August 2022 Update

Dear friends and neighbors,

It is time for an update on the happenings in the Honor area.

After our Groundbreaking event in May we have worked hard with area governments, state agencies, non-profit groups and generous individuals to bring about the development of Platte River Park. We have all been waiting for the work to begin want to see our plans manifest into an awesome public park for all of us to enjoy. And this will indeed happen. We have all the funding to complete the first construction phase including the driveway, parking spaces, restroom, and kayak launch. We also have funding to complete the second phase including the non-motorized paved trail to the blueberry patch and the fishing ramp by the berry patch.

As we all know, there have been delays in the process for a variety of reasons. Covid, permit delays for this and that, supply shortages, and contractors with extremely busy schedules, have resulted in a perfect storm that we finally seem to have weathered. With that, we can comfortably say that construction will be underway the week of August 15 with a planned completion of the first phase in November this year.

Knowing that the Indian Hill section of the park will be completed later this year, it is time to look forward to and plan for the consequent steps in the park development with an entrance by US 31. We have therefore scheduled a public forum for August 25th at 6:30 pm at the Benzie Senior Resource center on the plaza in Honor. We will revisit our masterplan that is now several years old to update it with input from you. We established the current masterplan based on what we all agreed to at that time. We have since then heard from people that additional features would be desirable. And we would love to hear from you about your ideas. Following this, we would be clear on in our continuous fund development pursuits.

Our consultants from Beckett & Raeder will facilitate a 90-minute session with us during which we will discuss possibly new features in the rest of the park.

In other news, we can proudly look at the new housing units downtown that was supposed to be completed in September but, due to worldwide supply shortages of some electrical components needed, may not be ready until January 2023.

Also, True North (Shell) is in process to develop a new service station and convenience store on the lot where Bud’s used to be.

In addition, there is an effort underway to develop a Benzie County Visitor Center in the Honor area. The intention is to provide a comprehensive information service to visitors that are coming into the region. This would entail local features as well as information about Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It could possibly include a Park Service component. More on this at a later date.

In short, we are making progress with our pursuit to revitalize Honor.

We hope to see you at the public forum on August 25th at 6:30 at the Benzie Senior Resource center in Honor.

For now…have a great rest of the summer.

Your HARP Board

Ingemar Johansson, Bill Ward, Bruce Wildie, Lori Malmstrom, Bob Rosa, Peter Galopin, Randi Lyn Stoltz-Flynn, Paul Schulte, and Emily Hansen