East Bay Township planning commissioners will review a site plan Tuesday for the first phase of operations at Camp Greilick, Grand Traverse County’s newest 196-acre park. The meeting is expected to generate significant board and public discussion, particularly as some neighbors and supporters of the adjacent Brown Bridge Quiet Area have expressed concerns about amplified sound, large gatherings, and alcohol consumption being allowed at Camp Greilick. However, the county has imposed significant voluntary restrictions on those uses, according to Township Director of Planning & Zoning Claire Karner, who says they represent a “very narrow scope” of what’s proposed for the site.

The site plan review is the next major step forward for Camp Greilick following the county’s acquisition of the former Boy Scout property last year for $3 million and county commission and Parks and Recreation approval this spring of a park business plan. A five-phase rollout of recreational improvements and activities is planned for Camp Greilick over the next several years, including eventual uses like rustic camping, archery and gun ranges, a teams course, and more.

However, Grand Traverse County is only seeking approval of phase one during next week’s site plan review, with any future phases requiring separate township approval. According to a memo from Karner, phase one uses include “programming (outdoor education, environmental education, and youth day camp), public amenities (hiking, biking, winter trail sports, disc golf, bouldering wall, mud kitchen, beach and water access, orienteering course, human foosball, mini BMX track, and a drum lodge museum), and rental spaces (pavilion, group cabins, semi-rustic cabins, fire bowl, the Chapel, and Besser Lodge).”

Public parks are a use allowed by right in the Lakes Area of East Bay Township, so Grand Traverse County needs only to go through a site plan review process with the planning commission – a process that doesn’t require a public hearing nor approval from the township board of trustees. However, public comment is still invited at Tuesday’s meeting, and could prove to be plentiful. Some neighbors who opposed a previous iteration of plans for the property – called GO-REC under Rotary Camps and Services – have come forward with similar concerns about Camp Greilick, specifically when it comes to events that could feature alcohol, amplified music, or large groups of people. “Those three elements are creating the concerns,” Karner says.

Supporters of the adjacent Traverse City-owned Brown Bridge Quiet Area (BBQA) – which is expanding by more than 500 acres under a ballot proposal approved by city voters in 2023 – have joined in those concerns, with multiple members of the Brown Bridge Advisory Committee speaking at last week’s county commission meeting about the property. Though speaking as private citizens, Paul Maxbauer and Jacqueline Andres said committee members are concerned about amplified sound from Camp Greilick impacting hikers at the BBQA. “It goes against the whole basis of having a quiet area,” Maxbauer said. Andres agreed, saying that the “soundscape is part of that natural environment” at the city park.

However, Karner notes that Grand Traverse County has self-imposed limits on noise and other impacts at Camp Greilick that are much stricter than township regulations. The township, for instance, doesn’t have any set quiet hours in its noise ordinance. It only states that noise disturbances regardless of time can’t impair the “the health, welfare, or peace of another person of normal human sensibilities.” But under the county’s site plan for Camp Greilick, all amplified music will be prohibited after 7:30pm.

The county is also limiting private events at Camp Greilick to no more than 50 attendees, aligning with the township’s places of public assembly ordinance. Larger events could be allowed for public, educational, or recreational programming. However, the site plan states that “all activities scheduled on property will be fully self-contained on property and will not trigger a need for East Bay Township Special Event Permits. Given parking and operational limitations, Camp Greilick is not set up to host events, races, or festivals that surpass the carrying capacity of the park or degrade the overall park experience for public users, and such requests will be automatically denied.”

Karner’s memo notes the county is proposing to use 103 parking spaces on an existing paved lot, and that “activities on any given day will not exceed parking capacity.” The county wrote in its site plan that during Camp Greilick’s first year of operation, “if one larger venue (Besser Lodge, Fire Bowl, Pavilion, or Chapel) is privately rented, the others would not be available to another group on that same day. In accordance with these stipulations, at least 50 percent of parking would remain available for public use. Besser Lodge will not be available for private use rental until spring of 2026.”

Alcohol is addressed in the site plan in a similar manner as other county parks. Individuals are generally allowed to consume alcohol in county parks, with the exception of alcohol brought in glass containers. Alcohol sales, however, are either prohibited or else allowed only with county approval and proper permits. The Camp Greilick site plan states that “privately rented spaces are not eligible to host events that require an alcohol permit/license, including served open or cash bars or those that serve alcohol in exchange for money.” Meanwhile, “public/education eligible user group events that serve alcohol and exchange money for participation or alcoholic beverages” are subject to state liquor laws and must obtain prior Parks and Recreation approval.

County Director of Parks and Facilities John Chase says the county’s top priority for Camp Greilick remains outdoor recreation and education – not private events. However, the county doesn’t want to prohibit people from enjoying the property in the many ways they do other county parks, he says. That could mean small gatherings like birthday, graduation, or reunion parties, or sipping a can of beer while walking the property and playing disc golf. “We’ve taken a lot of steps to voluntarily limit a lot of things, because we have every incentive to do good things for the community, the property, and the surrounding neighborhood,” he says. 

Given the detailed logistics of the site plan, Karner anticipates that planning commissioners Tuesday will spend a significant portion of time reviewing the plan with legal counsel against the township’s site plan standards. Though it’s up to the board when to take action, Karner anticipates planning commissioners likely won’t vote Tuesday on approving the site plan but instead give feedback that Karner will compile into a findings of fact for review in October, at which point a vote could occur. She notes that the “vast majority of the proposed uses and activities (in the site plan)” are consistent with township standards and “probably non-controversial…those elements that are creating concern are a very small, limited piece of this more holistic vision that the county has for the property.”

Photo credit: Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy