I was at the meeting today along with Fellow members Paul Hittie, Jeremy Richert and Ken Feusse and a veritble who's who of the Off-roading community in Michigan. I spoke during the public comments Period for myself and the club noting we are a family oriented group out on the trails in Michigan and beyond at least once per month, that we travel as far as 9 hours+ to enjoy this recreation with our families, and that the excellent Oakland county park system (which includes family friendly venues such as water parks, campgrounds and dog parks) would be well served catering to another family oriented user group. I let them know that we defy the defy the "Beer swilling Redneck" Stereotype that seems to be so deeply entrenched in the public mind! See Notes from GLFWDA's FB page below:
RV Update round December 6th
To all of you who attended the Parks Commission meeting, thank you for making the time to attend. For many of you, I know it was a long drive and a sacrifice of vacation and/or personal time. Many of you came up to speak to me and I appreciate the kind words. I was not able to spend any time chatting, and I apologize for that. No slight was intended.
So many of you are thanking me for this, and you have it backwards. I'm just the poor sap who typed out a cry for help. YOU FOLKS are the people who deserve the thanks. Every one of you who spoke, sat in a chair, stood along the wall or drove your rig made a HUGE IMPRESSION on the commissioners and their staff. Keep in mind that they have NEVER NEVER NEVER had this large of a turnout for any issue, let alone that everyone who was there was in support of the park. No opposition, no disagreements, but rather a strong showing of family, camaraderie, friendship and a sincere willingness to help.
The number reported to me was between 300-325 in attendance, NOT INCLUDING the board members. WOW!!!So what does this mean to you and the future of the ORV park? I'm seeing some misleading posts so let me try to clarify.
There are two distinct things to be aware of.
1) The vote today does not mean that the county is moving forward with the park. It means that the county has agreed to enter into studies and negotiations with the DNR to "POSSIBLY" operate the park. This negotiation will result in an OPERATING LEASE AGREEMENT between the county and the state. Think of it like buying a house. You may go out and get pre-approved for a loan and sign on with a real estate agent, but you haven't agreed to buy a house yet. You are just shopping. The county voted to officially shop.
2) The DNR owns the land and has the intention to open an ORV park hopefully operational in late 2018. So what if they cannot develop an operating agreement with the County? The state will have to go back to the drawing board to determine how the park should be operated.
So you may say "so why was it so important for me to take a vacation day if nothing really happened?". Here is why. If the county had backed out today, the state really doesn't have a backup plan. It would have stalled, for how long, I don't know. Instead, YOU gave the county the confidence that this is a good thing.
Paul Hittie and I stayed to meet with Jason Fleming of the DNR and Jon Noyes from Oakland County. You all heard Jason say he wants to get things rolling. Our meeting was to discuss how to move forward with volunteers who will be part of a planning group. Jason is going to work out a format and present it to us for review. More to follow on that but realize we may not see anything till after the new year.
We broke up about 4:30 which is about the time the commission meeting broke up. We ended up talking with some of the commissioners and staff. They told us over and over that we did a great job, they were impressed with the crowd and the turnout and that we definitely made a positive impression. They were very impressed with the diversity, the distance people drove to be here and the show of dedication.
Great job everyone!
