Report

Plans for off-road park near Detroit edge closer to reality

It would reportedly be the closest off-roading park to Detroit

Officials in suburban Detroit this week are scheduled to vote on final plans to open a 235-acre off-roading park about an hour northwest of the city on the site of a former sand and gravel mine.

Members of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday are expected to approve the plan, which would create an off-roading park for drivers of off-road SUVs or trucks, side-by-sides, ATVs and motorcycles that is operated by the county. The Oakland Press reports that officials project an opening date of July 2020, with a final name yet to be chosen.

It's said to feature hills, ponds, mud pits, obstacles including boulders and tree trunks, and more than five miles of winding ORV trails. Such a park, which would be the closest to metro Detroit, is said to be decades in the making.

"Right now, there's nothing else like this in southeast Michigan, so this is really going to set metro Detroit apart" from other cities, Phil Weipert, a member of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, told the Detroit Free Press. "We're the Motor City, the new Jeep is going to be built here and this is all positive for our region. It makes us more competitive to attract a work force."

The park would be jointly managed by Oakland County and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The DNR purchased the former mines in 2017 with a $2.9 million Trust Fund grant and with the intention that the county would use it as an ORV park, according to The Oakland Press. Officials have staged test runs and an invitational event on the site. The state will reportedly lease the property to the county, which will assess a $15-a-day entry fee, and partly reimburse it for any operating losses.

Off-road-capable trucks and SUVs appear to be enjoying a resurgence in popularity, judging purely from high-profile new vehicle releases recently including the Jeep Gladiator, Ford Ranger and Toyota's TRD Pro family, plus the eagerly anticipated Ford Bronco and three-row Jeep SUV.

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