Five years ago, Lincoln Township put together a master plan for parks and recreation. That plan has come to fruition with the addition of restroom facilities, picnic area pavilion, playground area and walking trail.
“We’re rather proud of it,”Lincoln Township Supervisor Kevin Wray said. “This is just a great setting back here amongst the pine trees.”
To fund the master plan, the township board applied and received grants from the Michigan DNR Natural Resources Trust Fund, The Charles J. Strosacker Foundation, the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation and the Midland Area Community Foundation.
“We also provided matching grants,” Wray said.
The half-mile walking trail winds through the pines and circles the ball field. The covered pavilion includes picnic tables and is available to reserve for a fee.
“The picnic area is not restricted to Lincoln Township residents,” Wray said.
The matching grants have come from an annual levy of 1 mill for fire, emergency services and building facility.
“In the last 10 years, it’s been about $85,000 per year,” Wray said. “We’ve put that money into CDs to save for projects.”
Because of the annual savings, the township has been able to pay $419,000 in cash for its new addition to the existing town hall.
The renovation includes three new offices and an additional bay for its fire engines.
The offices will give us better security and we’ll have officers for the supervisor, assessor, clerk and treasurer,” Wray said.
Currently, the township has its three fire trucks crammed into a facility with just two bays. Two of the trucks are packed in back to back with no space in between for fire personnel to pass through. Plans are for the large fire truck to move into the new bay which also includes space for equipment.
Three Rivers is the general contractor on the project, but the township has also hired local, Lincoln Township companies for some of the work.
“We’ve hired Finney Concrete, Finney Excavation along with Tancor for our masonry,” Wray said. “We’re on budget and should have it completed by the general election of Nov. 6.”
Long range plans include renovation of the ball field/soccer field and to provide an access for large machinery off of Red Keg Court. Recently, the township purchased a piece of property on Red Keg Court to convert into a driveway.
To assess the wishes of its residents, the township has a survey on its website for input.
“We want to ask township residents what they think of what we’ve done and what do they think we should be doing?” Wray said. “So far we’ve had 88 responses.”
The survey can be accessed at: www.LincolnTownshipSurvey.com or on the Lincoln Township website at www.lincoln-twp.org
