By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Ortonville

-The village is forging ahead with plans for an Iron Belle Trail segment.

Village Manager David Trent applied for a $35,000 grant from the Department of Natural Resources last month.

“Our vision is to establish a new trailhead at the juncture or curve of Church Street, across from the post office,” said Trent. “As folks bike north on M-15, they could come up South Street, going north, stop at the trailhead point, and be able to walk or ride a trail that would be put in place at a future date. We anticipate that we would have a bike rack, bike fix station, some benches and that we would be able to include signage.”

The Iron Belle Trail is a proposed statewide trail system with two routes— both of which would extend from Belle Isle in Detroit to Ironwood in the Upper Peninsula. The state has offered grants to help communities on the proposed routes connect into existing trail systems in order to make a continuous trail possible. The village, as well as Brandon, Atlas, and Groveland townships, are part of the proposed bicycling route for the Iron Belle Trail, which would extend 774 miles in total.

In 2016, Brandon Township took advantage of a $14,000 DNR grant to study four potential routes for the trail in the township, but the project has stalled in the township after objections of several residents on a route that received the most votes on a survey.

Still, the village is moving forward.

“The original concept was to utilize the length of the ITC corridor into Brandon Township and they have not made a formal decision on which route they want to use to connect to the current trail out of Oxford,” noted Trent. “Our initial trailhead would begin the establishment of the trail in the ITC corridor adjacent to school property (Harvey Swanson complex).”

The trail in the village would be approximately 700 feet along the ITC corridor, said Trent and 500 feet extending south from Church Street at the trailhead. The township could choose to come up M-15 with the trail to South Street as a shared roadway on the trail, or, alternatively, they could use the ITC corridor to the trailhead point across from the post office, he adds.

“This would just be a segment for the village, but at this point, without any confirmed routes identified through Brandon or to the north, I think (the grant proposal) is a good first step in improving walkability and providing a trail within our own village boundaries.”

Grant awards are announced next fall.