West Bloomfield Recognized for Marshbank Park Project

West Bloomfield's Marshbank Park is enjoying some time in the spotlight after it was recognized for its innovative, outstanding design.

The Marshbank Park Renovation Project, which wrapped up in December 2010, received a Great Lakes Park, Facility and Recreation Program Award late last month from the Great Lakes Park Training Institute.

The award is handed out every year to recognize park facilities and programs throughout the Midwest that represent the cutting edge of the park and recreation profession, a recent press release reads.

Winners represent "innovative, cost effective design as well as demonstrate the utilization of community input and resources while providing a significant impact on their community and agency," the release says.

"We are very pleased to have received this award," said West Bloomfield Parks Director Dan Navarre said. "It is especially rewarding since it is given by an organization of our peers."

Finished in 2010, the Marshbank Park Renovation Project involved the construction of two buildings — including the Marshbank Lodge, an all-season shelter heated and cooled by geothermal coils — two new play structures, a fishing pier, a kayak/canoe launch on Cass Lake and new paved walking paths. 

Eco-friendly features are scattered throughout the 108-acre park, in fact, with the benches, fishing piers, kayak launch and boardwalk constructed of recycled aluminum and plastic lumber made from recycled milk jugs.

Meanwhile, stormwater managment at the park involves the use of bioswales, rain gardens, underground detention and a permeable asphalt parking lot.

"Everything has just really come together," Deputy Director of the West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation Commission David Burley told Patch in 2011. "People are using every part of the park that has been finished."

This isn't the first award Marshbank Park has received. Last year, the project was the winner of the Michigan Recreation and Parks Association's Park Design Award.

Marshbank Park is located at 2805 Hiller Road, just north of Commerce Road.