KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners has voted in favor of adopting new protections and regulations for County parks.
Previously, commissioners had discussed the adoption of these news rules back in December, which were created after the county was asked about natural resource extraction in 2018. The policy itself had not been updated since 2009.
At that time, commissioners had spoken in favor of adopting these new measures, known officially as “The Kalamazoo County Park Preservation and Natural Resources Protection Policy.”
“Our county parks are our crown jewels, and they’re absolutely beautiful,” Vice Chair Hall said. “I think it’s our duty to help protect and preserve these natural resources, especially in 2019.”
Ultimately, the Board voted in favor of this measure, which went into effect on December 17.
According to County documents, Board approval and adoption of the revised Park Rules Ordinance is the final step of the process to incorporate the policy into the Park Rules Ordinance.
The regulations are meant to prohibit the following practices:
- Use of County Park Property for non-park related commercial purposes.
- Exploration, production, or extraction of oil, minerals, soil, sand, gravel or other surface or subsurface natural resources.
- Cell phone towers or telecommunications sites.
- Timber harvest or commercial firewood harvest excluding resource management practices or storm damage removal.
- Solar panes, windmills, or other electrical generation facilities for non-park purposes.
- Overhead electric lines.
- Sale of County Park property.
- Diversion of County Park property for non-park purposes.
- Non park use of surface or sub-surface water resources.
- Encroachments.
When reading the item on the agenda, Vice Chair Tracy Hall briefly stressed the importance of the matter.
Additionally, the Parks Commission held a public hearing on March 5, passing a motion approving the changes in the process. They further recommended that the Board of Commissioners approve and adopt the Park Rules Ordinance.
Now that the motion is passed, the adopted rules will take effect 14 days after publication (once a week for two consecutive weeks) in the Kalamazoo Gazette. The rules will go into effect on May 1, 2020.
