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3/19/2010 8:00:00 PM
Belding seeks 30 more acres of land for park
Danielle Arndt
Daily News staff writer
BELDING - The city now is attempting to acquire a total of 68 acres contiguous to Lightning Bend Park, nearly doubling its size.
On Tuesday, the Belding City Council authorized City Manager Randy DeBruine to move forward with submitting an application to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DNRE) for a grant from the state's Natural Resources Trust Fund.
The approval came after Gerard Geelhood offered to sell 38 acres of land, west of Lightning Bend Park. However, Dan Blunt recently offered to sell 30 more acres west of the park and north of Geelhood's property, as well.
DeBruine said the additional land from the Blunt family greatly increases Belding's chances of receiving the grant money.
"This potentially strengthens our application," he said.
Mayor Roger Wills said the land also would strengthen the city's park system if they receive the grant, giving Belding the opportunity to construct additional trails, walkways and possibly even sports fields in the future.
"To put it in perspective, Lightning Bend is 90 acres currently, so this would be a significant acquisition," DeBruine said.
"And at no cost to the city," Wills added.
The grant application is due April 1.
DeBruine said it is an extremely competitive grant with multiple stages. He said the city would be notified in December if they received the funding.
The Blunts are currently having their land appraised and Geelhood recently did the same.
If Belding is awarded the grant, the DNRE also would appraise the property. DeBruine said if the DNRE values the land at less than the property owners' combined appraisals, then the property owners will have to negotiate a more acceptable price with government officials.
DeBruine said if they can't come to an agreement, the property owners could back out.
"So I don't want to get anybody's hopes up at this time," he said.
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Posted: Saturday, March 20, 2010
Article comment by:
Clay Courtney
2 days after slashing pay and benefits, of workers? Adding more acreage, the police can not patrol and control what we have now! Riverside park is a haven for drugs, and older kids bulling young ones @ the skate park. It's right across the road from the police, not out in the boonies.
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