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Brandon Township Community Park
Location
Brandon Township Community Park is located at 1414 North Hadley Road in Brandon Township. From M-15 (Ortonville Road): Turn east onto Oakwood Road then turn north onto Hadley Road. The park is the first driveway on the right. The multipurpose fields and parking areas are to your left as you enter the park.
During the winter months, gates at the park open daily at 8:30 a.m. and close at 6:00 p.m. The sledding hill's motorized lift station will soon begin operating on non-holiday Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Coffee and Hot Chocolate available. Groups may reserve the sledding hill for $12 per hour. For rental information, please call the Brandon Township Parks & Recreation office at 248-627-4640. Electricity is available in the pavilion nearest to the sledding hill. Also enjoy Cross-Country Skiing and Hiking during regular park hours.
Brandon Township's grant proposal for the Michigan DNR 2008 Land & Water Conservation Fund earned the highest marks of all remissions statewide. Written by Recreation Programmer Diane Lapp, the proposal was awarded $75,000 in match funding for park development. These funds facilitated the purchase and installation of an ADA-compliant boundless playground, a motorized lift station for the sledding hill, nighttime lighting (for those early Michigan evenings), and a connecting path.
2008 Land & Water Conservation Fund Grant Application Guidelines
2008 Land & Water Conservation Fund Grant Slide Show
2008 Land & Water Conservation Fund Grant Slide Show
Etiology of Recreation in Brandon Township
In the year 2000, the Brandon Township Board of Trustees officially created a fully-staffed recreation department to provide our community residents with quality and accountability for recreational programming. Brandon Township Recreation replaced an assortment of recreational groups that had previously operated independently within the community, such as the former Brandon-Groveland-Ortonville Recreation Commission. Known today as Brandon Township Parks & Recreation, the department consists of one full-time employee who is responsible for organizing recreational programming as well as special events for the community. Effective January 3, 2012, a part-time employee will be hired to ensure customer service.
As Brandon Township grows, so grows the demand for quality recreation. In addition to organizing community recreational opportunities, Brandon Township Parks & Recreation is dedicated to the ongoing development of Brandon Township Community Park. Township Supervisor Ronald Lapp negotiated the sale of township property on Seymour Lake Road while concurrently negotiating the acquisition of a 47-acre parcel of farmland from the Vantine family. Brandon Township was finally able to begin development of the township's first public recreational park.
Recreation Department staff immediately began organizing fundraisers and writing grant applications to fund development and construction of the new park. With support of the Ortonville Rotary Club, the Brandon Township Build a Park Club was born. In May of 2008, three short years following the property purchase, Brandon Township hosted Brandon Township Community Park's Grand Opening Ceremony.
The park currently features four state-of-the-art multipurpose fields, two skating ponds, a 40-foot sledding hill, a boundless playground, a living tree library, two pavilions, a children's rock quarry, and a beautiful, natural fen area. Soon the sledding hill will boast a universally-accessible motorized lift station and nighttime lighting for those dark Michigan evenings! The park design includes four future baseball fields, a second playground, a wooden boardwalk with an observation deck around the fen area, and a number of additional pavilions and picnic areas. A series of landscaped trails and boardwalks will allow walks through the preserved fen and wetland area. State-of-the-art comfort stations, a permanent concession building, sand volleyball and outdoor basketball courts will round out future development of the park.
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!
Brandon Township Parks & Recreation says THANK YOU to all of the businesses, organizations, families and individuals who support our recreational mission. Several groups deserve special mention for their dedication to recreation. Among these are the Ortonville Rotary Club for tireless promotion of Brandon Township's ''Build a Park'' Club, Brandon All-Sports Boosters for donating $10,000 to park development, and Brandon Junior Blackhawks for donating $1000 to park development. MANY THANKS goes out to our area business owners! We encourage the community to shop locally and support local businesses sponsoring recreation during these tight economic times. THANK YOU, families and individuals, for finding time in your hectic schedules to instruct, coach, assist and attend recreational activities for the youth of our community.
Funding Park Development
In contrast to municipalities that collect a special assessment or recreational millage, Brandon Township does NOT subsidize recreational programming, individual participation, or park development with tax dollars. Brandon Township taxpayers fund only the administrative aspect of recreation. Administrative costs include office space, office supplies, and salaries/benefits for three full-time employees -- Recreation Director and Administrative Assistant. Expenses include instructors, site directors, umpires, referees, equipment, t-shirts, uniforms, trophies, medals, transportation, utilities, facility rental charges, etc. Registration fees are determined by the Recreation Director based upon projected enrollment and expenses. In other words, program registration fees must be commensurate with program costs.
Tower Revenue Brandon Township receives annual income of approximately $55,000 from a lease agreement for cell tower property on Seymour Lake Road. The Brandon Township Board of Trustees dedicated these annual revenues to the park development fund.
Grants In between organizing special events and choreographing the community’s recreational programming, Brandon Township Parks & Recreation staffers keep busy writing and compiling grant applications for funding opportunities pertaining to park development and natural resource preservation. Every tree in Brandon Township Community Park’s unique Living Tree Library was paid for by state and private funding from grants awarded to the Brandon Township Parks & Recreation Department by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The table below reflects grant applications remitted to date.
Bottle Deposits The drop-off point for cans and bottles with deposits is the bin in the parking lot of the Brandon Township Fire Department on South Street in downtown Ortonville.
Build A Park Club Membership Application - coming soon!