Oakland County ORV park update

**phittie1100** · October 12th, 2017, 06:52 AM

Last night was the Oakland County Board of Commissioners meeting. The park was not on the agenda, but we had been urging peoole to come out and if inclined make public statements in support of the park. We had 25-30 people on hand, and several speakers - Jim K, Mike O, Jennifer from Wicked Jeeps and another enthusiast from Oakland County - in support, no one in opposition. Dale brought his big trailer down from Saginaw for a big visible show of support, and saw familiar faces from Owosso, Port Huron and of course some Oakland County folks as well. We will have more public support-type events in the future, please try to attend these meetings if you are able. The wheels of government are turning slowly and will periodically need a bunch of us to get out and push.

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**lgottler** · October 12th, 2017, 07:55 PM

Thanks for the update Paul

**WhiteRhino** · October 12th, 2017, 09:22 PM

A new update on the Oakland County ORV park. As we have said in the past, from our viewpoint, things have been pretty stagnant with the county parks commission. In the meantime, we have continued to work with the park staff, the landowner who has sold his property but continues to build ORV features, the township and the DNR. We have given advice, toured the property with various government people and stayed in the game. Last week we attended the parks commission meeting and urged them to move forward. Last night, we attended the county board of commissioners meeting (the parks commission reports to the board of commissioners) and encouraged the board to put some emphasis on this project. We felt well received at both meetings over the past 2 weeks. Coincidentally, there was a meeting already scheduled for today between some of the parks commissioners, the township some of the other land owners and the DNR. 4 things came out of today's results. 1) It was stated that everyone took notice of our efforts at both meetings, to the point that it reached the head of the DNR in Lansing this morning. (our voices were heard) 2) A roadblock of traffic logistics was resolved today with the intended park entrance off of Dixie Hwy and Shields Rd. (where we wanted it) 3) The parks commission chairman agreed today to move forward with the negotiations of an operating agreement with the State. NOTE, this does not mean they have an operating agreement, it means they see the value in attempting to create a working agreement. (a big win) and 4) The DNR has noted that they see the value with working with us as a volunteer user group. All of these are GREAT SIGNS and we are EXTREMELY OPTIMISTIC. I was also told that the letters that you have written to the parks commission have been passed on to the MDNR in Lansing. With that, we want to encourage all of you to continue to write and attend meetings. The property is about to be posted with No Trespassing signs but I would encourage people to stop by the site at Dixie Hwy and look down into the pit. Take a selfie and forward it to the County. Keep in their eyesight. I have one final comment. Although our attendance at both of the recent meetings was noted, our attendance was lower than we had hoped. NEXT TIME WE ASK FOR HELP, PLEASE TAKE US SERIOUSLY AND MAKE YOUR BEST EFFORTS TO ATTEND! Jim