Lansing Area Parks, Trails and Nature

A new thread to replace the lost parks thread...

Comments

  • City of Lansing has draft 2026-2030 Parks Master Plan out for review:
    https://content.civicplus.com/api/assets/7561d46b-8bdd-4928-a815-e99aa3e74046?cache=1800

    After reading it, I'm not sure what's going on. The cover letter says 2026-2030 then says "submitted February 1, 2021", the Action Plan is also from the 2020 report. @citykid I know not your department, but any ideas?
  • edited October 29
    Came my way on Twitter, a graduate level class at MSU looking for community opinions about the Red Cedar River:
    https://msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2fZhacBc0DXmOj4?Q_CHL=qr
  • I filled it out. Anything to encourage more community-university-student engagement.
  • Fair amount of work on the park behind the Brody Complex (does it have a name)? Lots and lots of the brush trimmed. A few new picnic tables about. Pictured, MSU seems to be expanding (or repairing? was it already there?) the fence at the edge of their property.

    I do not know, but I wonder again if the park-i-fication is partly an attempt to make the area unappealing to would-be homeless campers, which have made it right to the doorstep of MSU now. Few places left where they can feel concealed.

    d2mymg76ncez.png

  • I think the homeless camping was a big part of why they are clearing these areas, plus it just looks so much better with all the underbrush and weeds gone. The woods next to Kalamazoo St. and beyond have been cleared and the forest looks healthier and inviting, rather than scary and overgrown. Whatever the reason, I'm glad they did it.
  • Michigan Waterways Stewards are coordinating a lot of this and I've largely been happy with their efforts, there's a lot of opportunity to do more with Red Cedar Park and more than a few other spots along the River Trail.
  • The draft parks master plan link appears fixed:
    https://content.civicplus.com/api/assets/7561d46b-8bdd-4928-a815-e99aa3e74046?cache=1800

    Lots of promising stuff in the action plan, of interest to me are:
    - Connecting downtown's west bank Rivertrail to Michigan Ave via Wentworth Park
    - A path and bridge connecting Fulton Park to Anderson Park
    - Repairing the Rivertrail near the Francis Park riverside lot
    - Renovating Comstock Park's historic community building
    - Adding lighting to the Rivertrail from Reo Town to Old Town
    - Building an indoor ice arena (!!!!)
    - Repair Reutter Park's fountain


    Some of these things, such as the Comstock Park building renovation, were on the action plan five years ago so I wouldn't expect all these to happen in the next five years. It was also noted in the plan that the top wish-list item from the community input meetings was a public amphitheater/festival space, that was not in the action plan as far as I can see but it is on the radar of those in charge.
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