Berkley to hold meeting on draft of parks and recreation master plan

BERKLEY — The city of Berkley is in the midst of working on its parks and recreation master plan.

A draft of the five-year master plan has been completed and shared publicly at berkleymi.gov for the community to read and to provide feedback.

A public hearing on the master plan will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, at the Berkley Community Center, 2400 Robina Ave.

“The purpose of the plan is a guideline for the next five years of parks and recreation, from programming to maintenance to things in the future,” said Parks and Recreation Superintendent Dan McMinn. “The reason that we have to do this is to apply for grants through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. We need to have a five year plan on file with them. So, every five years we update the plan in accordance with being able to apply for grants through the DNR.”

Up to this point, McMinn said, officials have held meetings with the community and consultants Johnson Hill Land Ethics Studio to create this draft.

Some comments McMinn has heard so far range from wanting the parks to be maintained to the direction of the city’s community center.

“A lot of people in the city would like to see a pool,” he said. “Some people would like to see a dog park. There are those things — community gardens — that people are interested in. A lot of what the plan is saying is that we need to do further studies to see if those things are even feasible. You know, costs and space and a lot of things like that. So, it’s just giving us an opportunity to see what people in the community want and provide the best recreation services that we can.”

Councilman Gary Elrod said he wants residents to be engaged in providing feedback on the master plan.

City facilities are a big concern for Elrod, such as the community center, and he would like to help find a direction on what Berkley is going to do moving forward with the building. The last time residents voted on something related to a possible new center, it was a bond in 2018 that was rejected by a little over 50%.

The initial feedback, which the residents provided, was mostly favorable, but it was still under 50% in terms of wanting to see that space redesigned, which would potentially involve investment of city dollars,” he said. “So, there could be an ask for taxpayers down the road, and I just want to make sure that people are thinking through what type of vision they want to have for their municipal buildings, and what type of use they want for that space. Again, it’s both for our seniors and then we wanted to also be multi-generational, and that’s what I’m really hoping to see from the community. And one of the items that I’m passionate about, personally, I’d like to see more recreation opportunities that are tied to the building and the space itself.”