By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.-It appears to be back to square one, or possibly square none, for the Iron Belle Trail.

During an Aug. 8 meeting, four of the six township board members present expressed disapproval of the formerly proposed route C or suggested the project be scrapped entirely.

Trustees Dana DePalma and Liz Waters as well as Treasurer Terri Darnall said they had accepted invitations from township residents to visit their properties adjacent to the proposed route C, which would use ITC corridor easements for the trail. Seeing the proximity of the proposed route to some homes or outbuildings seems to have convinced DePalma and Waters, who said they visited the properties together with Trustee Jayson Rumball, that route C should not be pursued. Rumball was absent from the Aug. 8 meeting.

“From me to the podium is where the trail was (to one person’s home),” said Waters, nodding toward the lectern less than 20 feet from where she sat. “When you go and see the concerns people have, it’s completely different.”

“I wish we would have seen it before, now we’re out of money,” said DePalma, referring to a $14,000 DNR grant that was used to research routes for the Iron Belle Trail. “There are grants for development (of the trail), but what about maintenance when we still have an unfinished park?”

Darnall, who visited the same properties, but unaccompanied by other boardmembers, said it was “mind-blowing” to see the route and would not support the township spending money to put a trail on someone else’s property. She questioned why the township needed the Iron Belle Trail and Clerk Candee Allen, who has not yet seen any sections of the route in person, also voiced opposition to moving forward with the project.

“We have a park that is unfinished and another one not yet started,” Allen said, referring to the Brandon Township Community Park at 1414 N. Hadley Road for which the township wants to eventually have baseball fields, and recently acquired land across Hadley Road from the park. “We need to take care of what we have.”

Supervisor Kathy Thurman, in explaining why the township was exploring routes for the Iron Belle Trail, referred to a petition in support of trails in the community, signed by more than 900 people, 569 of whom live in this area.

“I understand the residents want trails, I love trails, but now there are all these extra costs,” said DePalma. “Why are we starting something else?”

Township discussions regarding the Iron Belle Trail, which Gov. Rick Snyder and the Department of Natural Resources are promoting, began more than a year ago. The trail has two routes, one for hiking and one for bicycling, both of which would go from Belle Isle in Detroit to Ironwood in the Upper Peninsula. The bicycling trail is proposed to traverse 774 miles and would include existing trails, as well as establish new trails, including Brandon, Groveland, and Atlas townships, as well as the Village of Ortonville.

A recent survey that sought input on four routes through the township found that of 558 respondents, 40 percent preferred route C, the safest and least expensive of the four routes and which includes a small portion of Baldwin Road, a large portion of the off-road ITC corridor (the former Detroit United Railway electric railroad line), and continues to the corner of Kent Road and Granger Road in the village. The 7.7 mile route has an estimated cost of $4,968,900, or $647,877 per mile. ITC, which Darnall said was recently purchased by Fortis, Inc., had previously indicated they would support the trail on their corridor, which has multiple easements on otherwise private property.

Other proposed routes included A, which is 7.6 miles from Baldwin to Sherwood to Sashabaw to Hummer Lake to Mill Street, estimated to cost $5,851,400.00; Route B, which is Seymour Lake to the ITC corridor to Granger to Hadley to Hummer Lake to Mill for 9.7 miles and costs $7,918,510; and Route D, from Baldwin to Granger to Hadley to Hummer Lake to Mill Street and stretches 8 miles for $8,127,205.

Thurman and DeWitt said they would still like to visit some of the properties on Route C and Waters said she is still interested in the trail, but wants to explore other routes, one that is more public or near the high tension power lines off Seymour Lake Road. There was a brief discussion on perhaps examining putting the trail next to Seymour Lake Road and then down the M-15 corridor to the village.

“It looks like the majority of the board is not in favor of using the ITC corridor at this point,” acknowledged Thurman. “They seem to be more interested in investigating the cost to put the trail down Seymour Lake Road from Oxford and up M-15 to the village, which was not an option on the survey… There are things to consider on that route— it would be more costly. We would look at another grant for additional scoping.”

She added that if the trail was put alongside the public roads, the road shoulder would have to be extended, which entails additional cost. The Road Commission doesn’t have plans in the immediate future for resurfacing of Seymour Lake Road.

For now, the board has agreed to “put it on the backburner” although Darnall suggested “throwing it out,” with a few property owners in the audience in agreement.

One resident in attendance disagreed.

“We need the trail,” said Verna Cole. “More than 500 people responded to the survey and many chose option C— this is not imminent domain. I don’t think we should get bogged down on a few properties where it’s upsetting… I’m concerned information is given to some of the board— I want all of the board to have the same information in the same way.”