Project brings park improvements near $10 million mark
Storm water from a 4,200-car parking lot will no longer flow into the Black Creek once construction is completed on the $3.3 million Storm Water Greenscape Project at Lake St. Clair Metropark.
-
The project involves replacing part of the 42-acre parking lot built in 1950 with eco-friendly parking areas and vegetative swales that, along with the nearby wetlands, collect and filter rainfall as part of a natural storm water management system. The project will improve water quality by reducing the amount of untreated storm water flowing directly into Lake St. Clair. A key element of the design is redirecting the flow of storm water from the existing outlet at Black Creek to a new open-water outlet at the Point Rosa Marsh.
-
The design also improves vehicle and pedestrian safety by installing new parking areas close to the Nature Center, rerouting the perimeter park road, and separating the hike/bike trail from the park road. Two skating ponds and a sledding hill will be shaped into the new contours, and nearly 200 trees and 10 acres of native plants will be placed in green areas.
-
Two U.S. EPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants totaling $1.5 million help fund the project.
Construction is expected to begin on May 20. Heavy equipment will crumble up about one-half of the parking lot pavement; this material will remain in place and be reused as base for the new pavement. Dan’s Excavating, Inc., of Shelby Township, is the general contractor.
-
The project brings park improvements since 2007 close to $10 million. In 2007, the park’s central plaza area was reconstructed at a cost of nearly $1 million. In 2009, a new golf starter building and picnic pavilion replaced aging facilities at a cost of $1.2 million. A $3 million marina opened in 2010, replacing the one built in 1959, and $1.5 million of marsh restoration projects started in 2010. The 770-acre park, which opened in 1950, hosts more than one million visitors each year.
-
For more information, contact Lake St. Clair Metropark at 586-463-4581
-
