By David Fleet
Editor
Brandon Twp. -At 7 p.m., Oct. 5 the board of trustees will meet at the Brandon High School Preforming Arts Center to take public comments, deliberate and reach a decision on whether or not the township wants the Iron Belle Trail to come through the township.
The Iron Belle Trail segment through township would be a non-motorized pathway that would include biking and other uses such as walking, jogging and roller blading.
The trail subcommittee, which consists of Kathy Thurman, Kris Kordella, Terri Darnall and township residents Dwight Woodbridge, Paul Barber, Jennifer Bickel and Candice Hill, was convened earlier this year to begin researching the answers to numerous questions surrounding a proposed township connection to the Iron Belle Trail. The 92 page report available on the township website and the township office was made public on Sept. 21 at the Brandon High School Performing Arts Center.

About 150-200 people attended the meeting.
Woodbridge was the project manager for the subcommittee report and addressed the mission of the group.
“The reason we did this project was it became very clear that township officials were not getting the information necessary to move forward and make a educated decision,” said Woodbridge following the meeting. “Secondly, the Oakland County Economic Development and Community Affairs group needed a decision sooner rather than later if the township was going to have the Iron Belle Trail come through. The township board was on track for later. We needed to do more research on the issue.”
The subcommittee listened to residents, said Woodbridge.
“The subcommittee mission was to gather facts and the information to allow the board to opt in or out,” he said. “The subcommittee was not asked to decide on a route in any direction. Where the route goes has not been decided—where it goes is not the question at this time.”
The section of trail will eventually be part of the Iron Belle Trail, a statewide project to connect Belle Isle in Detroit to Ironwood in the Western Upper Peninsula, more than 1,200 miles.
There’s plenty of public input, added Woodbridge.
“If the township opts out my guess would be the trail would go around the township,” he said. “Opt in, then the ‘Route 66’ of routes comes through the township. The township would then be a proud participant in the longest trail in the United States.”