Trust fund money was in legal, political limbo.

The year 2007 was one of waiting for two Leelanau County families who hope to sell their family-owned properties to local units of government for use as municipal parks.

In December 2006, the board of trustees of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) announced that $600,000 would be made available to help Leelanau County purchase 93 acres of land in Bingham Township from Bill and Diane Grant for use as a county park.

At the same time, the trust fund board announced that $394,200 would be made available to help Suttons Bay Township purchase more than 120 acres of land from the family of the late Ralph Herman for use as a township park.

For nearly the entire year, however, the MNRTF money remained in a legal and political limbo – and progress on the two park projects has been painfully slow.

Officials of Leelanau County and Suttons Bay Township alike are at a loss to explain exactly why the process has been held up.

“We just know that the Herman family has been very patient, and we’re hoping that they’ll hang in there with us a little while longer,” said Deb Slocombe, the chair of Suttons Bay Township’s parks and recreation committee. “We’ve never been able to figure out exactly why this process has been taking so long.”

Leelanau County commissioner Jean Watkoski, who serves on the county’s parks and recreation commission, echoed similar sentiments.

“We’ve been on pins and needles all year – just as we know Bill and Diane Grant have been,” said Watkoski. “I really have no idea why it’s been taking the state so long to make these funds available. I guess it depends on who you ask.”

Indeed, officials of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) suggest that the state Legislature is to blame, while legislators have put the onus on Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat.

“We’ve been pacing the floor here at the DNR, too,” said DNR spokesman Ann Wilson whose boss, Rebecca Humphries, was appointed as DNR director by Gov. Granholm.

“Perhaps with budget issues the way they were early this year, the trust fund money got left by the wayside,” Wilson said. “We kept hearing that a budget was going forward for a vote in the legislature but, for whatever reason, legislators got bogged down and there were delays,” she said.

The chairman of the MNRTF’s board of trustees, Bob Garner, was out of Michigan and could not be reached for comment.

Wilson said that when MNRTF grants are announced each December, authorization to release the money is normally received in May or June of the following year. In the 2006 grant cycle, however, the money wasn’t released until the end of September 2007, and local units of government didn’t receive word that the process was moving forward until October.

Making matters even more confusing, in December 2007 the MNRTF board announced the next round of grant funding – just as people were learning that the 2006 funding would finally become available sometime – after a long list of additional administrative requirements are met.

Legally, units of government have until October 2009 to get their “acquisition projects” wrapped up. Officials said they expect to receive formal “acceptance letters” from the DNR in February or March – another step in a long and sometimes convoluted administrative process. Multiple appraisals and environmental assessments are among the state requirements that have been delaying the process.

“The delays have been impacting us a lot,” said Diane Grant of Bingham Township. She and her husband, Bill, have been trying to sell their 93-acre property to Leelanau County for several years now, having ceased operating their Veronica Valley Golf Course in the fall of 2004. Bill Grant was forced to retire early due to health problems.

“We’ve been paying taxes on that property all this time with no money coming in,” Grant said. “ That money is really our whole future. We don’t know how we’re going to make it if there are any more delays.”

She added: “The only reason we’ve gone along with this is that we really want the property to become a park and not a development.”

The delay for the Grants has been especially difficult because they began the effort long before the current funding cycle. Originally, the county applied for MNRTF money to purchase the Veronica Valley property in 2005, but was turned down on the first attempt.

Meanwhile, in Suttons Bay Township, the family of the late Ralph Herman has been working with township officials interested in acquiring their 126 acre property for well more than a year.

“Actually my dad started talking to the township about it around five years ago,” said Ron Herman, one of seven Herman brothers who inherited the property on Herman Road at County Road 633.

Herman said delays imposed by the state’s inability to act quickly were creating some hardship for his extended family – although not as serious as the hardships the Grants have experienced.

“We had hoped to split off three parcels for the family if the township actually does buy what it plans to buy,” said Herman. “In the meantime, we can’t sell our dad’s house and we want to settle his estate. Also, we’re still paying taxes on all the property.”

He added: “It was our dad’s wish that the property be named Herman Park; and if the deal with the state and the township works out as it’s supposed over the next year; then we’ll be satisfied.”