Council Votes to Move Forward With Northern Tier Trail Extension
Breaking with the recommendation of city staff, City Council voted 3-2 to go forward with the Northern Tier Trail extension from the Soccer Complex to Coolidge Road at the Oct. 15 City Council meeting.
At council’s discussion-only meeting Oct. 8, City Manager Robert Belleman said staff recommends delaying the project until 2028 because the market for contractors is unpredictable because American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds increased demand for services, and there may be more outside funding sources if the city waits four years.
Initially, at the Oct. 15 meeting a grant withdrawal request that would have delayed the project was on the consent agenda. Usually, the consent agenda passes unanimously without discussion. However, Councilmember Mark Meadows asked that the topic be put on the business agenda. Meadows was eventually joined by Councilmembers Dana Watson and Erik Altmann in support of moving forward with the project without delay.
“The pedestrian trail, the Northern Tier Trail, is the most used amenity that the city has,” Meadows said. “It is constantly under use, and so an extension makes a hell of a lot of sense, so that we can continue to use it and bring it into other areas in the city.”

Mayor George Brookover and Mayor Pro Tem Kerry Ebersole Singh voted against Altmann’s motion, signaling support for staff’s recommendation to delay.
The project is about ¾ mile of 10-foot wide trail, connecting the existing trailhead in Azaadiikaak Park, through the south portion of the East Lansing Soccer Complex, and west across 3 adjacent private properties to end at Coolidge Road, according to the meeting agenda.
Parks, Recreation and Arts Assistant Director Justin Drwencke said the plan has roots all the way back in 2004, when site plan approvals for The Villa at Stratford Place and The Beaumont complexes required they pay for parts of the trail that cross their properties.
The project was estimated to cost just under $850,000 in May of 2023. At the time, about $85,000 was projected to come from the city’s income tax funds, with the rest covered by grants and the previously mentioned developers. However, unexpected changes in funding and cost mean the city will have to dip further into the income tax to pay for the extension.
The city expected to receive about $250,000 from the Ingham County Trails and Parks Millage to use on the trail. However, the city recently found out it will not receive those funds until 2028, and the availability of the funds hinges on the millage being renewed by voters in 2026. The last time the millage was up for renewal in 2020, it passed with about 74% of voters in favor.
To help cover the expansion, the city will receive $300,000 from a Natural Resources Trust Fund Grant to use on the trail. The grant period ends next August. At the Oct. 8 meeting, Drwencke said if the city delayed the project, it could reapply for the trust fund grant in 2027 to be used the following year. In 2027, the maximum award will be increased to $400,000 from $300,000.

About 8% of funds raised by the city’s income tax are designated to go towards parks and facility upgrades. Drwencke said using the money on the trail project might make following through with some projects planned for fiscal year 2026 or 2027 difficult. These projects include renovating and replacing parking lots for recreational facilities and Valley Court Park improvements.

Ultimately, council opted to push forward with the project.
The vote in favor of moving forward with the project is a signal that council wants to prioritize the trail.
“This is kind of helping us determine what we are going to be focusing on over the next couple of years,” Drwencke said at the Oct. 15 meeting. “Our capacity is stretched right now, honestly. But, if it was the direction of council to move forward with this, we could develop a plan to start reviewing consultants to support us with the design phase of this project.”
Meadows said he doesn’t understand delaying the project because the city has funds from the income tax and ARPA to spend on the popular trail.
“I don’t see where the issue is, in terms of making the match, and proceeding forward on this,” Meadows said. “We could do it in a way that wouldn’t actually defer any of the projects that Parks and Rec might have in the pipeline.”
Belleman gave a careful response about the ARPA funds.
“I think under another item on the agenda we’ll get into whether that funding that you referenced, that $5.2 million [from ARPA], is truly available for this work,” Belleman said, alluding to the closed session council later went to on Oct. 15.
“If it’s not, then we need to know,” Meadows replied. “That seems like something we can talk about in public.”
“I don’t think it is, and it’ll be something that once you get updated by the city attorney, you’ll have a better understanding,” Belleman said, adding that a decision on the trail expansion could be deferred until after that closed session.
The vote to move forward with the project came before the closed session. After the closed session, council voted to approve a tentative agreement with the Michigan Association of Public Employees, a union that represents the city’s housing inspectors, parking employees and more. The motion was unanimously supported with no discussion. Council then adjourned.
Earlier this year, council voted to spend money from the federal ARPA program on employee salaries, with plans to move money freed up in the general fund to cover other projects. This was done to get around spending deadlines attached to ARPA funds.