By DEBRA HAIGHT
HARBERT – A linear park connecting all corners of Berrien County may be many years away, but one segment may become a reality much sooner. Berrien County Commissioners held their only night meeting of the year last week at the Chikaming Township Fire Department and heard about plans to develop a linear trail along Red Arrow Highway.
Commissioners heard a presentation about developing a “comprehensive vision” for the “Red Arrow Gateway” and what it could mean for local communities. They also had the chance to tour the area by van and see ongoing construction as well as what could happen in the future.
Chris Cook and Kevin Stack of the Berrien County Road Department along with Marcy Hamilton of the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission made the presentation to the commissioners as well as the dozens of residents in attendance.
They noted that the corridor from the Indiana-Michigan state line to downtown Bridgman represents a “gateway” into Southwest Michigan. They said the corridor serves as an economic driver bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors and tourists to the area each year.
They also talked about the projects already underway or on the drawing table to make improvements to the corridor. Some have already garnered state funding, while others could in the future if the state continues its current emphasis on funding non-motorized trail projects.
Trails have a number of social and economic benefits, they told commissioners. Those benefits include connecting communities, residents, visitors and businesses as well as providing a recreational venue that builds a sense of community.
They spoke specifically about the Red Arrow Gateway project which has several area entities working together to make it a reality. Those entities include the state, the county, three townships, one city and one village.
Meetings in recent months have gathered public input with a consensus appearing to form on expanding the work already underway to establish a non-motorized trail alongside and parallel to Red Arrow Highway and putting the highway on a “road diet.”
Road diets have become popular in recent years and involve reducing four lane highways to three lane highways where there is one lane in each direction plus a center turn lane. Stack and Hamilton said road diets have proved to lower speeds and reduce the number of crashes.
Questions raised during the meeting included ones from Commissioners Mamie Yarbrough and Ezra Scott. Yarbrough asked if American Rescue Plan Act funds could be used for linear trail projects, while Scott asked who would be responsible for maintaining the new trails.
County Administrator Brian Dissette answered yes to Yarbrough’s question but said the final rules of how money can
be spent have not been finalized. Stack told Scott that a new district could be created between the county and townships to set down responsibilities for maintenance.
The Red Arrow Corridor linear trail project has also been included in the county’s new five year parks plan approved in late 2019. That plan is updated on a regular basis to list projects for the county’s seven parks and allow the county to be able to apply for state grants.
The county’s current parks are Rocky Gap, Silver Beach, Love Creek, Madeline Bertrand, Paw Paw River, the Historic Courthouse Square and Galien River. The county has received a number of state grants over the years which have funded improvements to existing county parks and the development of new ones.
Besides the Red Arrow linear trail, county officials and community leaders have talked in recent years about a larger linear park that would develop trails linking all of the county parks from north to south and east to west.
In other action last week, commissioners approved two items related to the Berrien County Health Department and acknowledged receipt of a employee compensation study.
The health department items were an agreement between the department and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for the health department to provide services in the 2021-22 year. Also, the department received a $1.49 million grant from the MDHHS for COVID related expenses.
The $1.49 million grant will pay for infection prevention, immunization and services such as contact tracing, monitoring, testing and investigation. Nearly $900,000 has been set earmarked for immunization and over $500,000 for the other services. The department will receive $90,000 for infection prevention.
The compensation study is the first countywide salary study to be done in over 20 years. The county hired Municipal Consulting Services LLC to do the study which has now been completed. Commissioners are expected to comment more on the study and use it as they prepare the 2022 county budget.
The commission’s next meetings are Thursday, Aug. 26 at the Administration Center in St. Joseph. There will be a committee of the whole meeting at 8:35 a.m. followed by committee meetings at 9:15 a.m. and the county board meeting at 10:30 a.m. The committee of the whole and the county board meetings will be available on the county’s YouTube channel.
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