City manager announces ADA sidewalk audit, Hickory Hills mountain-bike MOU and parks master‑plan survey

Interim City Manager Benjamin Marantette used the Aug. 4 meeting to outline several staff initiatives and community partnerships.

ADA audit and sidewalks: Marantette said a recent personal experience pushing a resident in a wheelchair highlighted accessibility issues at a downtown intersection and that the city’s ADA coordinator, Deb Allen, will lead a downtown sidewalks and crosswalks audit to identify barriers and prioritize repairs. The audit, Marantette said, will be approached with “compassion and empathy.”

Hickory Hills mountain‑bike trail MOU: The city has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Northern Michigan Mountain Bike Association for design and development of a mountain‑bike trail system at Hickory Hills, Marantette said. Parks staff have also begun a five‑year parks and recreation master plan process; the plan is required for certain state grant opportunities and a community survey is open on the city website under projects.

Crisis‑response coordination and virtual community resilience center: The interim manager said the city is coordinating with local, state and federal service providers, the Grand Traverse County Prosecutor’s Office and trauma‑care partners to develop crisis‑intervention services and a comprehensive resource webpage described as a virtual community resilience center; the communications director will promote the resource when it goes live.

Meeting cadence: Marantette said the commission likely will not meet on Aug. 11 or Aug. 25 and expects the next regular meeting to be Aug. 18; he also said there may be extra meetings in September tied to objectives and key results work.

Ending: The announcements set several short‑term workstreams — ADA audit, trail‑planning MOU and parks master plan — that staff said are intended to support grant applications and longer‑term infrastructure and recreational‑planning goals.