Trails benefit a community, help people to get outside and connect with other neighborhoods
By Jim Totten
Livingston County Daily Press
& Argus (Howell)
GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Green Oak Township residents wasted no time in jumping onto a new 3-mile-long paved path along Fieldcrest Road.
As soon as the asphalt was paved the morning of Sept. 6, residents were walking, running and biking along the 8-foot-wide path, which stretches from Lee Road to Silver Lake Road within sight of U.S. 23.
"The asphalt wasn't even cool yet, and people were already starting to use it," Township Supervisor Mark St. Charles told the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.
He saw bikers, hikers, couples and a mother with four children using the path.
"This is so cool," St. Charles said. "It just makes me feel good to be part of making that happen."
The $500,000 path was built at the same time Fieldcrest was rebuilt and paved. The funds come from a recent road millage approved by voters.
St. Charles said the path is 100 percent within the road right of way and was always part of the road millage proposal.
"I love it," township resident Rick Rupp said.
Rupp, who lives off Fieldcrest on Bishop Lake Road, said he used to put his bike on a car rack and drive to nearby trails. Not anymore.
With the new path, he can bike to Fieldcrest and take the new path north to Island Lake Recreation Area.
"It's going to be very nice," Rupp said.
St. Charles said the path is part of a much bigger project to connect Green Oak to paths in South Lyon and Hamburg Township and to the Lakelands Trail. The Lakelands path will eventually tie into the Great Lake to Lake Trail, which will stretch from South Haven to Port Huron.
Township officials are developing conceptual plans for a path along Whitmore Lake Road. Leaders hope the state will create a path under U.S. 23 at Silver Lake Road when it replaces the bridge there; this would connect the path from Whitmore Lake Road and Fieldcrest.
Longtime township resident Jim Fackert has been pushing for trails since the 1980s. Back then, he was an avid biker and canoeist.
Fackert, who has a bad hip, doesn't do much biking these days, but he's thrilled to see this first section of path put in.
"I can hardly contain myself," Fackert said.
He said trails are great for a community, getting people outside and allowing them to connect with other neighborhoods. He serves as chairman of the Friends of the Lakelands Trail and is a member of Friends of Island Lake.
Fackert said township residents, the Board of Trustees and the Planning Commission worked together to make this happen.
The only gap in the 3-mile path comes at the Huron River. The township has submitted an application to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to put in a crossing over the river, and St. Charles is hopeful a bridge can be installed in 2015.
The bridge, estimated at $200,000, would be paid for out of general township funds.
St. Charles recognized some people don't believe the township should be building trails, but he disagreed.
"Our society is changing its thought patterns regarding exercise and walking," he said. "They are utilizing paths a tremendous amount."
Published: Thu, Sep 18, 2014
