Glen Arbor Township approves Lake Street Garden/Restroom project

By Joanne Bender
Sun contributor
It’s official. Lake Street will get a lovely garden and public restrooms on the land formerly occupied by the fire hall, between Art’s Tavern and the Cottage Book Shop. The Glen Arbor Township Board approved the garden/restroom project at a public meeting on Monday, June 23, by a vote of 3-2 in front of a near capacity crowd gathered at the Township Hall. The crowd applauded the project’s approval.
Photo by Ted and Amy Peterson

At long last, there will be public restrooms in Glen Arbor. Following a year of planning, bids will now be sought and construction can begin, possibly in September. Restrooms will be available six months of the year (May-October) when local tourism traffic reaches its peak.
Details for the combined site are in place. Township Supervisor John Soderholm explained project details at the June 23 meeting, and a PowerPoint presentation offered model drawings of the landscape, as well as a painting by committee member Ted Peterson. A committee, including Soderholm, Bill Thompson, David Marshall, Sara Litch, and Peterson as an ad hoc member, researched all aspects of the forthcoming project during the past year.
The physical structure housing restrooms will include women’s and men’s restrooms and family areas, including handicapped access. According to Soderholm, the facility will likely have an asphalt roof with a big overhang and supported by large pine-tree logs to give it “an up north feel.” High windows on two sides will provide fresh air and light for aesthetics. The Township Board will underwrite costs associated with utility services, the restroom and the connection to an existing well at the nearby artists’ colony. Of the approximately $4,000 needed to maintain the grounds for the six months a year the restrooms are open, the Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce has pledged $1,800.
The total ground area of the restroom building will be 20 feet x 24 feet. Including the overhang, the building’s total footprint will be 29 feet x 29 feet. A similarly designed, 6 x 6-foot kiosk with eaves nearby will have two doors that open up like wings and offer literature from the Chamber. Here visitors can leave messages, like “meet you at Art’s at noon.”
Consultants were Russ Clark of Clark & Associates and Jim Klein, a professional engineer with Lapham & Associates. Clark spoke about landscape plans.
The gardens will feature flowering shrubs and other plants. Sugar maples and champion yellow birch will occupy the park’s perimeter. The Glen Lake Garden Club, as well as Peterson’s wife Amy and other interested volunteers, will be involved with landscaping the park.
Donations received by the Glen Lake Garden Club in memory of Suzanne Matschke will be used to purchase a special bench in her honor. Other seating, including low stonewalls, and picnic tables will also be available. Soderholm says that one idea for raising funds includes etching the names of donors in the bricks, or also planting “championship trees”.
Linda Young chairs the Landscape fund-raising committee, which plans to augment the Township’s costs with donations from Glen Arbor citizens. Carol and Don Worsley are honorary chairpersons of this group. Also on the landscape committee are Fred Missad, Terry Gretzema (Township Board liaison), Jack Putnam, Jim Becker, Mike Buhler and Ann Davy (full disclosure, Buhler is co-editor of the Glen Arbor Sun).
A website will soon be available with information regarding the planned landscaping for the park, including diagrams and necessary information to answer inquiries. The landscape committee plans an informative mailing to be sent to all Glen Arbor area residents.
The goal for private donations is to raise $75,000, more than $24,000 of which has already been pledged. Donations will underwrite the cost of the gardens. Soderholm attests that one individual has already pledged $1,000, and others have floated the amount of $2,000.
Cost to the township coffers will be approximately $196,000.
Founding editor Jacob Wheeler contributed to this report.