The township board will apply for a $32,000 land study grant for approximately 75 acres located just south of Brandon High School.
The board approved moving forward with the grant application during their Monday night meeting. Township resident Lois Robbins has done much of the work on the grant application, which will be submitted to the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network.
Robbins said the purpose of the grant is to hire a land design firm to work with the township and the citizens to create a financially feasible vision plan for 45 acres of land owned by the township and 30 acres owned by the school district. The township is holding the property for a future civic center, to be known as the sustainable Brandon showcase.
While the civic center appears to be a dream years in the future because of economic constraints, the design firm would hold a town meeting next year to get citizen and public officials? input about what they would like to see on the property. That information would be combined with hydrological and habitat studies so water issues could be taken into account in siting the buildings.
‘I think this is the right decision to apply,? said Robbins, adding that the township should learn in November whether they will get the grant. ‘I know there were concerns about hidden costs, but I don’t think there will be. We have good in-kind offsets from several organizations. Nothing will happen on that property for a long, long time.?