CHASSELL TOWNSHIP — Chassell Township’s Centennial Park is receiving nearly $500,000 for improvements through a round of Michigan Department of Natural Resources grants announced Monday.

The $495,000 through the Spark Grant will fund accessible bathrooms, pathways and boardwalk, among other improvements. The Chassell Lions Club also provided matching funds.

The Spark Grants were designed to reach people in communities whose economic opportunities and public health were most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The grant process was highly competitive, with 21 projects being announced from among the 462 applicants after the first round of funding in January.

Chassell Township’s proposal was one of the highest-ranking of the ones remaining, said Planning Commission member Keith Meyers. More places applied for the second round, bringing the total to more than 500.

Since then, Chassell Township got its permitting in place. It also received additional letters of support, including from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, which backed the adjustable boat ramp.

“Centennial Park, it’s quite a hub here, especially for anyone who uses Portage Lake,” Meyers said. “If you think about it, you’ve got Hancock Beach in Hancock, but otherwise what we have done here in Chassell Township, on Pike Bay, it’s probably one of the most significant places you can access the lake.”

It’s a gathering spot not just for Chassell residents, but people through the Keweenaw, Meyers said. The pavilion is a popular spot for wedding receptions, and the park also hosts popular community events from the annual Strawberry Festival to Michigan Technological University’s K-Day.

Part of the project will include rebuilding a wooden lakeside boardwalk that had been wiped out by ice and high water. Unlike the previous boardwalk, this one will be mounted on steel piers instead of wood.

The trail will be Americans with Disabilities Act-complaint, allowing people to fish on the waterfront. It will also connect to the trail on the north side of the off-leash dog park.

The fixed-ramp boat dock will be replaced with one that can be adjusted depending on the water level of the lake.

“When the water’s high, it’s a problem with being wet,” Meyers said. “When the water’s low, it creates accessibility problems for people who are putting their boats in the water.”

Also helping with accessibility will be a concrete walkway leading down from the pavilion to the water.

The pavilion’s bathrooms will also be retrofit to make them ADA-compliant. A north-side door will be added to the pavilion so the bathrooms can be accessible year-round. They will also be heated, Meyers said.

There will also be new boards for the ice rink in the pavilion in the winter, replacing the more than 25-year-old ones in use now.

“Our DPW guys have been patching those on a year-to-year basis,” Meyers said.

They’re also repairing the curtains around the pavilions, important for the Strawberry Festival, the farmer’s market, and other events.

U.P. Engineers & Architects has already done some preliminary engineering work, which will now be fleshed out further, Meyers said.

His hope is to get the work done as soon as possible, and no later than next spring.

“Some of our contractors can work into December, so if there’s an opportunity to get some of this done this year, we’ll certainly do that,” he said.

The grants come from $450 million of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for state and local parks that were part of the bipartisan Building Michigan Together Plan, signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in March 2022.

The DNR was tasked with administering $65 million of that total; today’s announcement concludes the second and final round of direct DNR grant funding, the state said in a release. The other $27.5 million will support 39 underserved “opportunity communities” through the Council of Michigan Foundations.

Meyers was appreciative of the bipartisan effort, singling out Rep. Greg. Markkanen and Sen. Ed McBroom for advocating for Chassell and Whitmer for approving the funding.

“We know it was very competitive, and we’re just very thankful that we’re going to be able to make these significant improvements,” he said.