The State of Michigan has pulled an offer to revitalize Belle Isle as a state park off the table.
The move came Tuesday just hours after Detroit’s city council refused to vote on the offer after months of negotiations between the city and state.
“The council clearly isn’t interested in pursuing the arrangement, so it’s time to move on,” Ken Silfven, spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said Wednesday. “We have withdrawn the proposed lease from further consideration.”
Detroit councillors voted 6-3 to debate the issue on another day Tuesday and indicated they wanted more time to examine the lease.
Snyder has been pushing for an agreement that would see the state take over the city-operated park that sits on the Detroit River across from Windsor. He said it would save the city up to $6 million per year in annual operating costs. The state also put forward elaborate plans to rejuvenate the aging, downtrodden city island park.
Belle Isle bridge between Detroit, Michigan and Belle Isle as seen from Windsor, Ontario on January 30, 2013. (JASON KRYK/The Windsor Star)
News of the Belle Isle offer being pulled off the table and the talks ending frustrated Detroit Mayor Dave Bing who has worked for months with Snyder to get a deal in place.
“I am extremely disappointed with today’s decision by City Council to table the vote on the Belle Isle lease deal with the state,” Bing said in a statement.
“This plan would have provided state funding for the operation, renovation and maintenance of the island as a state park, while we work to stabilize the city’s finances. I believe the majority of Detroiters supported this lease agreement. City council’s actions today will force us to look at making additional cutbacks that may negatively impact the city’s other parks.”
Under the proposed agreement, the state’s Department of Natural Resources would have taken over the island and overseen improvements that included new shelters, restrooms, athletic fields and walking trails. Detroit would have retained ownership.
The agreement also proposed to include a first-ever charge for entering Belle Isle. Visitors would have to buy an annual $10 Michigan State Park pass, but that also would be good for use at any of Michigan’s other 101 state parks.
Coun. Kenneth Cockrel Jr. was among the councillors opposed to signing off on the Belle Isle deal.
He told the Detroit News the Belle Isle proposal has grown too prominent in the cash-strapped city, which is dealing with a litany of issues as it struggles to survive financially. Snyder also continues to weigh whether an emergency manager should be appointed in Detroit.
“There are far more pressing issues than this that we ought to be dealing with,” Cockrel told the News. “The reality is making Belle Isle into a state park does not fix our escalating health care costs, pension costs, tears down abandoned buildings (and) doesn’t turn the lights on.
“Yet, once again this issue has become front and centre even though the city is going to a hell in a handbasket financially. If we fix the city’s finances, Belle Isle will take care of itself.”
