One of the region’s largest events – the Bayshore Marathon – has been approved to move forward this year on Old Mission Peninsula after organizers agreed to a Peninsula Township fee hike on participants from $1 to $5 per person. The Bayshore will have to reduce its scholarship and grant program this year and may raise race fees next year to offset the increase. In other Old Mission Peninsula news, a successful fundraising campaign will allow Peninsula Township to finalize the purchase this month of a 15-acre addition to the Pelizzari Natural Area – the first step in a long-term plan to eventually double the size of the park.

Bayshore Marathon
Peninsula Township trustees have voted unanimously to approve a permit for the 2024 Bayshore Marathon, allowing the event to move forward following controversy over a township fee hike that raised questions over whether the race would happen this year.

Bayshore and other event organizers were rankled by Peninsula Township raising its participant fee for large events from $1 to $5, expressing concern the township was using the event fee increases as an illegal cash cow. The participant fee is on top of thousands of dollars event organizers already pay for increased police and emergency services, permit fees, road closures, recycling and trash, and more. For its part, Peninsula Township pointed out it hasn’t raised fees in decades and said the increase was necessary to cover the costs and impacts incurred by thousands of people descending on Old Mission Peninsula for events.

Bayshore organizers ultimately agreed to pay the higher participant fee for 2024, among other conditions required for township approval – including paying escrow to cover professional services, submitting an indemnification agreement, and holding meetings with township officials and outside agencies to coordinate an emergency services plan accounting for East Front Street/Grandview Parkway construction. With roughly 7,400 people set to run the various Bayshore races this year, the event will incur an estimated fee increase from $7,400 to $37,000.

“For 2024, we have budgeted for decreases in our scholarship program for kids who love to run and are pursuing higher education and our charitable grant program that supports running and walking initiatives in Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau counties – a reduction of about $30,000 overall,” says Executive Director Lindsay McLaughlin of the Traverse City Track Club, which organizes the Bayshore. “We may need to raise our race fees for 2025 to restore our charitable impact to higher levels.”

In addition to a slightly modified course this year due to Bluff Road erosion, Bayshore organizers are working with other agencies “to minimize congestion around the construction site” nearby, McLaughlin says. Weather permitting, East Front Street access between Peninsula Drive and Garfield Avenue is expected to reopen in late May before the race – eliminating the Milliken Drive detour, which is near the race staging grounds. However, McLaughlin says the Bayshore is “strongly recommending participants utilize BATA and arrange alternative transportation options,” adding that organizers will continue to share updates directly with participants and on the Bayshore website.

Pelizzari Expansion
Peninsula Township is taking the first crucial step toward what officials hope could eventually be an expansion that doubles the size of Pelizzari Natural Area near the base of Old Mission Peninsula.

Trustees recently voted to authorize closing on the purchase of a 15-acre parcel owned by Walt and Meg Meeker. The property is located north of Pelizzari, though not directly contiguous to the park (pictured in red, right map). Appraised at $700,000, the parcel was offered at a discounted rate of $650,000 by the Meekers to the township. Peninsula Township is contributing $200,000 toward the purchase price from a fund dedicated to Pelizzari. The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC) led the effort over the last two years to raise the remaining $450,000, with many donations coming from Old Mission residents and/or park users, GTRLC Land Protection Specialist Claire Herman told trustees.

Dave Murphy, a member of the Peninsula Township Parks Committee, previously told trustees that the purchase offers several benefits despite being disconnected from the existing Pelizzari site. For one, the Meeker property has 13 development rights attached to it; when the purchase is finalized, the property will be deeded to the township and the development rights “extinguished,” Murphy said. That means even if the property is not immediately connected to Pelizzari, it will remain township-owned protected land instead of becoming a 13-home subdivision. Murphy said preserving open land and limiting development was in line with the township’s master plan and purchase of development rights (PDR) program.

Murphy said the ultimate goal, however, is for the township/GTRLC to eventually purchase parcels between Pelizzari and the Meeker property to expand the park by another 60 acres, doubling its current size. The expansion would end up eliminating 35-40 total development rights, according to Murphy. While some property owners “are not yet ready” to sell, Murphy said the township has “received favorable reaction from enough neighbors that we believe over time we’re going to be able to connect the pieces back to what’s now Pelizzari Natural Area.”

Murphy said previously that Peninsula Township is facing a “chicken and egg” scenario and needs to either buy targeted properties as they become available, even if they're not immediately connected to the park, or run the risk that sellers will get impatient and sell their property at market value, allowing the parcels to be developed. “We do feel confident that eventually over time we'll be tying it back and come close to doubling the size of Pelizzari Natural Area,” he recently told trustees.

Peninsula Township is set to close on the property April 30. While the property does have road frontage, “as far as I have heard the township does not have plans to develop official public access right now,” Herman tells The Ticker. “Their ultimate goal is to hold onto it and protect the forest from development until it can hopefully be connected to PNA.”