The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has awarded Bingham Township a "coastal zone management" grant of $5,000 to help plan for improvement of the township's two waterfront parks on Grand Traverse Bay, - Boughey Park and Hendry Park.

At the regular monthly meeting of the Bingham Township Board on Monday evening, trustee Mary Bush, who serves on the township’s parks and recreation committee, presented a contract between the township and the MDEQ for the grant program. In addition, based on previous board action, Bush presented the board with a contract with the Traverse City engineering firm Gosling-Czubak that will help create site plans for the two parks.

Bush moved that the two contracts be reviewed by the township attorney and, pending the attorney’s approval, township supervisor Ross Ard be authorized to sign the contracts. Her motion carried in a 5-0 vote.

The $5,000 grant will require a $5,000 “match” from the township for the $10,000 park improvement program. Although an additional $5,000 has been set aside in the township’s budget to cover the match, parks and recreation committee chairman Bob Walton said that grant applications had been submitted to other organizations that might cover much or all of the match requirement.

In other business, the Bingham Township Board:

• Reviewed a draft contract with Suttons Bay Township for zoning and planning services provided through a joint office serving Bingham and Suttons Bay townships as well as the Village of Suttons Bay. Ard said he was not satisfied that the proposed contract gave Bingham Township enough input into decision-making for the joint zoning and planning office. He said he planned to discuss the issue further with Suttons Bay Township supervisor Rich Bahle, ask the township attorney to review a modified draft contract, and bring a new draft to the Bingham Township Board next month for consideration.

• Learned that two inter-related Circuit Court cases involving Bingham Township were progressing. In one case, Chief Judge Thomas G. Power entered an order upholding a determination by the township Zoning Board of Appeals regarding a property on Lee Point Road owned by Clark & Lynn L.L.C. In another case filed against the township by a neighboring property owner in the complex and long-running zoning dispute – Sharon Lee Schellenberg and David W. Riggle – the property owners alleged that Power should disqualify himself from the case because his family owns property nearby. The plaintiff’s motion to disqualify Power is slated to be heard by a judge in Manistee County on Feb. 29.