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The Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation (TART) Trails recently took possession of a new piece of grooming equipment to groom the Leelanau Trail for skiing between Traverse City and Suttons Bay. This new grooming attachment, called a Ginzu groomer, is designed to groom for both classic and skate ski techniques. TART Trails, Inc. is a nonprofit trail and pedestrian advocacy organization that manages cross-country ski grooming programs on both the Vasa Pathway and Leelanau Trail. The Leelanau Trail is generally groomed once a week, usually on Fridays or as snowfall dictates.

TART has made an agreement to groom Leelanau County’s Veronica Valley Park on Co Rd 641 on a trial basis. The initial groom was on Tuesday (2/16/10). Approximately 4 kilometers of trail were groomed for both classic and skate skiing. The Leelanau County Parks and Recreation Commission is hopeful that both visitors and county residents will take advantage of the newly groomed trails. If the groomed trails are popular with skiers; an arrangement will be made with TART trails to groom them for the remainder of the season. Veronica Valley is located in Bingham Township between County Road 641 (Lake Leelanau Drive) and Maple Valley Road. The 93-acre park was formerly a golf course owned by Bill and Diane Grant. The county purchased the property from the Grants in 2008 for $800,000, of which $580,811 was provided to the county through the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) and $25,000 from Rotary Charities.

About TART:
Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation (TART) Trails, Inc. is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization formed in 1998 and located in Traverse City, Michigan. TART works to enrich the Traverse area by providing a network of trails, bikeways and pedestrian ways; and encouraging their use. TART Trails include a network of trail systems located in Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties: including the Boardman Lake Trail, Leelanau Trail, TART Trail, Three Mile Trail and Vasa Pathway. These trails combine to form over 60 miles of recreation and transportation pathways spanning from Suttons Bay to Acme Township. It is estimated that the trails serve over 200,000 users annually while preserving valuable community green space. TART is working to integrate these trails into the community by advocating for interconnected bike lanes, bike routes and sidewalks, and is also working to extend these trails to connect with a developing regional trails system. For more information about TART Trails, please visit www.traversetrails.org

The Leelanau Enterprise reports that convicted felon Remo Polselii and his wife Hanna are still in control of Sugar Loaf Resort:

Shortly after she purchased Sugar Loaf resort in March 2005, Wickstrom declared publicly that Polselli was “definitely out of the picture” – an assertion she has repeated several times since then.

But facts to the contrary emerged during a hearing Monday in a suit filed by waste treatment plant operator Sugar Loaf Service Company over an unpaid $500,000-plus sewer bill the company claimed Wickstrom owed. Named as co-defendant in the case was the holder of Wickstrom’s mortgage on the resort, Transcapital Bank of Florida, represented locally by Traverse City attorney Roy Jay Montney Jr.

Montney informed Judge Thomas G. Power during this week’s hearing that Transcapital no longer holds the mortgage on Sugar Loaf Resort – a fact that Sugar Loaf Service Company attorney Tom Pezetti, on the other side of the aisle, said he’d learned only Friday. Montney said that a corporation apparently controlled by Hanna Karcho Polselli had acquired the mortgage from Transcapital, and had subsequently assigned the mortgage to yet another bank.

To read more check out the the article at the Leelanau Enterprise.
Check out more Sugar Loaf news at Leelanau.com.

Photo credit:  Leelanau Enterprise

Mark your calendars for Saturday January 9 from 11-2 for Winter Trails Day. TART is teaming up with the Vasa Ski Club to host several activities at the Vasa Pathway Trailhead:

* Beginner x-country ski lessons- Get a lesson and gain confidence when you’re gliding about on the trails. Don’t have skis? No problem. Free equipment will be provided by Brick Wheels. Pre-registration required by calling TART at 941-4300.
* Beginner snowshoe hike- Go for an organized snowshoe hike and work up a sweat! No equipment? Again, no problem. Free equipment will be provided by Brick Wheels. Pre-registration required by calling TART at 941-4300.
* Advanced x-country ski clinics- Offered by the Vasa Ski Club, clinics will be held during the same time period for advanced skiers. Hone your techniques and learn how to kick and glide with the best of ‘em. Pre-registration is not required for the advanced clinics. Just show up and prepare to have a good time.

And to make Winter Trails Day even more fun, TART will also be hosting our first Vasa Open House of the ski season during the same time frame, so when you are done having fun outside- you can warm up by the bonfire, nosh on homemade cookies and sip a hot cocoa! It doesn’t get any better than that! So don’t miss it!

Photo: Morning Ski by greencottage

Jeff Rabidoux of Life on the 45th Parallel brings back many memories of skiing and good times, in his gallery Sugarloaf.....Photographic Study. Be sure to check out the rest of his site of amazing photos. If you are looking for last minute Christmas gifts, his prints are 20% off through the end of the year.

The Leelanau Enterprise reports:

A “Phase II” environmental assessment of Sugar Loaf Resort completed last month found no more in the way of contamination at the long-shuttered ski resort than a “Phase I” assessment conducted in October.

At their regular monthly meeting last week, members of the Leelanau County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (LCBRA) heard from representatives of AKT Peerless Environmental Services which is conducting the assessments using part of the $100,000 in grant funding the county acquired through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

County Planning and Community Development department head Trudy Galla, who also serves as director of the LCBRA, said that during the “Phase II” assessment, engineers were able to locate one of the underground storage tanks on the resort property which not even its current owner, Kate Wickstrom, was aware of.

“There are a number of underground storage tanks on the property,” Galla explained, “and the assessment showed that none of them are leaking.”

Read more of the Leelanau Enterprise article.

Photo: Down by farlane

The Sugar Loaf Vision Session Report is now available and the Traverse City Record-Eagle has a report on the results that says most residents:

...want to see it either returned to a popular tourist destination or converted to a community recreational center.

Those options were the clear favorites gleaned from June meetings designed to help township officials determine zoning and land use for the Sugar Loaf area, said Leelanau County Planner Trudy Galla.

The two most popular concepts aren't mutually exclusive, nor do they rule out other ideas that may still be incorporated into preliminary drafts, she said.

"This is just the beginning, so whatever ends up being developed for there could be quite different," Galla said.

...Some activities mentioned in the report ranged from extreme sports and water slides to bungee-jumping and golf.

A community recreational center scenario came from those who prefer a more family oriented, quieter use geared mostly toward locals. That conceptual plan includes an athletic and spa center, restaurant, sports fields and skiing interspersed with residential housing.

What do you think should be done with Sugar Loaf? Post your comments below!

On June 24 and June 25, 250 participants attended a series of sessions to discuss the future vision of Sugar Loaf. Representatives from Kansas State University TAB program, and from MSU will present these results and a short video clip from the final visioning session on Tuesday, August 18 in the Lower Level of the Leelanau County Government Center at 6pm.

Prior to this unveiling,  all Leelanau County elected and appointed officials, business owners, property owners, consultants, developers, and residents are invited to a workshop focused on Leelanau County brownfield initiatives at 3:00pm in the Leelanau County Government Center.

This is YOUR opportunity to speak to EPA officials about proposed projects, ideas, questions you have on current projects or funding possibilities, etc. Bring your questions and be ready to learn!

There will be a brief introduction followed by an update on the EPA grants Leelanau County has received for site assessment work.

Mr. Jim Van der Kloot from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) office in Chicago, will give an overview of Sustainable development techniques that have been applied in the Midwest, with a focus on practical steps that can be taken which yield long-term benefits in terms of affordability, re-use of brownfield sites, and enhancement of the ecological setting of a site.

Mr. Mike Gifford, EPA Region V Brownfields Project manager from Chicago, will present the nuts and bolts of EPA’s Revolving Loan Fund Grants that can be used to cleanup contamination on brownfield sites. Find out what works, what doesn’t work and what your commitment is, if you apply for and receive one of these grants. This Workshop was coordinated with assistance from the Michigan Association of Counties (MAC).

Please RSVP by calling the Leelanau County Planning office at 231-256-9812. FREE – for Leelanau County Residents.

Photo: Sugar Loaf January 2003 by farlane

The townships of Cleveland and Centerville invite the public to provide input and ideas for the future of the former Sugar Loaf Resort AND the surrounding areas.

Sugar Loaf Resort closed nearly ten years ago and now a vision for the future of the site and surrounding area is sought to provide guidance for how the Townships' master plans and ordinances could address potential development. Ideas and perspectives from the public will assist the townships as part of a sub-planning process initiated by the Cleveland and Centerville Planning Commissions.

There are 96 slots at each session (12 round tables with 8 at a table), the first two sessions filled up and the one they added next Thursday (Jun 25) from 1:30 - 4:00 pm is filling up fast – call them at 231-256-9812 to make a reservation! Visit the Leelanau County Government web site for all the info on these visioning sessions and to add your comments online if you can't attend.

Photo: Leelanau Cedar Mi Little Rare Little Traverse Lake & Sugar Loaf Hill by UpNorth Memories - Donald (Don) Harrison

Acting as a private citizen, Leelanau County Commissioner David Shiflett has posted a petition to call on Leelanau governmental units to get control of Sugar Loaf. TV 9 &10 interviewed David about the petition last night.

"Every year that the Sugar Loaf resort remains closed, more and more people leave the area," says David Shiflett, Leelanau County Commissioner. "The businesses are floundering, their struggling to survive."

Shiflett decided -- on his own time -- to start an online petition to encourage the county to help private investors take over the resort.

"My personal belief is 'let's give it a whole new look, wipe the slate clean, start with a new plan and go from there.'"

Background (Preamble)

Since the winter of 2000, Sugar Loaf resort has been closed, resulting in a loss of the employment for over 300 people at the resort itself, not to mention the impact on the economy of Leelanau County, and the Grand Traverse region as a whole.

The residents, business owners, and tax payers can no longer accept the fate of what once was our economic engine. It's time to take control and form a public/private collaborative for re-development.

Petition

We, the undersigned Leelanau County tax payers, residents, visitors, and friends, call on Leelanau County's Landbank authority, Brownfield Redevelopment authority, Economic Development Corporation, with assistance from Leelanau County Board of Commission, Cleveland Twp. Board, Centerville Twp. Board, to take the necessary steps to get control of the lands, buildings, recreational facilities, and Infrastructure that make up the historical Sugar Loaf Resort Hotel, Ski Runs, Sugar Barn, and Sugar Loaf Service Company and Sewer Plant, including, if necessary, the formation of a nonprofit or municipal entity to manage the facility for the benefit of the entire community.

We urge all private and governmental entities, and all citizens, to come together in a joint effort to bring about the redevelopment of this significant community asset.

Click to read & sign the petition to Purchase & Redevelop Sugar Loaf.

The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports that Leelanau County officials are seeking federal stimulus funds to buy & upgrade Sugar Loaf Mountain:

"For the residents of Leelanau County, this is one of their prime issues, especially in the business community," said David Shiflett, a county commissioner and chairman of the county's brownfield redevelopment authority board.

The brownfield board and other county agencies are asking for $10.5 million under the state's allotment of the stimulus package to purchase the resort and a supporting wastewater treatment facility, parcels now owned by separate parties. They'd make upgrades, then offer the combined property for sale with public financing and other incentives.

"We don't want to be in the ownership position for very long at all ... the goal is to incentivize it so it allows private development to get involved, take control and be profitable," Shiflett said.

Be sure to read the rest and check out more Sugar Loaf news from Leelanau.com.