MARSH VIEW MEADOWS PARK -- ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN

Marsh View Meadows has all 3 components of its name

New Pittsfield park in 1st part of preserve to be developed

By John Mulcahy
Ann Arbor News
December 2006


   If there is one quality that distinguishes the new Marsh View 
Meadows Park in generally flat Pittsfield Township, it's the terrain. 

   "You get a little bit of up and down and all around that you 
don't get in any other part of the township," said Dan Cooperrider, 
township parks and recreation director. 

   The 55-acre park, which opened last weekend, is in the 
southwest corner of the Pittsfield Preserve, a 535-acre combination 
of woods, wetland and farmland that the township bought in 2002. 
The park, along with five adjacent acres devoted to the township's 
new, 5-million-gallon above-ground water reservoir and pump 
station, is the first section of the preserve to be extensively 
developed. 

   Among the gentle hills and wooded terrain, visitors to the new 
park will find three large wetlands, one filled with sedge grass 
and two with buttonbush plants. Two of the wetlands have wooden 
observation decks and a boardwalk crosses part of one of them. A 
county drain, which resembles a stream, flows through the park. 

   Oak, cherry and hickory trees are plentiful in the wooded areas. 
Near the parking lot, which is accessible from Textile Road just 
east of the Ann Arbor Railroad track, are a picnic pavilion, 
playground and restrooms. 

   Visitors may walk through the park on some of the 8-foot-wide 
limestone trails that the township built to meet the require-
ments of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

   "What is really nice about this project is there are three 
different wetlands on this site," Cooperrider said. 

   Half of the largest buttonbush wetland at the south end of the 
park belongs to another property owner, but the township has de-
veloped a trail to it and may add boardwalks across it and around 
one side of it. 

   The township had a contest to name the new park. Long-time area 
resident Vicki Hewitt was the winner. Hewitt said she has not 
been in the developed park yet, but she knows the property from 
almost 40 years ago. 

   "We used to ride our horses back there," said Hewitt, a 
township resident. She is particularly glad the wetlands were 
preserved, she said. 

   The park cost about $1 million to develop, including construction 
costs, playground equipment and planting of trees, Cooperrider 
said. The state paid $341,000 of the cost through a grant, and 
construction began about a year ago. A few tasks remain, such as 
adding some directional signs and signs that explain the natural 
features, Cooperrider said. 

   The township plans a grand opening in the spring, but the park 
was opened to the public this past weekend. 

   That's  exciting  news  for Hewitt. "Now that I know it's open, 
I'm going to take my grandkids down there and let them explore," 
she said. 

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John Mulcahy can be reached at jmulcahy@annarbornews.com or
734-994-6858.