are looking for, and then you got a better chance of getting it,” said Olsen.

Loper said the EDC grant is focused on how to bring tourists off the trail and into the city’s downtown area.