Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RALPH ANSAMI
Bessemer — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners Wednesday approved a grant application for the Bessemer to Ramsay Iron Belle non-motorized trail project.
The board had earlier agreed to apply for the grants to build the trail.
The board agreed to forward the grant application to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund for $292,100 out of a total project cost of $1,651,100.
The remaining funding for the hiking-biking trail would come from a Michigan Department of Transportation grant for $1,129,000 and a donation of $230,000 from the Western Gateway Trail Authority.
“We have to get both grants to make the project a go,” Anderson said.
The county will be required to contribute $150,000 for the project upfront in 2020 or 2021, but that amount will be repaid when the funding is received.
The three-mile-long paved trail extension is supported by the county’s five-year recreation plan and Bessemer Township.
Also on Wednesday, the county board closed out the Ironwood to Bessemer portion of the Iron Belle Trail project. The exit agreement subject to review from corporation counsel Nick Jacobs says the trail will not be used for any other purpose than a non-motorized trail.
Paul Anderson, of Coleman Engineering, said approval of the agreement was a formality requested by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which owns the trail, with Gogebic County having the easement on it.
At a public hearing at the beginning of Wednesday’s county board meeting, Anderson said a bridge that is used on a snowmobile trail in Ramsay does not fall under the third phase of the project, but will be addressed in phase 4.
Ironwood City Manager Scott Erickson, who is a member of the trail authority, said the arrangement in which the county has been a “partner” in the project has so far worked out well.
The Gogebic County Road Commission is also involved, applying for the DOT TAP funding.
When complete, the Iron Belle Trail will stretch from Detroit to Ironwood.
