The county Road Commission has approved a new lease agreement with Bingham Township for the Hendryx Park property.

At its meeting Tuesday, March 6, the commission approved 2-0, with chairman Lee A. Bowen absent, an agreement with Bingham Township that formally allows the township to use the property as a public park and beach access to W. Grand Traverse Bay. The lease would be for 99 years, with the township paying $1 for use of the property.

Clerk Joe Nedow and manager Herb Cradduck researched a previous lease authorized by both boards in 1992. Nedow said wording changes that some Bingham board members wanted before they granted final approval in 1992 were never made.

“All I know is that the agreement was never recorded at the county Register of Deeds office,” Nedow said. The new lease would supersede any existing agreement.

The agreement was sought after the Bingham Board applied to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last year for work on the park’s bottomlands in Grand Traverse Bay. Township officials learned they needed approval of the land owner, in this case the county Road Commission, before applying for the work.

Nedow said the agreement will allow the township to proceed with the application.

In other business during its 11⁄2-hour meeting, the commission:

• Approved sending a letter to state Rep. David Palsrok (R-Manistee) opposing legislation he has introduced that would allow off-road vehicles (ORV) to operate in the entirety of county road rights-of-way. The commission will also send a letter of opposition to other state House members who have proposed similar legislation. Member Glen M. Noonan said he was opposed because children are allowed to operate ORVs.

• Heard an update on the Leland tree project. Cradduck said the Leland Champion Tree Committee presented a check for $5,900 to contract with Bartlett’s Tree Service to trim and cable limbs on the eastern cottonwood tree on River Street in Leland. The tree service plans to conduct the work over a two-day period next week. Commission vice chairman John Popa said a section of River Street from M-22 west to the harbor entrance will be closed. “We’ll also need an area for all the ‘sidewalk supervisors’ that will be watching,” he said.

• Accepted a letter from the Glen Arbor Township Boat Ramp Committee about its decision to stop its efforts to locate a boat ramp at the end of M-209 in Glen Haven. The commission authorized Cradduck to write a letter back to the township stating the Road Commission is still interested in helping Glen Arbor officials with the township boat launch, be it located at the end of Lake Street or elsewhere. Noonan and Popa both said the main problem with the Lake Street launch is parking space. They suggested seeing if a parking area for vehicles with trailers could be located elsewhere.

• Heard a report from Cradduck that a front-end loader mounted snowblower the county bought in 1982 for $46,000 was sold to Mackinac County for $20,000. Cradduck said the blower was in like-new condition since the county no longer uses snowblowers to pare down snow banks.