'Ridge' project preserves East Bay hills

Mar. 28—TRAVERSE CITY — Sunlight filtered through the clouds as a hawk wheeled over Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy's next preserve in East Bay Township.

The conservancy recently purchased property known as The Ridge with its forested, rolling hills thanks to a $5.1 million loan, said Jennifer Jay, the conservancy's communications director. Flint-based C.S. Mott Foundation loaned the funds to buy the 210-acre chunk of land between Four Mile and Five Mile roads. Meanwhile, the conservancy is going through due diligence on another 10 adjacent acres and figuring out the full fundraising amount.

Jay said GTRLC has three years to pay back the foundation's loan, which allowed the conservancy to quickly buy the property on a timeline that worked for the seller.

While GTRLC has been busy as of late — it moved into its new headquarters on Four Mile Road in mid-2023 amid other land acquisition and preservation projects — the property stayed on GTRLC's list.

"So it wasn't rising to the top as something we had both time and the opportunity to pursue, but it's definitely been on our radar because, oh my gosh ... the property is fantastic," Jay said.

It's not hard to see what she meant — the hawk was just one raptor in the air visible from a hilltop vista Thursday. To the north lies a view of East Grand Traverse Bay shorelines, with the West Bay just barely visible over Old Mission Peninsula. To the northwest is Cherry Capital Airport and Traverse City, with Park Place Hotel's green roof clearly visible.

The property was also on Innovo's radar. The same developer behind Breakwater Apartments on Garland Avenue previously asked East Bay Township to amend the master plan so it could build housing there. Planning commissioners rejected that request in January.

Company co-founder Brian Mullally said Innovo then agreed to step aside after GTLRC approached the company and seller. The developer wanted to square workforce housing's economic benefits with protecting the land's natural assets.

"So you know, it's a big deal for us to try to do that in balance," he said. "Once the land conservancy approached us and the owners about a potential option to acquire it, we said, 'great.'"

There's still a possibility for housing on part of the land, Jay said. The conservancy's crew is walking the land to assess the most valuable parts from a conservation standpoint — the perched, rich conifer swamp is a rare example of a kind of wetland found upland of where swamps typically occur, for example.

These types of swamp can be home to a slew of plants and animals, including uncommon ones like prothonotary warblers and red-shouldered hawks. Deer and varying hares — commonly called snowshoe hares — overwinter in them as well.

Jay said she wouldn't be surprised if bobcats dwell in the property, and bald eagles that nest near the conservancy's nearby headquarters routinely soar over the ridge.

It'll be a large addition among several others nearby, including Holiday Woods just across Four Mile Road, Mnaadendan Shkaakimiikwe north and west of there on Three Mile Road and Reffitt Nature Preserve south of Keith Charters Traverse City State Park.

The property is critical not only for the conservancy's efforts to create wildlife corridors, but recreational corridors too, she said. There are opportunities for trails, including to the vista that provides a view all the way to Sugar Loaf Mountain near Cedar.

"So I think that in itself makes it a pretty cool place for people to go and hike," she said. "How often do you get to see things like that?"

Lots of details are still in the works, like where the trails would be once it's open to the public, what parts need restoration and where the most sensitive natural features lie, Jay said.

Township Supervisor Beth Friend said it's good news that GTRLC partnered with the C.S. Mott Foundation on the purchase. It fits with the township's perspective that conservation and development can go hand-in-hand if there's a balance.

Friend agreed building lots of homes on the property would have helped meet a pressing need for housing in the region, although it would've been a huge portion of that need.

"And I'm not sure that East Bay needed to bear all of that development," she said. "I think that all of the region needs that development."