Bingham Township officials have agreed to look into acquiring additional land adjacent to the township’s Boughey Park on West Grand Traverse Bay at the east end of Bingham Road.

At the regular monthly township board meeting on Monday evening, supervisor Ross Ard said he’d been contacted by the owner of a seven-acre parcel with 440 feet of West Bay water frontage adjacent to Boughey Park who may be interested in selling the property to the township to expand the park.

In addition, the owner of another adjacent parcel also appears to be interested in selling, Ard said.

The supervisor explained that no terms or purchase prices had yet been discussed with anyone, and that details were sketchy at this point. He said he’d had some very informal, preliminary discussions with interested parties on the topic and asked for the board’s concurrence to go ahead and gather more information.

The rest of the board agreed by consensus that Ard should gather more information and then turn the issue over to the township’s Parks and Recreation Committee for further action.

Trustee Mary Bush, who serves on the committee, reported that the township is currently working with the Traverse City engineering firm Gosling-Czubak to create site plans for the township’s two waterfront parks on West Grand Traverse Bay – Hendryx Park and Boughey Park. The township is using a $5,000 Coastal Zone Management Grant from the Michigan Department of Envirionmental Quality to help create the plans.

Bush said the Gosling-Czubak engineers indicated they could take into account any possible, future additions to Boughey Park in the plans they are currently working on. She said that committee members and others were already looking into possible grant funding sources that could help pay for land acquisition for Boughey Park.

In other business at this week’s meeting, the Bingham Township Board:

• Tabled a recommendation from the township planning commission to deny a request from developer Tom Beeler to extend his land use permit for a 78-unit residential development on 164 acres in northern Bingham Township. Beeler filed suit against the township several years ago, and his site plan was approved as part of a settlement. Board members said they would defer a decision on whether to extend Beeler’s land use permit until after planning commission members provide township board members with more detailed information.

• Agreed to expend up to $750 to print, fold, address and mail around 1,200 copies of the township’s latest newsletter to township property owners. Clerk Peggy Core said she expected a bill from Bitsystems Mailing Service of Garfield Township would amount to less than $750, but the township might stand to save money through lower costs for bulk mailing and labor to print, fold and address the newsletters.