Thank you for joining the Open House

March 7, 2018!

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Open House Summary:

The Upper Detroit Riverfront Parks Habitat Restoration (UDRP) project hosted a Community Open House on Wednesday, March 7th with two sessions at Butzel Family Recreation Center, located at 7737 Kercheval.

22 community members attended the afternoon session and 13 members attended the evening session, 35 total. The open house included presentations from project partners including the City of Detroit, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EA Engineering, and the National Park Service-Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program (NPS-RTCA) staff.

Each meeting began with a welcome from Tim Karl, GSD Landscape Architect, followed by introductions from the project team and their respective roles in the project. A brief summary of the community engagement process to date was shared by NPS-RTCA staff Barbara Nelson-Jameson (MI Project Coordinator). 

Consultant Kevin Kowalk of EA Engineering presented the conceptual design for the habitat restoration which EA Engineering has been developing over the last year.  The design contains 12 design options, each developed to meet a series of habitat restoration goals, and to incorporate community comments from the previous open house (April 2017).  Each design option was presented individually, followed by detailed discussion and community feedback.

Methods for staying engaged in the restoration process and the formation of a Friends of the Upper Riverfront Parks (working title) stewardship group was proposed and discussed with attendees.  15 community members signed up to be part of the formation of such a group. If you would like to participate click HERE.

The project team took note of all verbal comments, and community members filled out a survey provided at the beginning of the open house. This allowed attendees to think on the questions throughout the presentations and take notes as they were presented with new information. Working together, the project team has reviewed each comment, suggestion, and all questions asked during the open house.  

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Survey Questions & Results

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• What do you like most about the design?

  • 1-3, 5, 12

  • The floating habitats, the burms with access up to the water and able to walk around.  Love numbers 3, 4, 7, 10-12

  • Wetland restoration – so important for native species of all kinds.  Also FLOATING WETLANDS! (1-4, 10)

  • I really like the wetland ideas in AB Ford & Lakewood East.  Looking forward to seeing the parking lot removed and subsequent parking at Lakewood East Park. (1-5)

  • Pollinator parks for family.  Birds! (6, 7)

  • Wetland additions and pollinator gardens and use of native plants as they will enhance the natural wildlife. (1-4, 6, 7)

  • 1, because it addresses break wall issues and increases habitat
    2, because it engances fish habitat as well as public access to the water for recreation
    3&4, because they enhance fish habitat (as long as connected to river).
    8&12, because they enhance wildlife habitat on a large area of the park.

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• Would this design affect your use of the parks? In what ways?

  • I go to these parks to walk my dog.  Will there be a dog park?  If there is, Lakewood East would be a good option because it is less populated.

  • It seems like these improvements would enhance my usage.

  • Yes, would visit even more than I do.  Would bring more children there.  Would do classes with groups of children.

  • Detroit Audubon would be able to use these parks more once they are restored, for programming and events.

  • Can’t forsee any adverse effects.  If anything, the plans would make me visit the parks more.

  • The childrens’ safety.  Transportation.

  • The wetlands and the pollinator gardens would. 

  • Wetland enhancements (1-4) would increase my kayaking in the park to explore and monitor the plantings.

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• Is there anything about the design that concerns you? Or, that you feel should be changed?

  • All good ideas

  • When restoring/putting in wetlands, please be cognizant of where you dump mud/muck you pull up – on Belle Isle they dumped it on very important grassland habitat, which is pretty terrible.

  • You addressed my concern about preventing vehicles from entering the park.  Love the idea of the boulders being used for that – much nicer than concrete.  Like the idea of temporarily using the concrete blocks in the interim.  Also would like option 1 to look like option 2 (heavy freighter wake there). 

  • Foxes.  Amphibians, snakes, salamanders.  The real concern is no dog park on AB Ford Park.

  • No

  • 9 – would negatively impact boating & fishing, wouldn’t do it.
    10 – not sure how effective it would be, how it would be maintained, or how it would be received by canal users. (would still do but cautiously).
    5 – removing parking would increase parking problems, but it would have very positive impacts on the habitat.  (would still do but cautiously).

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• Do you have any other comments about the design?

  • Beavers causing too much erosion could be a major issue going forward.

  • Child safety, railings

  • Barricade for cars to prevent them from driving in.

  • A lot of wonderful visions have been shown.  Please keep up the good work.  Glad to see help is coming to the parks.

  • When the issue of handicap access was raised, I realized that is super important for the aging population, so please incorporate pathways as discussed.

  • Maintain recreational use for families.  There’s no real plan for parking or for loose pets.

  • Play area for all the children

  • Great plans, I like all the options

  • Need to maintain/enhance walking paths so they are continuous.

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• Would you be interested in getting involved in long-term stewardship efforts at the parks?

  • 15 responses said yes and signed up for the new Friends Group!  Learn More

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Updated 06/April/2018

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