Township officials to residents: Water Street park won't become fuel stop

It may be too soon to know what the long-term future holds for the Port Huron Township park off Water Street, but according to officials, it won’t be a travel stop and gas station.

A small crowd of residents turned out to Monday night’s regular township board meeting to air concerns about the potential loss of the property in an hour-long exchange that also evolved to include other parks-related grievances.

Last month, the board had heard from fuel stop proprietors who proposed a station accommodating cars and trucks with a market book-ended by two restaurants at the park, which sits a long and narrow site from the road out to Stocks Creek and the Black River with an old playground and building historically leased by the Port Huron Host Lions Club at 2270 Water St.

On Monday, Port Huron Township Supervisor Bob Lewandowski said they’ve since communicated that they weren’t interested in moving forward with the fuel stop idea, adding, “They asked, so we let them come in and do their spiel. And then, we knew it wasn’t what we really wanted.”

However, a deal that unloaded the former township RV campground nearby two years ago with the option to buy the lions club site could still be a source of ire for residents who hope the latter park stays under township control instead.

“After our last meeting, I talked with the fellow that bought the campground, and he has first right of refusal on that part … to purchase it,” Lewandowski said. “He said if anybody else wanted to purchase it, he would exercise his right.”

So, how did we get here? What were the concerns?

In 2022, the township board agreed to sell the former township RV park at 2301 Water St. for $2 million with a $400,000 option to purchase the park at 2270 Water.

Since then, developer and local native Steve Ureel, through Parkbridge Investment Group, has rehabbed the old RV property into Dancing Fire Glamping and RV Resort, while also purchasing Bridge Harbour Marina across the road.

Ureel couldn’t be immediately reached on Tuesday.

Lewandowski told meeting attendees on Monday that Ureel has two years left to act on his option to buy the lions club park and has indicated he’d have plans put together by next winter.

“He really wants to put in a restaurant or two …” the supervisor said. “He bought the marina on the other side of the expressway, and he’s got the campground. He wants to kind of tie it together, maybe build something on the hill, wants to keep the sledding hill, and all that other stuff. We were talking and possibly if connecting the marina and that site with the restaurants with like a path, so that people from the marina could come up and use it.”

Lewandowski said Ureel also indicated they’d want to put in some sort of temporary stage where music could be shared in the summer farther inland at the township park.

Still, local residents said they preferred the township improve the park itself and asked officials to inquire legally if they could get out of the option or outwait Ureel’s option period.

“Why can’t we keep it and do it ourselves?” township resident Carol Miller asked the board on the entertainment piece.

She said the township had “gotten their attention and not in a positive way” on handling future options for the lions club park, believing officials didn’t put enough interest in its smaller parks outside of the 40th Street Pond and Bakersfield.

Rod Borowski cited his old ties to the township and the features at 2270 Water, though he now lives across the Black River on the city side in sight of the park.

“They had boat docks on that creek. I remember a boat launch there. I’m 77 years old,” he said. “You got highfalutin people coming in that want to buy this property. That part could hold a boat launch. When you did the Bakersfield boat launch, there’s one slip for people to put boats in. … You know how many boaters are in the township that don’t have a launch? You guys really screwed up with Bakersfield.”

The loss of the RV park and potential loss of the lions club park, Borowski said, was changing the area. He added, “It ain’t for the average middle-class people,” and “you’re allowing it.”

In the past, lions club officials have expressed their hope to keep the building at the township park, citing its popularity in use and good stewardship of the site.

Other residents talked about the nature and species of wildlife the park also catered to, that it’s where they could take special needs children fishing without fear they could fall in the water, and a host of other memories they associated with the property.

“I guess I’m confused as to why it’s for sale to begin with,” said a township resident who goes by Trash the Clown on social media and has previously declined to be identified by name. “Once we remove public space, it’s gone forever. We’re never getting it back. Take a look around any business, and you’ll see trash. … Businesses bring more trash right by the water. Your job as a board is to maintain and make better our township. You can’t make better our township by selling it off.”

When asked, township officials said the $2 million proceeds from the RV park sale were being invested as a source of revenue for township parks.

Lewandowski said regardless of Ureel’s future plans, the board would learn details before they’re carried out, and that the developer would have to go through normal site approvals through the township.

The township board meets the first and third Monday of each month. The township's planning commission, where early zoning changes and site plans are considered, meets the second Thursday of each month. It's park commission meets the first Wednesday. Meeting agendas can be found under the reference desk tab at www.porthurontownship.org.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Township officials to residents: Water Street park won't become fuel stop