WHITEHALL — The Fruitland Township board plans to move forward with an independent traffic study of the intersection of Whitehall and Riley Thompson roads, it said at the Monday, July 21 board meeting.
The intersection has been an area of concern for many residents, especially during the summer when the nearby Michigan’s Adventure theme park is in operation. After meeting with the Muskegon County Road Commission and receiving no quote for a study, supervisor Jeff Marcinkowski is not confident the commission will conduct its own traffic study in an acceptable amount of time or with the thoroughness an independent study could, especially after speaking with a traffic engineer.
The township now plans to contact Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, the owners of Michigan’s Adventure, to gauge interest in splitting the cost of the traffic study, as the theme park’s management shares the township's concern over safety.
Along with recommending an independent traffic study, the engineer who spoke with Marcinkowski also considered a roundabout as an alternative to a stoplight, saying it would address all the same concerns: Forcing drivers to slow down, eliminating the existing blind spots, and disallowing onloading and offloading of children at the intersection to avoid parking fees. The board was amenable to this alternative, should it prove beneficial.
In addressing unfinished business, the board decided on a replacement building for the transfer station office. The current building will be removed and its replacement, a 10 feet by 10 feet insulated container building provided by BLOX, will be placed at the entrance of the transfer station. The board will now decide what to do with the old building and will determine how it will provide electricity to the BLOX container. The move is projected to be complete before winter.
As for the search for land to construct a future community center, the Parks and Recreation department received the board’s letter requesting a parcel of land from Nestrom Road Park to the township, which they denied. Marcinkowski has been searching for other suitable parcels of land, and provided one option to the board, but further discussion will happen at a later date once it is determined how large the land should be to comply with township building ordinances.
Also for Nestrom Park, the DNR Passport grant, which would enable new parking and accessible pathway construction to be constructed concurrently, announces its allocation decisions in December. Because of this, the accessible pathways and parking projects will both be pushed back to 2026, presuming the township lands the grant.
Marcinkowski, who discussed improving the audio visual capabalities of the town hall at the June meeting, proposed the board “earmark potential deposits above projected expectations of interest on accounts” to the future installation of new A/V equipment. The board appeared skeptical the equipment would be used enough to justify the expense, and the idea was tabled.
Township clerk Alexa Steffes worried about the extra work that would go into teaching potential users how to work the equipment and whether anyone would continue using it after the current council’s terms expire. Christopher VanOosterhout also questioned the necessity of such a move, but said he was open to considering it if a need becomes clear.
