PLEASE ATTEND DECEMBER 4TH MEETING IF YOU HAVE INTEREST IN
OAKLAND TOWNSHIP SAFETY PATHS AND TRAILS!
At the end of the November 20 Board of Oakland Township meeting, Treasurer Langlois announced that there will be a monthly Safety Path and Trails meeting open to the public. She announced that the first of these meeting will take place on December 4th at 7:00 PM at the Paint Creek Cider Mill.
Langlois indicated that the group is in the formative stages, but she invited all interested residents to participate in the meeting. This group will provide direction on how the Safety Path and Trails fund moneys will be used to add to and improve the Trails and Paths in our Township.
A copy of the 2010 Safety Path and Trails Master Plan is attached for your information, as well as the 2011/2012 High Priority Trails and Path Segments plan.
Trails High Priority – 2011/2012
Here is a video of Treasurer Langlois’ announcement.
Richard Michalski
Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township? As some of you may recall, earlier this year, there was a very contentious issue among residents and the Township Board regarding a trail that had been proposed along Adams Road. That plan was rejected. This committee will work diligently to ensure that similar issues do not occur in the future. Oakland Township is famous for our Paths and Trails. Your participation will insure our Paths and Trails continue to be the envy of other communities.
Oakland Township Watchers 
It should be interesting to see what comes from these monthly meetings to determine how best to use the millage funds residents voted for in 2007. So far, nothing much has come to fruition and the one major project connecting subdivisions south of Delta Kelly to the Paint Creek trail was prematurely rejected by the new board. Our walking and biking residents–young and old alike–continue to be put in harm’s way as they walk along Adams to one of the township’s most popular attraction–the Paint Creek Trail. This critical connection was far more important to Adams Road area residents than the board realized when it disposed of the project in such a perfunctory manner that the State of Michigan had already approved by partially funding the proposed trail through grants. That money now has gone to some other communities in Michigan with future grant funding to Oakland Township rightfully in doubt. To follow up that decision with the notion that public monies from the trails millage should now be used to fund the rehabilitation of private trails within subdivisions as suggested by one newly appointed member to the Trails commission by Supervisor Gonser is an affront to my sensibilities and pocketbook. I hope that Treasurer Langlois and her committee come to more thoughtful conclusions in the future and not be unduly influenced by others on the Board that to date have led if not bullied the township board in counter productive directions since taking office.
Joseph Peruzzi–Parks Commissioner
Transparency is the key to this working properly. they need to state their objectives and when a decision is being considered, refer to the objectives. Basically: what’s right for the pedestrians and cyclists and citizens of Oakland Township.
1. Safety and stability of existing public path infrastructure.
2. Creation of new public paths that benefit the most people. Presumably finding some of the currently most-dangerous areas of pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles, and working to make those areas safer. These may stand-alone for the time being, but should have a plan to try to connect them to current pathways.
3. Encourage private entities to create and maintain pathways and make efforts to connect to the public pathways where applicable.
MOST OF ALL: be transparent in the decision-making process. Create a website where projects are identified (with possible options for them), costs, benefits, etc. then seek public comment. Try to reach consensus for projects, where there may be some people who might not necessarily agree to a project, but at minimum, they don’t object either.