By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.-

It was standing room only at a board workshop regarding the Iron Belle Trail on Monday.

Among the people crowding the township office room for the meeting, 35 were counted as in support of the trail, 27 were opposed, and five were indifferent.

“We are directly affected— it goes across our property,” said one township resident. “This is a rural area, that’s why we live here and bought our property here. We came here for privacy.”

Another resident spoke in favor of the trail during public comment preceding a presentation and board discussion.

“I walk and ride miles all over— we need trails, I don’t care what anyone says, it’s dangerous as heck,” he said.

“Almost everywhere there are trails, property values go up 10 percent.”

The man added he didn’t care what route was chosen— A, B, C, or D.

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.

Two Brandon Township surveys have been conducted regarding the trail, with the most recent offering a vote on four different routes through the township. Of 558 respondents to the survey, 40 percent preferred route C, which is the safest and least expensive of the four routes and includes a small portion of Baldwin Road, a large portion of the ITC corridor, 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.

At the July 18 trail workshop, the majority of those opposed to the trail appear to live on the proposed route C, which goes more off-road than other proposed routes, including 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.

Route C utilizes more of the ITC corridor, the former Detroit United Railway, electric railroad line. The company has multiple easements for power lines on otherwise private property. Easements give ITC the legal right to cross or otherwise use someone else’s land for a specified purpose. ITC has indicated they would support use of their corridor for the trail.

At the workshop, opponents noted that less than 600 people responded to the survey and of those, only 40 percent were in favor of route C, with the rest splitting their vote between the remaining routes. Less than 5 percent of respondents said they did not want any trail. It was pointed out that the township has 15,000 residents, and the survey response represents a small portion of the township, but it was also noted that the tally of 15,000 residents includes children. The township has about 6,500 households.

Kristen Wiltfang, senior planner for Oakland County Economic Development and Community Affairs, was impressed with the response.

“We are excited about 500 respondents— this is far and away more than we get statewide,” she said.

It was suggested by some in the crowd that another survey be conducted, this time narrowing the options to two routes, but after a brief discussion, the board decided not to pay for a third survey.

The township board has not yet decided which route, if any, would be used for a trail in the township. Cost of the trail was also cited as a concern— not only for development, for which there are grant funding sources, but for maintenance, insurance, and policing of the trail. Annual maintenance costs are estimated between $500-$5,000 annually per mile.

Wiltfang talked about how communities in the county with the Paint Creek, Clinton River and Polly Ann trails handle policing of those pathways. Paint Creek Trail employs seasonal bike patrollers and also contracts with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office for officers on bikes and horses, at a cost of $13,000 per year; Clinton River Trail has a bike patrol three times a week seasonally; and the Polly Ann Trail has an ambassador program, contracting police as necessary.

A crime map of the township displayed by Wiltfang and provided by the OCSO, shows crime heavily clustered in the Sashabaw Meadows and Clarkston Lakes mobile home parks located near Sashabaw and Seymour Lake roads, as well as concentrated along the M-15 corridor. A discussion with Oxford officials reveals crime there is located more in the village, not on the Polly Ann Trail and she said crime is typically lower overall on trail networks.

Another plus would be property values— Wiltfang cited statistics that a 6 percent premium is paid on parcels of land within 100 feet of a primary trail. However, that raised another question by those in attendance- whether they would be assessed additional taxes.

There wasn’t a clear answer for that question, although Wiltfang did have a clear answer for a query about what would happen if the township paid for a title search on property along the route and found private land needed to be crossed by a property owner who would not give permission.

“You will have to find another route,” she said.

The board ended the meeting by agreeing on some next steps they would like to take before proceeding— including a “tour” of land on the proposed route C and investigation of easements and property ownership through county records before paying for a title search.