Fall 2020 Update

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

It is time for an update on the progress of the Platte River Park development.

As you may expect, our efforts have been impeded by the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the statewide quarantine that we all experienced, our ability to proceed with our project became difficult. We are still as determined as ever to move ahead as the state is opening up again.

You may recall that the purchase of the property was made possible by a grant from the Michigan Land Trust Fund. Our Board and Fund Development team continues to pursue grants and contributions in order to make these projects possible. We have received a number of grants from local, regional and statewide funding sources and continue to pursue others. One new pursuit is to establish an endowment fund to ensure that we will be able to maintain the park in perpetuity once we have it up and running. We are counting on the continuous support of the project by our community.

We have hired Beckett&Raeder, a highly esteemed consultant firm, to pursue the planning and designing the elements of Phase 2 – the development of the West end of the property by Indian Hill Road. This will entail the construction of a parking area, pathway, the highly anticipated kayak/canoe launch, vault restroom, and landscaping. We will, in all likelihood, be able to break ground for this phase in the spring/summer of 2021.

In addition, we are planning and designing all other elements from the master plan (Phase 3) from Indian Hill Rd to the blueberry patch inside the park. This includes pathways and two fishing ramps. Construction of this phase will be determined by the timing of fund development.

As you may recall, the remainder of the masterplan (Phase 4) entails interior trails and boardwalks, the main entrance by US 31, pavilions, welcome center, restrooms, playground, landscaping, drives and parking. This will be addressed in the next few years.

With these developments, we look forward to continuing our efforts to create a first-class community park on the beautiful Platte River in Honor.

We are working closely with both Homestead Township, now the proud owner of the property, and the Village of Honor and we are continuing to get good advice from the Grand Traverse Region Land Conservancy.

Stay tuned for further information as the project evolves.

HARP Board of Directors:

Doug Corner, Pat Delorme, Beverly Holbrook, Ingemar Johansson, Lori Malmstrom, Bob Rosa, Bill Ward, Bruce Wildie