ROTHBURY — The Rothbury village council voted to move forward in pursuit of two separate state grants Tuesday night in hopes of revitalizing Czarny Park.
After a lengthy discussion, the council determined it would pursue its ‘complete’ plan, the most ambitious of the three potential plans put forward at the March 5 special meeting, and apply for a grant from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. The council also voted to apply for the less-lucrative Passport Grant, which would provide enough money to help the village with “just the nuts and bolts” of its revitalization plan for the park. Both applications are due April 1, which is why the decision had to be made Tuesday, the council’s final meeting prior to that date.
The council noted that Prein & Newhof passed along updated quotes to account for tweaks made to the plan, including nixing the original idea of paving the gravel parking area and cutting from two playgrounds to one. The two changes lowered the original estimate by about $100,000 from its original mark of nearly $1 million.
It was noted that preliminary DNR grant scores will be released in the fall and will show the village where it stands among other applicants, allowing it the chance to prioritize which grant it feels more likely to receive at that point and adjust its proposal accordingly.
During discussion, the council conceded its current grant proposal’s score of 265 was lower than that of any grant recipients in the last cycle, so its odds may be long. Trustee Denise Kurdziel said regardless of whether the village receives any grants, the council would like to see work done on the park and could allocate funds accordingly if it comes to that.
Dan Zuniga, owner of the Danny’Z Rothbury Tavern, made a public comment to offer the suggestion of building a disc golf course on the 10-acre parcel the council recently authorized funds to purchase. He reasoned it would not be expensive to build such a course and it would likely increase the grant score.
The council also discussed a potential village-wide trash pickup contract. The village solicited bids earlier this year, and the consensus seemed to be in favor of Kuerth’s Disposal in Twin Lake. However, there were some particulars the council was not clear about, especially involving a potential addition of recycling to the contract, and treasurer Deb Murphy said she would reach back out for more details.
Multiple public commenters discussed the Electric Forest’s recent announcement that it would no longer provide four-day festival passes to Rothbury residents who live close enough to the festival to qualify. The Forest announced this week that residents are able to register online to receive a one-day pass for the Sunday of the festival, scheduled for June 23-26. They will also have the option to upgrade the admission to a four-day pass at a discount. One commenter asked if this was discussed during the Forest’s recent contract renewal process; there was no reply.
