A beloved Leland park could see considerable upgrades and additions based on a plan approved by township officials.

Leland Township and Leland Public School continue to finalize plans for Hancock Recreational Area (often called Hancock Field or Park), a roughly 13-acre parcel near the Leland Country Club. Both entities are involved because township owns the property, but the school leases it and has used it for various programs (most notably soccer) for many years.

Township Supervisor Clint Mitchell says the township recently approved a conceptual design for the northern portion of the property. Along with major upgrades to existing amenities, it includes new attractions like pickleball courts and an ice staking rink.

Now, the township is waiting for the school to develop its own plans for the rest of the property, which includes a large soccer field. Once that’s done, the public can get a better feel for the entire revamp.

 “The hope is that we'll (eventually) have a fully conceptualized design plan for all of Hancock Park,” he tells The Ticker. “We'll still have separate components – the school's components and the townships components – but they'll be on one document together that people can take a look at…instead of trying to figure out how everything works together.”

The township and school are in close communication, Mitchell says, something that should calm earlier fears of the two entities squandering taxpayer money by working on redundant processes.

“To get this point of the process is encouraging, and at least people can see that we have been working with the school and there has been a lot of collaboration,” Mitchell says. “There was some resistance early on that this was kind of an us versus them thing, or that we weren’t working together on the same piece of property.”

The estimated bill for the township’s work would be around $1.7 million. Mitchell expects the township will add in money for long-term maintenance at Hancock and some improvements to Grove Park in Lake Leelanau for a total package of around $2 million.

It’s possible that the township could go out for a millage to cover all or some of this cost, but Mitchell is very encouraged by recent private fundraising efforts for public amenities, including the Leland Yacht Club’s ongoing efforts to replace a heavily used dock. He hopes private fundraising could be leveraged for Hancock.

“Fundraising could certainly reduce (a millage ask), and what we’re giving time for is to see if we could replace it altogether,” Mitchell says.

Leland Public School Superintendent Ryan Huppert, only a few months on the job, says he’s excited about progress toward Hancock improvements. Like Mitchell, he stressed that the school and township are working hand in hand. 

“We’re hopeful that residents will appreciate the fact that we're both entities are working together to realize these improvements,” he tells The Ticker.

Huppert says it's too early to provide specific details about the school’s plans for its portion of the work, other than to say the “primary objective” is a new, state-of-the-art, full-size soccer field. But space for track and field and cross country are also important, he says.

Before the township got involved, the school district commissioned studies for redesigns of the entire property, resulting in good, better, and best plans ranging from $9 to $14 million.

Huppert says it’s too early to say what the school’s portion of the work would cost, but says it will be “substantially less than the least expensive option” from that original round since the township is now handling a lot of the improvements.

While this work can’t be rushed, Huppert says there is at least some measure of urgency.

“As fast and as quickly as we can move through the process is what we'd like to do,” Hupper says. “I think we want to solidify what our plans are this fall, and then it's a matter of funding and moving forward as quickly as we can with that.”