Shoreline work underway at Brandenburg Park
Walking, bike path remain open during closure
Chesterfield Township is in the midst of making its own little portion of the planet a better place for fish, waterfowl and families, via shoreline restoration at Brandenburg Park.
Brandenburg Park, located on Jefferson Avenue, a quartermile south of 23 Mile Road, on the shore of Lake St. Clair, will be closed through May 31, 2021 for construction. The closure began in late October.
“We got special permission to start early,” Chesterfield Township
Operations and Facilities Director Josh Sonnenberg said, of construction. “We left the park open as long as we could before we had to close.”
“The park needed to shut down because of the scope and size of the shoreline restoration project,” added Chesterfield Township Supervisor Dani Acciavatti. “We will use this as an opportunity, while it is shut down, to improve as many other amenities as we can.”
When complete, the shoreline restoration project will provide a safer shoreline, offshore habitat shoals along the shoreline and deeper water habitat areas, natural stone pathways to the water, improved fishing access, a kayak launch site, educational opportunities and more.
A walking and biking path along Jefferson Avenue will remain open during the park’s closure. Sonnenberg said there is no cost to use the pathway. There is no park entry fee from October to April. In season, Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, the daily park entry fee is $5 per vehicle. Pets are not permitted in the park.
Brandenburg Park was developed jointly between the Department of Natural Resources and Chesterfield Township in 1973. Over time, increased industrial, agricultural and residential development degraded the park’s 750-foot seawall and eroded soils behind it, according to township consultants OHM Advisors. This destabilized the structure and caused fragmentation of natural habitat as well as reducing safe access for park users, OHM Advisors found. The hardened shoreline dates to 2012.
In early 2017, Chesterfield Township was tasked with restoring a failing shoreline in Brandenburg Park. The following goals were deemed important to the restoration: Reopening the shoreline for recreational and educational opportunities, improving fish habitat, making a positive impact on the environment and using available grant opportunities to assist with the financial impact.
Brandenburg Park’s shoreline restoration will include 740 linear feet of shoreline softening. It will also include 1.5 acres of near shore habitat creation.
“So far we have really lucked out with the weather and have moved forward with the contractor,” Sonnenberg said.
But winter won’t halt work on the shoreline portion of the project, Sonnenberg said.
“The shoreline work can continue as long as we don’t have a crazy cold winter, where we get stacks and stacks of ice,” he said.
Plans include seawall removal and the implementation of a bioengineered shoreline with stabilization methods, and a habitat structure to support wildlife.
Anchor Bay and the St. Clair River delta host native fish species such as bass, muskie, perch, salmon, sturgeon, trout, walleye and more. The design includes the construction of rock sills along 200 feet of shoreline to create wetland pockets and increase habitat complexity.
“Our goal when we started the project was to create a natural environment, almost like you are up north, walking down to the shoreline, a natural shoreline. People can also enjoy educational aspects,” Sonnenberg said.
OHM Advisors, an architectural, planning and engineering firm with locations in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, contracted with the township in 2019 as design consultants for the project. Sonnenberg said OHM is also doing engineering on the project.
Communication and collaborative work is ongoing between OHM Advisors, Chesterfield Township, Great Lakes Commission, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other regulatory agencies important to the project. The township also partners with state agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources, as well as the Army Corps of Engineers and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
The design phase of the shoreline restoration project began in 2018 and concluded in January. Engineering design was managed locally by the township and OHM. Design was provided by OHM Advisors. The second phase of the shoreline project, or implementation and construction phase, is estimated to run from this past November to May 2021.
Groundbreaking on the project took place in September.
The total shoreline restoration project price is roughly $1.48 million, with about $1.27 million in federal grant money and a township match of nearly $210,000.
Sonnenberg said funding for the project comes from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative as well as NOAA through an award to the Great Lakes Commission’s St. Clair-Detroit River System Coastal Restoration Initiative.
“GLRI are the ones that are our link between the grant, NOAA and us. They are the ones that from the start were involved in the project and secured the grant funding for us through NOAA. We came up with the project idea, we presented it to them. They worked behind the scenes…” Sonnenberg said.
Additional park improvements planned include sport court rehabilitation, building and grounds updates, and a shoreline pedestrian path connection. The park’s building will be renovated to provide more interior space and functionality for party rentals and programs. Basketball and tennis courts will be resurfaced, and pickleball courts added.
Sonnenberg said the resurfacing and other portions of the projects will begin in the spring, and costs have not yet been solidified. Acciavatti said the projects will be paid for with township funding.
“There is not a hard number yet on the sports courts and building.” Acciavatti said.