Township News

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 our board meetings, in December 2023 the park committee touched on the beach project in its annual report to the board.  The final concept was still being refined.  We have produced a concept plan with an opinion of costs for the project (Site Plan, Opinion of Costs), to be used to apply for funding.

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, etc.  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 and the Accessible Keweenaw Initiative (AKI) - a project that, through a series of site assessments at various locations throughout the Keweenaw, looked at existing access for handicapped people and what 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, the "push" to make sure surrounding neighbors knew what the park committee was organizing may have slipped.  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 separate 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.

Many will have questions about the details addressed in the concept. Please stop in the office when you are next in town.  The park committee and board are always open to discussion and the input from 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.