Decisions will be made soon on a design for a public fishing pier to be built between the Elmwood Township Marina and the township’s Greilickville Harbor Park.

At its regular monthly meeting this week, the Elmwood Township Board decided to hold a special meeting Monday at 6 p.m. to consider a recommendation from the township’s Marina Committee on a design for the fishing pier.

The Marina Committee was slated to hold a special meeting Friday at 6 p.m. to make a recommendation based on additional input from engineers who have presented several alternate designs for the pier.

The township scheduled the special meetings to beat an Aug. 23 deadline to apply for a grant from the Great Lakes Fisheries Trust that might help cover much of the estimated $1 million it would cost to build the pier.

The Great Lakes Fisheries Trust last year granted the township $45,000 to pay for engineered drawings of the pier, which members of the Marina Committee will review in detail Friday. This week’s meeting will cap several other public meetings during which the Marina Committee sought public input on plans for the pier.

If everything goes according to plan — and additional grant funding is received — the fishing pier could be constructed next year.

At this week’s Township Board meeting, supervisor Jack Kelly reported that the township expects to receive some $35,000 from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources that will help pay for infrastructure engineering for the township marina. The township previously agreed to pay a 50-percent match of the grant with money to come from the township’s user-funded Marina Fund.

This summer, the township also received a $5,000 “risk reduction” grant from Municipal Underwriters of Michigan, the township’s insurance company, for improvements the township made to the electrical system at its marina. Elmwood’s improvements came on the heels of the fatal electrocution of a swimmer last year at a municipal marina in neighboring Traverse City.

Meanwhile, work is continuing on a Greilickville Commercial Corridor Sub-Area Master Plan that will dovetail with a new Master Plan created for the township marina last year with state grant funding. Kelly said the plan for the broader Greilickville area should be completed by the end of October.

Public input is still being sought on a draft update to the township’s Community Park, Recreation, Open Space and Greenway Plan through Aug. 31, Kelly added. Copies of the plan are available online or at the township hall. Adoption of the plan by the Township Board next month will put the township in a position to apply for additional grant funding for parks and recreation programs, Kelly said.