Township News
Eagle Harbor State Marina Upgrade
September 2023 update:
Supervisor Probst met with MJO and DNR to walk through the site and point out all the improvements. The lease agreement to be signed with the state was also discussed; ideally the management agreement will be received this fall and the township will begin management in Spring 2024. The project is right on schedule.
August 2023 update:
MJO is wrapping up their $2.8 million dollar project with improvements to the marina, comfort station, grounds, and the addition of seasonal slips on the east side of the launch ramp - the Marina Committee is meeting to discuss the management agreement that the Township and DNR will enter into.
Winter 2022:
The upgrade to the Eagle Harbor State Marina has begun. They have been working through the cold weather and the plan is to work until winter takes over and resume in the spring. They have focused on the current seawall and infrastructure and they have built the new seawall to the east of the boat launch ramp. Work on expanding the docking to the eastern side of the boat launch will resume in the spring/summer. The project will likely go through the entire boating season in 2023. The two most frequently asked questions are - "will they remove the tree in the middle of the road?" (NO!), and "will the boat launch remain open through construction?" (Yes, except for a very brief time when they place infrastructure underground to the eastern improvements). We will update as we know more. Below is part of the bid plans, the entire plan is printed at the Township Office and is available to review.
Fundraiser for the Community Building
You have probably seen these around for a few years, but we are getting down to the last of them. We will look at doing another run of plates in the future, design and look to change, but we need to sell the remainder of these first. The money raised goes to the operation and maintenance of the Community Building. Stop in the office to purchase! $10 each
Potential Project at Eagle Harbor Public Beach
The Eagle Harbor Township park committee has been working on a potential project at the beach that would mainly address improved access to the beach along Front Street in Eagle Harbor.
If you follow along with our board meetings, in December 2023 the park committee touched on the beach project in our annual report to the board. The final concept was still being refined. What we have produced is a concept plan with an opinion of costs for the project (Site Plan, Opinion of Costs ), to be used to apply for funding.
Allow me to give you some background on the project -
We had a generous donation several years ago ($10K) earmarked to be used at the beach. We have sat on that donation, not exactly sure how/what we could do. The beach is what it is, a place to swim, play on the beach, gather, relax, ect. We make modest improvements to the swim lines and raft (thank you Doug Slowik!), but mainly we have been looking to leverage this gift for something that would be lasting and beneficial.
Fast forward to the summer of 2023. The Accessible Keweenaw Initiative ( AKI https://www.visitkeweenaw.com/accessible-keweenaw-initiative/ ) was a project that, through a series of site assessments at various locations throughout the Keweenaw, looked at what the access for handicapped people was, and what kind of improvements could be made (EH Beach assessment is HERE ). The park committee enlisted the help of a landscape architect to take our thoughts, and the site assessment to develop the concept plan attached.
Because the project is a low impact accessibility project, I think it may have slipped the "push" to make sure surrounding neighbors knew what the park committee was organizing. We feel it is an important improvement for all users of the beach young and old and especially those with accessibility issues.
The ultimate funding for this project will come from two seperate grants. We are using the donation to fund a Copper Shores Community Health Foundation grant (already received) for a roughly $28,000 match for a Michigan Natural Resource Trust Fund Development grant. Long story short, using the $10k to build out a $111,000 project. If all goes to plan, funding would not happen until fall of 2024, construction not until spring of 2025.
I know many will have questions about the details addressed in the concept, please stop in the office when you are here this summer. The park committee and board are always open to discussion and the input from our residents. Please reach out to any of us to talk about this project, get more details, offer input or comment, or direction. We appreciate it.
