BY SCOTT SULLIVAN
EDITOR
“Hurry up and wait,” remain keywords for Friends of the Blue Start Trail, who learned last week construction on its North Section (from the Kalamazoo River bridge to Holland Street in Saugatuck Township) has been put on hold pending further study of work’s potential adverse effects on historic properties.
The nonprofit Friends, who for 13 years have worked and raised funds to create a 20-mile nonmotorized from Saugatuck-Douglas south to South Haven, Friends had expected bids to go out and work to begin on the stretch this spring.
But there are more bureaucratic hoops to jump through before federal grant funding is released.
“As the project is expected to receive substantial federal funds,” Friends president Clark Carmichael apprised members last week, “the National Historic Preservation Act and government-to-government consultation requirements of MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation) as the designee of the Federal Highway Administration require a review to identify and evaluate potential adverse effects to historic properties.
“During that review,” he went on, “the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (aka Gun Lake Tribe) identified that the project is occurring within the boundaries of the Kalamazoo River Mouth Traditional Cultural Property.
“A TCP,” explained Carmichael, “is one of the protected categories under the NHPA. According to the Tribe, the project, as currently designed, may have an adverse effect on contributing features to this TCP.”
Saugatuck, Douglas and Saugatuck Township managers met with Tribe and MDOT representatives Jan. 14 and agreed the next step will be a walk-through of the Trail route by tribal representatives this spring to determine whether more archeological or environmental surveys are needed to evaluate effects to the TCP, said Carmichael.
“While we are disappointed by this late-breaking development, we respect the concerns of the Tribe and are working closely with all our project partners to complete the reviews and resume the construction process as soon as possible,” he said.
“MDOT has assured us that its conditional award of grant funds for this section will remain in place throughout this process.
“In the meantime, we will continue to work on the connection to the Kal-Haven Trail in South Haven and advance work on sections of the Trail in between,” he said.
For more information on the project, visit fotbst.org.
