New Community Vision’s two-year effort to acquire and preserve the former Timber Shores property between Omena and Northport will benefit from a multi-million dollar federal grant to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians as part of an overall $11.9 million funding recommendation announced last Thursday by the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The grant is part the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. NCV and the Band hope to preserve more than 200 acres—including 1,800 feet of lakeshore—as a public nature preserve for the community while using 24 acres in an upland section of the property for affordable housing—an acute issue facing the region. The land between Omena and Northport, which sits along West Grand Traverse Bay and was once the site of Timber Shores campground, was later considered for a luxury condo development with a private marina. More recently, developers sought to turn it into an RV park and campground, but faced local pushback and were stopped by a 2022 ballot referendum that opposed the RV park.
