By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


Howell City Council has agreed to begin the process of creating a Parks and Recreation Master Plan that will help them with future grant opportunities.

At their meeting this week, Council elected to go forward with having Carlisle Wortman Associates perform a “scope of work” for the plan. The City is also hiring them for the re-write of the City Master Plan, and there is belief that overlaps in the public engagement project for the two plans can result in some cost savings. Municipalities that have a Parks and Recreation Master plan on file with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources on February 1st of any given year are eligible for additional grant opportunities from the DNR for that year.

City Manager Erv Suida noted that this will also help them make good with the DNR for a grant they were receiving for an old ballpark on Lucy Road that was discovered to have contamination in the early 1990s.

Suida said the Howell Parks and Recreation Authority has a plan, but the City wants do its own. HAPRA, he said, will still be a part of the process. Suida said they want to incorporate their neighborhood parks, their main park, and the boat launch.

City Council agreed to hire CWA for cost not to exceed $15,380. According to their project schedule provided to Council, They plan on beginning with a kickoff meeting and a survey in February, with the plan being ready for public hear and potential adoption in August. This would make them eligible for DNR grants in 2023.