Laketown Township has agreed to hire a firm to assist with a grant application in hopes of securing funding for new stairs and other improvements at Laketown Beach.
Trustees voted unanimously Feb. 20 to hire Prein and Newhof to assist with applying for a Michigan Department of Natural Resources Passport Grant. The municipality will pay the firm $9,200.
The application deadline is April 1, with awardees notified in December.
DNR Passport Grants cover up to $150,000, with a minimum required match of 25%. Laketown has included funds in the proposed 2026-27 budget to cover that match.
The project would include new stairs down the dune to the beach, plus dune restoration, at 6710 142nd Ave. Prein and Newhof wrote the municipality’s plans “align fairly well” with the grant program and gave “fairly good odds” of receiving funds — although the application process is “extremely competitive.”
Laketown is exploring options for a new staircase after previous steps were deemed unsafe in March 2025 and subsequently demolished after more than three decades.
The Laketown Township Parks Commission, during a meeting Oct. 15, voted to recommend accepting a bid from Lakeshore Concepts of Holland to install adjustable EZ Beach Steps for a cost of $196,500. However, because the commission lacked funding to cover the project alone, approval was needed from the Laketown Board of Trustees.
Officials had concerns over the cost of the project and the bidding process, and the motion was tabled twice. In December, trustees directed Township Manager Stephanie Fox to pursue grant opportunities.
A set of stairs from the parking lot to the dune remain in place. The beach has remained open, but is only accessible by climbing through the “bowl” — a steep drop with a flat bottom amidst the dune. To return to the parking lot, beachgoers must climb up the bowl, which officials advise is “a difficult walk” in soft sand, with no handrail or other assistance.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Officials pursue grant funds for stairs, improvements at Laketown Beach
Reporting by Mitchell Boatman, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
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