Author: Todd Scott, Executive Director

Categories
Complete Streets Greenways Newsletter

News from the Trail — December 2020

Giving Tuesday

Two Ways to Give

We have a fundraiser on Facebook. Facebook is matching the first $7 million in all donations starting on #GivingTuesday at 8 AM.

If you prefer, you can setup your own Facebook fundraiser with the Detroit Greenways Coalition as the beneficially.

We also have a donation page on our website with payments handled securely through PayPal. There’s the option for regular monthly or annual donations as well.

There is no better time to make Detroit a more walkable and more bikeable city. We’ve seen COVID-19 affect our family, friends, and communities. We’ve been unable to do many things we enjoy doing while experiencing the added stress of social distancing.

As a result, many of us have been spending more time outside, at the parks and trails, on our bikes, in our kayaks, running, or walking. It’s helping keep us physically, mentally, and socially healthy, while strenghening our resistance to potential illness. For many it’s also providing an alternative safe travel option with good social distancing.

Others are discovering these outdoor options as well. We’ve seen trail usage increase by over 40% on the Dequindre Cut this year. We’ve also see a growing momentum to make Detroit a more convenient, safe, and fun place to walk and bike — a place with more trails, more Complete Streets (e.g. better sidewalks, bike lanes, speed humps), and more greenspace.

Your donation will help keep pushing this vision forward, not only for us, but for many who will benefit from a safer and healthier city yet are unable to contribute. Your support will enable us to continue our advocacy and technical assistance citywide as we have since 2007.

There an added incentive for donating this year. Under the CARES Act, individual taxpayers can deduct up to $300 in cash donations — even when taking the standard deduction.

We appreciate any and all support.

Stay Healthy,


Todd Scott, Executive Director

Michigan Avenue Improvements

Debris-covered Michigan Avenue bike lanes and sidewalk near the LodgeThere is an opportunity for major improvements to Michigan Avenue’s design through Corktown so mark your calendar for Tuesday, December 2nd at 6pm. MDOT is hosting a virtual public meeting to collect your input. (Meeting details) They need your input!

We’ve come quite a ways from ten years ago when we first asked MDOT to add regular bike lanes to this state trunkline. It was met with a great deal of resistance from both legal and engineering standpoints. We continued to push, find answers to the issues, and was eventually successful. Later those became protected bike lanes.

Now we can push this design forward into something much better, e.g. raised or sidewalk-level bike lanes with curb protection, protected intersections, wider sidewalks, and green stormwater infrastructure. One priority we already shared with MDOT is the need for a maintenance plan. We want a great design that’s also free of debris.

This isn’t just a planning exercise. $20 million in construction funding has been allocated for 2022.

Happening in parallel is the MDOT Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV) Corridor project along Michigan Avenue and I-94 between Detroit and Ann Arbor. They are looking to design “an innovative infrastructure solution that allows for a mix of connected and autonomous vehicles, traditional transit vehicles, shared mobility, and freight and personal vehicles.” We’re on the project’s stakeholder group and really want to ensure that shiny new transportation concepts don’t interfere with the tried-and-true mobility provided by biking and walking. We’re optimistic given that Mark de la Vergne, Detroit’s former Cheif of Mobility Innovation is now leading this project for the contractor, Cavanue.

Of course Ford’s Michigan Central project is along this section of Michigan Avenue. They recently held a public meeting to share more of their vision for the former train station, surrounding campus, and May Creek Greenway. There’s additional information in this Detroit News article, Ford unveils Michigan Central site plan for Corktown.Rendering of the future Michigan Central Station by Ford

Belle Isle Improvements

Central Avenue on Belle IsleThe good news? The Strand pavement near the Coast Guard station has been replaced. The bad news? The last we checked, some sections of the bike lane are in really poor condition here. Still, you should be able to get around them.

Other updates include the reconfiguration of Central Avenue on the eastern portion of the island. It’s now marked for eastbound vehicle travel only with a two-way shared-use pathway. We would have preferred seeing vehicles prohibited altogether from this roadway, but this is an improvement — and the surface has been repaved.

Phase 1 of the new Iron Belle Trail is also under construction from the beach to the Boat Club. This will be a much welcomed trail for all but the faster, fitness-oriented bicyclists who will prefer staying on the road. The DNR also recommended $1.35 million in Land Water and Conservation Funds (LWCF) to build Phase 2 of this trail which will eventually extend this trail around the island.

We are continuing to advocate for safer bike lane designs on the island, but especially for the MacArthur Bridge. Unfortunately we do not have any updates at this time.

Other Updates

  • Ford Hunger March monumentThe grand opening of the new Fort Street Bridge Park was at the end of October. This park gives recognition to the Ford Hunger March of 1932 with a monument constructed from parts of the original historic bridge. There are additional bridge parts remaining and we’re trying to see if they can be used for a gateway monument to welcome bicyclists and pedestrians entering Detroit via the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
  • We were glad to provide some modest assistance to Council Scott Benson, Greenway Guy Tim Springer, Henry Ford Health System, and others with their Bikes 4 Essential Workers program. It was a great success despite the lack availability of new bikes.
  • The City of Ferndale has a public meeting on December 9th at 6:30pm to review a draft of their updated mobility plan. This is a great opportunity to discuss how to make it easier when biking and walking between Detroit and Ferndale.
  • There’s still time to get involved in the City of Detroit’s Streets for People planning project as well as take an online survey for the Parks and Rec Plan update. Both are very important planning efforts.
  • Detroiter Kristin Shaw is writing a book on women in the mobility/transportation space and she’s looking for nominations of stories to tell — or perhaps your story. Entries are open until the end of the year at www.womendrivenmobility.com.
  • Lastly, Free Bikes 4 Kids Detroit continues to look for volunteers to help them clean, prep, and giveaway kids bikes this year. Their volunteer signup is online.

Additional Reading

Huron-Clinton Metroparks to establish Detroit presence through agreement with Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, Crain’s Detroit Business.

Drivers let their focus slip as they get used to partial automation, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Piloting wayfinding to connect community to resource centers in Detroit, Smart Growth America.

Categories
Greenways Newsletter

News from the Trail – November 2020

Joe Louis Greenway

The City of Detroit held its second public design meeting for Phase 1 contruction of the Joe Louis Greenway. If you missed it, the city’s presentation is online. This second meeting was similar to the first but did provide additional updates and details — including this timeline.

There is also an online survey which is open through Monday, November 16th.

While Phase 1 contruction is on a former railroad corridor, other parts of the greenway will be on-road. This include Jos Campau. A mile two-way cycletrack was just completed between McNichols and Carpenter (the border with Hamtramck). This segment connects to the railroad corridor near McNichols and will eventually get extended south through Hamtramck.

A similar but shorter on-road design was recently built on Bagley in Corktown. 

The Joe Louis Greenway uses segments of the RiverWalk as well and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy continues to make progress. The RiverWalk has been extended slightly west of the former Joe Louis Arena site. While the boardwalk in front of the Riverfront Towers is nearly complete, it won’t be opened until the connection to West Riverfront/Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park is completed. That connection will be under construction in the spring as will be the nearby May Creek Greenway.  You can read more about these updates, including the new UniRoyal Promenade in the Conservancy’s Fall 2020 newsletter.

MOTION Coalition Mini-Summit

We are members of many advisory committees and task forces, but one that we’ve got much more involved in over the past few years has been the MOTION Coalition at Authority Health. This Coalition focuses on improving public policy to improve health outcomes. Our role has been to promote improvements to the built environment (e.g. Complete Streets, greenways) to increase physical activity and better health.

The Coalition has an annual summit, which is this Tuesday, November 17th starting at 10AM. It’s online and free.

We are moderating the 11:35AM Physical Activity Panel. The panelist include Meagan Elliott PhD, Chief Parks Planner for the City of Detroit, Erika Bocknek, PhD – Wayne State University Family Resilience Lab, and Damon Porter, Detroit Public Schools Community District. We’ll be talking about Detroit parks, greenways, and schools during COVID-19.

Email Dr. Carolyn Custer if you are interested in attending.

Other Updates

  • We co-chair the Detroit City Council Green Task Force committee on Green Transportation and Mobility. We host online monthly meetings to discuss projects and policy related green transportation. Email us if you want to be invited to these meetings. The next one is Tuesday, November 17th at 4pm.
  • State Ballot Proposal 1 passed overwhelmingly earlier this month. Among other things, this removes the budget cap on park/trail development grants and ensures future state gas and mining revenues go towards land conservation and park development.
  • The Ride the Vote event with Council member Scott Benson was a big success. Despite the chilly gray weather, many people came out — and some cast their votes during the ride, too. We had elected officials ride with us, free MoGo bikes, and numerous bike clubs in support. We were on the local news as well. Thanks to all who participated and helped make this event happen. We look forward to doing it again for the next elections, though perhaps during the primaries when the weather is better.
  • We highly recommend that everyone sign up to receive updates for the city’s Streets for People transportation planning effort. That plan’s focus is to “make it easier and safer for all Detroiters to move around the city.” If you want to see changes in the streets near you, this is a great opportunity to begin that discussion.
  • We also recommend taking this quick survey for the city’s new parks and recreation plan. One interesting change with this new plan is it includes greenways!
  • Ford is hosting an online event on Tuesday, November 17th at 6PM to share their vision for Michigan Central, work they’re doing in the community, and their thoughts on what future of mobility might look like. We wouldn’t be surprised if they talked about their connection to the nearby May Creek Greenway. Event Registration

Additional Reading

Categories
Policy

Proposal 1 Passes Overwhelmingly

Thanks voting on Proposal 1. The passage of the proposal is good for land conservation and park/trail development in Detroit and across Michigan.

The following is a press released issued by the Vote Yes on Prop 1 coalition, which we were a part of:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 03, 2020

CONTACT

Thomas Meara | tmeara@kivvit.com | 718-309-3506

Halimah Elmariah | helmariah@kivvit.com | 201-290-9753

PROPOSAL 1 PASSES OVERWHELMINGLY, CONTINUING MICHIGAN’S COMMITMENT TO CONSERVATION

MICHIGAN – Today, Michiganders made history by overwhelmingly voting YES on Proposal 1 to protect Michigan’s water, wildlife and parks for generations to come. Voters across the political spectrum voted yes on Proposal 1, which commits oil and gas royalties to protection of our land, water sources and parks in perpetuity by lifting the cap on Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund.  This victory sends a clear message to lawmakers that voters across the state prioritize the protection of our natural resources and access to outdoor recreation for all Michiganders to enjoy.

Proposal 1 had broad, bipartisan support from the start. It was put on the November ballot unanimously by the Michigan Legislature in 2018 and was supported by all of Michigan’s living governors.

The Vote Yes on Prop 1 campaign was founded by the The Nature Conservency, Michigan Environmental Council, Michigan United Conservation Clubs, Heart of the Lakes, mParks and Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance. Notably, it was supported by more than 70 environmental, conservation, business, community and labor organizations who worked together to pass Proposal 1.

“Proposal 1 passed because of strong bipartisan support from conservationists and environmentalists, business and community leaders and our elected officials. This is a victory for Michiganders in every corner of the state – from the U.P. to Detroit,” said Becca Maher, Vote Yes campaign manager. “With the passage of Proposal 1, voters sent a clear message to Lansing – we must prioritize protecting our natural resources and conserving and creating access to our outdoor spaces, now and for future generations.”

“The passage of Proposal 1 marks a historic moment in Michigan’s conservation legacy. With this victory, we have guaranteed that the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund will continue receiving the funds necessary to protect our public lands, clean water sources, wildlife habitats and parks in perpetuity,” said Helen Taylor from The Nature Conservancy. “All Michiganders will benefit from the passage of Proposal 1.”

“Voters have sent a decisive message with the overwhelming support for Prop 1: The protection of our lands and natural areas is core to who we are and must be a priority,” said Conan Smith from Michigan Environmental Council. “Michiganders understand the importance of spending time in nature and this victory guarantees an increase in opportunities for outdoor recreation across the state, something we should all celebrate.”

“The passage of Proposal 1 is a victory for Michigan’s hunters, anglers, sportsmen and sportswomen. Our public lands and outdoor spaces will be protected for decades to come because of the guarantees enshrined in Proposal 1,” said Amy Trotter from Michigan United Conservation Clubs. “We are proud to have supported and worked on this campaign with a broad and bipartisan coalition to protect Michigan’s water, wildlife habitats and parks for generations.”

“Today is a victory for land conservation and public recreation in Michigan. With the passage of Proposal 1, we have guaranteed funding will be available to expand our vast network of trails and make our beautiful outdoors spaces accessible to more Michiganders,” said Andrea LaFontaine from Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance. “Our elected officials should take note, and all Michiganders should celebrate this victory.”

“We are estatic that Proposal 1 passed with overwhelming support from voters. More trails, parks, playgrounds and outdoor spaces can be supported in communities across the state for Michiganders to enjoy without using a dime of taxpayer money,” said Clay Summers from mParks. “The Vote YES coalition was integral to the passage of Proposal 1, and we are proud to have been a part of this incredible coalition.”

“Michiganders demonstrated a clear commitment to protecting and improving Michigan’s public lands and outdoor spaces by passing Proposal 1 with such overwhelming support,” said Jonathan Jarosz from Heart of the Lakes.  “We are thrilled that this constitutional change means communities across the state will get to enjoy even more opportunties to get outside and spend time in nature.”

For more information on Vote YES for MI Water, Wildlife and Parks campaign, visit www.MIWaterWildlifeParks.com. 

###

About Vote YES for MI Water, Wildlife and Parks

The Vote YES for MI Water, Wildlife and Parks campaign is a broad and diverse coalition formed to encourage Michiganders to vote YES on Proposal 1 this November to protect our drinking water, wildlife habitats and parks for future generations. For more information, visit www.MIWaterWildlifeParks.com.

Categories
Complete Streets Greenways Newsletter Policy Safety & Education

News from the Trail – October 2020

Bike the Vote

Come join us for a group bike ride on Sunday afternoon, October 25th to encourage greater voter participation. We’d love to have a healthy turnout to show that bicyclists are engaged in this year’s election. The weather doesn’t look too bad for late October, either. Masks and social distancing are required!

In addition to supporting this ride, MoGo has a “Roll to the Polls” program that gives riders a free one hour ride to access their polling location or drop off their absentee ballots.  Lisa Nuszkowski, founder and executive director of MoGo says, “Transportation should never be a barrier to voting, and MoGo is proud to join with others in the shared mobility industry to offer free rides on Election Day.”

We continue to endorse Proposal 1 along with more than 30 conservation and environmental groups, including the Michigan Environmental Council, the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. The proposal does not change the Trust Fund’s priorities of acquiring and preserving land, which is one reason it’s supported by twelve of the largest land conservancies in Michigan. It also is supported by all of Michigan’s living governors.

Pedestrian Safety Month

We strongly believe that building Complete Streets is the most effective approach for reducing pedestrian (and bicyclist) fatalities. We’ve seen it first hand with improvements to Detroit’s public lighting. Reducing speeding motorists is also a critical issue that can be addressed through Complete Streets, whether it’s more speed humps, lower speed limits, and even bike lanes. 

While the City of Detroit is making new, major investments in speed humps, the speed limit issue is moving more slowly in the state capitol. We discuss these issues and more in our new article, Every Month is Pedestrian Safety Month.

Streets for People

The City of Detroit just launched their Streets for People planning campaign. From the project web page:

The City of Detroit is developing Streets for People, a transportation plan with a singular focus — to make it easier and safer for all Detroiters to move around the city. The plan seeks to knit together diverse neighborhoods, prioritize safety of the most vulnerable road users, and identify clear implementation and design strategies for roadways improvement. Most importantly, it will be rooted in an inclusive planning process that gives a voice to the City’s residents who are most implicated by the transportation system. The plan will be completed over the next two years by the Department of Public Works in partnership with MDOT, SEMCOG, city departments, and partner agencies.

The web page also let’s you sign up for updates and provide some initial thoughts. The plan will be completed in 12 months according to the city’s press release.

Streets for People also has this great introductory video which really frames the pedestrian and bicyclist safety issue to be solved.

Joe Louis Greenway

A second Joe Louis Greenway Design public meeting will be held on October 29th from 6pm to 8pm via Zoom. There is more information about this meeting and how to join it on the city’s Joe Louis Greenway webpage.

If you missed the first public meeting, the presentation is now online and well worth looking over. 

Phase 1 construction continues moving forward. City Council has been asked to approve an MDOT grant request to build a portion of the greenway near Grand River Avenue and Oakman Boulevard. The city has also sold bonds to help with construction as well. They are “aiming to finish Phase I in Fiscal Year 2022.” 

Other Updates

  • Detroit is also updating its Parks and Recreation Plan. They are collecting some initial public input with this online survey. There’s also this interesting article on how COVID could affect this planning. 
  • We’ve been weighing on a number of developments around the city, including the project at the former state fairgrounds involving Amazon. Currently, biking and walking about this area is far from ideal. We submitted comments on how to improve these connections within the development area and with the surrounding neighborhoods, including Ferndale. We also requested bike parking and, if possible, MoGo stations. Our comments seemed to have been addressed by the city and developer.
  • We’ve also been involved in a new proposed warehouse near Conner and Gratiot at the former Cadillac Stamping Plant. Our primary concern was the project’s plan to allow truck traffic to cross the Conner Creek Greenway/Iron Belle Trail at Conner Playfield. It wouldn’t be safe and we expected the trucks would block the greenway as they waited to turn onto Conner. Council member Scott Benson worked with the city and developer to find an alternative truck route that doesn’t cross the greenway.
  • Last month we raised concerns about the city removing unprotected bike lanes during repaving projects, namely the bike lanes on E. Grand Boulevard. DPW followed up and said this was not a city policy. There are proposed plans for adding protected bike lanes on W. Grand Boulevard from Cass to Rosa Parks. We’ll be encouraging the city to continue this design east to replace what was removed.
  • Council President Brenda Jones’ Community Engagement Ordinance passed. It requires many city projects that impact the neighborhoods to have community outreach.The installation of bike lanes was one type of project named in the ordinance. After the E. Grand bike lanes were removed, we proposed that the installation or removal of bike lanes should require community outreach. Council member Benson motioned to add this language to the ordinance and it passed unanamously.
  • The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office launched an online bike tour of Detroit civil rights sites. We were part of the team that helped determine the 17-mile route between the sites. 
  • Lastly, Free Bikes 4 Kids really needs volunteers to help clean and refurbish used kids bicycles to giveaway this year. Please signup for a shift or two and help them get these bikes ready.

Additional Reading

Categories
Complete Streets Policy Safety & Education

Every Month is Pedestrian Safety Month

October is Pedestrian Safety Month where safety groups roll out tepid safety messaging and do a modest amount of short-term traffic enforcement in a handful of Michigan cities. This approach certainly hasn’t led to reduced pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries, which have actually increased over the past decade. 

What is much more effective than education or enforcement? It’s engineering — building Complete Streets that can self-regulate motorists and reduce speeding 24 hours a day. This is critical since vehicle speed largely determines the degree of injury suffered by pedestrians and bicyclists in crashes. (Vehicle design is a significant determinant as well.)

If there is any doubt that Detroit has speeding problem, just consider Detroiters’ overwhelming demand for speed humps to slow motorists on residential streets. This demand has led Mayor Mike Duggan to shift $11.5 million in road funding to install significantly more speed humps in 2021 — perhaps more than any other major U.S. city.

I’m not sure there’s been any innovation in this city that has been received with more enthusiasm than the speed humps

Mayor Mike Duggan Press Conference, September 16, 2020
YearSpeed humps installedResident requests
201832
20195433,000
20201,2008,000
20214,500 (planned)

Of course speed humps only work on streets were speed limits are 25 MPH or less. Other streets require different Complete Street designs to reduce speeding, e.g. bike lanes, bumps outs, narrower travel lanes, street trees.

Reframing bike lanes as speed humps for bigger roads is invaluable. Bike lanes help reduce speeding and increase safety for everyone, not just bicyclists.

Speed Limits

Another issue we’re working on is how speed limits are set in Michigan.

One major reason the auto industry wrote the “Rules of the Road” in the 1920s was to have higher speed limits and restrict other users, predominantly pedestrians, from using these roads. Higher travel speeds gave motorist a clear advantage over other travel modes and helped sell more cars.

Michigan’s speed limit laws still reflect this history with minimums limits for speed limits and by having the 85th fastest motorist under ideal conditions determine the speed limit — not traffic experts or local governments. This leads to higher speed limits that don’t consider road design, crash history, local land use, and pedestrian and bicyclist use. What’s equally bad is that when roads are reconstructed, they are designed to accomodate the speed limit rather than what is appropriate and safe for the local community.

One local example of this is W. Fort Street near Schaefer. It used to have a 35 MPH speed limit. The Michigan State Police measured the 85th fastest motorist at a bit over 40 MPH, so they raised the speed limit to 45 MPH. They didn’t consider that the neighborhood to the south crossed the road to get to Kemeney Rec Center and park on the north. After the speed limit changed, 8-year-old Brandyn Starks was hit and killed while crossing the street to get to the park.

We’re part of a stakeholder group that’s helping shape current legislation (HB 4733) to provide a modest amount of flexibility in setting speed limits. This change is very much inline with recommendation from the NTSB and many other national organizations. We look forward to providing future updates on this bill.

What about 20 MPH speed limits?

There is a push in many cities around the world to reduce residential speed limits from 25 MPH to 20 MPH. This change is being promoted to help reduce pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities and serious injuries. Recent studies show that lower speed limits do reduce motorist speeds.

However, Michigan law prohibits setting Detroit’s residential speed limits below 25 MPH through January 2024. The Michigan State Police will be doing motorist speed studies on these local roads across the state. We anticipate they will more likely want to raise this 25 MPH minimum rather than lower it by 2024.

Of course, if the legislature takes no action before that time, residential speed limits could be set based on the 85th fastest motorist…

Categories
Greenways Policy

Why We Endorse Proposal 1

  • The Michigan Naturals Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) is a major funding source for acquiring land for conservation, parks, and trails.
  • The Trust Fund also helps develop parks and trails, though it is currently limited.
  • Proposal 1 maintains the existing grant funding for land acquisitions and increases it for parks and trails. It will also make the redevelopment of existing facilities eligible.
  • Proposal 1 removes the Trust Fund cap, allowing future oil, gas, and mining royalties to be deposited here rather than in the state’s general fund.

Proposal 1 on this November’s ballot makes some changes to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund — and we think they’re all improvements. That’s why we joined the Vote YES on Proposal 1 Coalition along with over 30 other Michigan environment and conservation organizations.

What is the Trust Fund? It’s a dedicated fund that was created from the royalties on oil, gas, and mining operation on state land. It stopped receiving those funds in 2011 when it hit its $500 million cap. However it’s still growing from the interest and investments of those funds. To protect it from being raided for other purposes, voters moved it into the State Constitution (Section 35).

Each year, governments apply for grants from the fund. Those grants are scored, prioritized, then recommended (or not) by the appointed Trust Fund board before being approved by the legislature and governor.

Trust Fund grants have been instrumental for land acquisition and park development in Detroit, including the RiverWalk, Dequindre Cut, May Creek Greenway, Belle Isle, and the DNR Outdoor Adventure Center. Many Detroit parks (e.g. Balduck, Patton, Butzel) have been renovated with these funds as well.

In 2013, we wrote a $3.4 million Trust Fund grant for the City of Detroit that allowed them to purchase the abandoned railroad corridor that will be part of the Joe Louis Greenway.

Ballot proposal impacts

Currently, a maximum of 25% of the available grants funding can be spent on park and trail development grants. The proposal changes this to a minimum of 25%, the same minimum for land acquisition. This analysis from the House Fiscal Agency highlights the benefit in doing this:

Changing the restriction on funds made available for MNRTF-funded development projects from a maximum of 25% to a minimum of 25% would allow the MNRTF Board to recommend, and the legislature to appropriate, more funding for projects than may currently be spent. A total of $86.0 million was made available for project funding in FY 2017-18, and all 34 acquisition applicants received grants totaling $28.9 million. However, only 97 of 121 development applicants received a grant since development awards were capped at $21.5 million (25% of the $86.0 million made available) though development applications totaled $29.0 million. Changing the development project funding ceiling of 25% to a floor of 25% would match the restriction on acquisition projects and provide for all development applications to be appropriated in a given year if recommended by the MNRTF Board.

Legislative Analysis, House Fiscal Agency, December 2018

There have been some misleading claims made that this change reduces land acquisitions, but as the above example, that is simply not the case. All of the recommended land acquisition and park/trail development grants could have been awarded that round. Instead, $7.5 million in funding for parks and trails was not available due to that 25% maximum limit.

We should add that the proposed change is especially beneficial to Detroit where land acquisition is less of a necessity compared to the funding needs for developing parks and trails.

The other major impact is more long term. When the Trust Fund hit its $500 million cap in 2011, oil, gas, and mining royalties started going to the State Parks Endowment. When that endowment hits its $800 million cap (still some years away), those royalties will go to the state’s general fund. If this proposal passes, they’ll go back into the Trust Fund instead, making even more funding available for land acquisition and park/trail development in Michigan.

Based on our in depth review of the ballot language, the current constitutional language, and our experience with the grant program, we see every reason to support ballot proposal 1.