While Grand Traverse County commissioners continue to mull options for addressing the county’s estimated $60 million-plus pension debt – options that could include bonding the debt or seeking a public millage – several board members have expressed interest in other solution: selling off some of the county’s most desirable parks and properties.

At commissioners’ request, county staff are compiling a list of every piece of county property, along with information such as each parcel’s acquisition date and value, its usage, and any deed restrictions on the title. During a recent marathon study session on possible pension solutions, commissioners expressed their eagerness to get the list finished so they could begin exploring possible sales of property.

“I think this is a piece that we’ve been asking about for quite awhile, because we thought that this maybe would be a piece that would help us solve this puzzle,” said Commissioner Cheryl Gore Follette. “We want to come up with a solution, and it’s hard to do that when we don’t have the information…(the property list) really does need to be a priority.”

After County Deputy Administrator Jennifer DeHaan noted the project was a “monumental task involving multiple departments” because the county didn’t have an existing inventory of properties and had to build the database from scratch, Gore Follete suggested staff hone in on and prioritize key properties commissioners know they might want to sell.

“I think it’s fair to say that Twin Lakes and the Civic Center are two parcels that we’re real interested in having the history of what we can do with those parcels,” she said.

In addition to those parks – two of the most high-profile recreational sites owned by the county – Commissioner Ron Clous added he “would like to have the Pavilions” on the list. The Grand Traverse Pavilions accommodates approximately 330 residents and 430 employees on its 28-acre campus near The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, making it the largest county-owned nursing facility in the state.

Other parks and properties specifically mentioned by commissioners as of interest for possible sale have included Power Island and Maple Bay Park & Natural Area.

County Planning Director John Sych and Deputy Civil Counsel Christopher Forsyth are both involved in researching county properties and potential impediments to their sale. Forsyth points out that public parks in particular can be difficult for municipalities to offload. “When it comes to park property, there are usually either deed restrictions or grant restrictions, so if a property is bought with grant money, they’re going to impose conditions on that grant,” he says.

The 450-acre Maple Bay Park & Natural Area in Acme Township – which includes more than 2,500 feet of Lake Michigan frontage – would likely be the most difficult for the county to sell, according to staff. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) grant records show the county received at least $6.8 million in DNR funding for the acquisition of the property in 2001. Even if the county repaid the grant funding – an option commissioners have asked staff to explore for grant-restricted properties – selling the land could jeopardize the county’s relationship with the state and its ability to secure future grant funding.

“That’s an acquisition that’s relatively recent, and it seems like the community put a lot of effort into that,” says Sych. “While (the land) is valuable, I would caution against going down that path. It wouldn’t send a good message to the state of Michigan if you tried to put that on the market.”

Both Twin Lakes and Power Island were gifted to the county by families that placed deed restrictions on the titles. Ambiguous language about preserving Twin Lakes for recreational use could allow for a potential sale to a recreational entity, but Forsyth says the county would likely need to go to the family’s heirs for permission to pursue such a path. Clous has previously raised the possibility – if a sale wasn't an option – of gifting the properties back to the families, eliminating county maintenance costs and putting the parcels back on county tax rolls. That route is legally permissible, Forsyth says.

Potentially the easiest property for Grand Traverse County to sell is the Civic Center. While the title appears to be unencumbered, staff are still checking on a decades-old reference to park grant funding in county commission minutes, according to Forsyth. “(The board) may not have actually applied for the grant, but we don’t know – we’re looking into that,” he says. County and city officials publicly discussed the possibility of Traverse City acquiring the Civic Center from Grand Traverse County in 2015, but those discussions never produced a formal proposal. County Administrator Tom Menzel says he sees potential value in preserving the Civic Center’s recreational aspects – such as its walking trails, baseball diamonds and community pool – while developing some of the remaining property with residential or commercial buildings.

“If you structured it properly and designed it right, you could diversify that property, add housing and bring more people to the site to make use of the recreational components there,” he says.

Commissioners have already approved putting three county properties on the market, including 36 acres on Keystone and Birmley roads, which has attracted the interest of a potential buyer. The county could also explore additional options beyond selling parks, including renegotiating leases for jointly-used properties with partners and finding new uses for underutilized sites. Menzel cites as another option a sale-leaseback of properties like the Governmental Center, in which the county could sell the building for an immediate cash infusion and lease its space back. “That would be similar to what Hagerty did,” Menzel says, citing the insurance company’s sale-leaseback deal last year.

Still, commissioners remain firm in their desire to explore selling high-profile county properties. “In this research, what I really don’t want to see is, ‘Oh, you can’t sell it,’” Commissioner Dan Lathrop told county staff during the study session. “I want to see how we can sell it, or how we can give it back. I don’t want to hear the words ‘we can’t sell it' unless we have to."

Pictured (clockwise): Grand Traverse County Civic Center, Twin Lakes, Maple Bay Park & Natural Area. Photo credit: Grand Traverse County/Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.