Five-year parks and rec plan included
By Barb Pert Templeton
A regular bi-monthly meeting of the Algonac City Council on Jan. 16 had officials adopting a resolution for approving the 2024-2028 City of Algonac master plan and a five-year parks and recreation plan.
Mayor Rocky Gillis read a summary of the process into the record at the recent meeting. He began by explaining that the Department of Natural Resources requires communities to update their Master Recreation Plan every five years to be eligible for state grant funding. The city’s current plan was dated 2019-2023.
Providing some background on the project, Gillis said at a Jan. 17, 2023 meeting the Algonac City Council awarded a contract to the St. Clair County Metropolitan Planning Commission (SCCMPC) to complete a combined update for the City of Algonac Master Plan and the Five-Year Parks and Recreation Plan. The documents were to be created in accordance with the Michigan Planning Enabling Act (Public Act 33 of 2008.)
The Algonac master plan must be reviewed every five years and updated as needed to remain a viable document. At a Planning Commission meeting in Aug. 2023 the required land maps were reviewed and at a meeting on Oct. 23, 2023 the Planning Commission reviewed the draft plan and recommended the start of the 63-day review period.
The Algonac master plan consists of chapters that detail land use, the environment, the economy, transportation and public services in the city.
Next up the city council received and reviewed the proposed master plan and authorized distribution of the plan on Nov. 7, 2023 with the 63-day review period ending on Jan. 9, 2024 which provided the public with a well-advertised opportunity and reasonable accommodations to review the draft plan.
Notice of the Jan. 2024 public hearing on the issue, which took place during a planning commission meeting, was announced on the city’s website and at city hall.
The updated plan provided to the council at the recent meeting included more extensive demographics, housing and economic data/trends and inclusion of a coastal resiliency section for the first time.
The SCCMPC also conducted an online survey to utilize the data to compile the draft document.
Any grant application submitted by the city in 2024 will require an updated plan.
During a brief discussion before the council voted on the resolution Councilwoman Dawn Davey stated that a discussion during budget meetings talked about the need for expansion of the waste water treatment plant and construction of a new waste water treatment plant which would be necessary to address any future development.
“We had discussed during our budget session that we are in desperate need of an infrastructure master plan and to follow along with our master plan we need to seriously consider getting this done, like yesterday,” Davey said.
The mayor asked the city manager, Denice Gerstenberg, if she could put that on a future agenda and she said yes.
A majority of the council approved the adoption of the master plan resolution. Councilwoman Cathy Harris was absent from the Jan. 16 meeting.
The Algonac master plan consists of chapters that detail land use, the environment, the economy, transportation and public services in the city plus an integrated five-year Parks and Recreation Plan, associated goals and action strategies and all maps, tables and charts contained within the documents.
A community master plan is a comprehensive long-range plan intended to guide the development of a community. The Algonac Master Plan incorporates the required park and recreation planning elements that together serve as the 2024-2028 parks and recreation plan for the city of Algonac. The plan covers all the parks and recreation facilities and programs owned and operated by the city spanning the entire city limits serving both city residents and non-residents from neighboring townships.
