CANNON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A new 125-acre park is coming to West Michigan. Kent County Commissioners have agreed to move forward with a deal to make the park a reality in Cannon Township.
The county park aims to utilize much of the former Silver Lake Country Club golf course.
“To have that trail literally in our backyard would be amazing,” Marilyn Henderhan told FOX 17 Saturday.
Kent County Commissioners agreed to move forward with the massive park earlier in the week.
“My wife loves to walk and it’d be an ideal location now not to have to dodge golf balls. The only thing we have to dodge is the deer,” Jim Mullendore said.
The Kent County Parks Department is working with the James and Shirley Balk Family Foundation. The county plans to buy part of the park, while accepting a donation from the family, to make it happen.
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“So hopefully, in the next month, we’ll be able to close on the property with the foundation. There’s still some legal work that needs to be done between the developers,” Kent County Parks Operations Superintendent Dan DeLoof explained.
The conceptual designs were sent to Kent County commissioners. Not included in this design is a potential dog park, which was discussed at Monday’s meeting. Commissioners are looking to keep existing cart paths and potentially create new ones.
“We’ll probably just remove those and either repave them or do some type of ash limestone, but yes, we would utilize as much of that as we could,” DeLoof added.
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Previously, the former golf course was the site for a major housing development. Now, the majority of the property will be green space.
“When they changed it all and decided to leave that as a park area and do the residential on the Pinehurst on Greenbrier Drive, so that was that was really fine with us,” Mullendore said. “I think the developers have a lot of interest in making something that people can enjoy, [and it’s] certainly got enough room to do that.”
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Many former golf courses have or are in the process of becoming options for housing developments.
The Pines Golf Course in Wyoming recently got approved to become a housing development and the Lincoln Country Club in Walker was also once viewed as a development property.
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