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09/26/2006
Long Lake residents to decide on 'hidden gems'
Long Lake Township Supervisor Karen Rosa, left, Sally Rivard and Matt McDonough walk through the Gilbert Pines property. TRAVERSE CITY — Long Lake voters will be asked for up to $2 million in local tax dollars to purchase and preserve two of the last remaining wilderness tracts in the township. A local ballot proposal seeking up to 0.46-mills for the next 20 years will go before voters Nov. 7. If approved, the township will use the funds to purchase the 212-acre Gilbert Pines Boy Scout Camp property on Cedar Lake for $1.326 million, and a 108-acre parcel between Bass and Long lakes for $630,000. "This is our big chance, because if we don't buy it now it's going to go into development," said resident Sally Rivard who's working to build support for the ballot issue. "Both of these properties are hidden gems; they aren't that far off the beaten path but nobody knows about them," said Matt McDonough of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy. The purchase prices were based on independent appraisals of the property, he said. McDonough said the properties contain unspoiled wildlife habitat and undeveloped water frontage at Gilbert Pines. Both of the properties are adjacent to existing public land and have trail systems already in place. The township also submitted a $1 million grant application to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund for the Gilbert Pines property, McDonough said. It includes 1,500 feet of frontage on Cedar Lake and over 6,000 feet on Cedar Run Creek. McDonough said the preliminary grant application scored very high and he's optimistic the grant will be awarded in December. With the grant the township board would cut the proposed millage rate in half from an estimated 0.46 mills to 0.23 mills for 20 years, officials said. That would reduce the yearly tax payment from $34 to $17 for the owner of a $150,000 home with a taxable value of $75,000. The 108-acre parcel between Long and Bass Lakes, known as the South Long Lake Forest, does not include any waterfront so it doesn't score well enough for a grant, McDonough said. The property is adjacent to 120 acres of forest the township already owns that's accessible only by a two-track road, township Supervisor Karen Rosa said. The acquisition would include access to both properties from South Long Lake Road.
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