Ada Trail budget article

This article has never been published; I wrote this article in a journalism class at Grand Valley State University in March 2008 as an undergraduate student. As the class assignments, we were given a "beat" township to cover locally, to write stories covering the affairs of the township.

I was given Ada township, and I started by going to introduce myself around the township offices and looking through their budget. When I found a special budget for building a trail along the side of the road, I decided to take a closer look.

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Ada Township enters phase two of trail project

By Matt Marn

Ada Township residents will soon be one step closer to enjoying a new trail winding around their community.

Thanks to nearly $1.5 million approved for trail construction, with $1.2 million going toward phase one of Ada Township’s non-vehicular plan, the community has already put the existing trails to good use.

“The trail millage passed a few years back, and we decided to bond [the projects] all together,” said Deborah Ensing Millhuff, Ada Township clerk. “If you do it trail by trail, piece by piece, then by the time you’re done, the first part has to be redone. Most of the people want it done, but the controversy is on what side of the road it should be done.”

Township Planner Jim Ferro said whenever a trail is built, residents have an opinion on what side of the road it should be placed. But either way, he said it will do a lot of good.

“It’s been needed for probably ten years, and it’s been in the works for five years or more,” Ferro said. “There was a great amount of citizen interest in having safe and healthier means to get around.”

Ferro said the plan’s timetable, one phase per year, began in 2007.

During the first phase, the township placed a trail on Grand River Drive from Fulton Street to Knapp Street. In the second phase – scheduled to start in early summer and finish in the fall – the township will lay a trail on Knapp Street from the Grand River to Honey Creek Avenue. The final phase, scheduled in 2009, will include Honey Creek Avenue, Conservation Street, McCabe Avenue and Bailey Drive. The trails are designed to form a loop throughout the community.

Diane Pratt, Ada Township treasurer, said the community has had numerous trails in Ada Township, and most citizens respond favorably.

“It’s a safer way to walk and bike,” Pratt said. “It’s been a plan of the township to link the trails up, so they aren’t just trails that lead to nowhere.”

Pratt was in charge of the bonding for the trails, the millage of which was put on the ballot and passed in November 2006. They started collecting for the millage that winter.

Pratt said the bonding was over $4.5 million up front for all three phases of the trail project. After the lengthy process of getting a bond rating and finding a bank to loan the money, Pratt said they were ready to begin.

Ferro said the plan is going according to schedule and on-budget, and he does not foresee any problems in carrying out the rest of the project.

“We need to gauge feedback and make adjustments,” he said. “The first phase is already being used by people; it’s very well received. It encourages people to stay healthy and fit by getting out there, and it keeps bikers and pedestrians safe, not to mention raises property value. People are out using them before they’re finished.”