LANSING — The city is looking to boost the Lansing River Trail by purchasing two properties and largely using state grants to do so.

The city is considering purchasing two parcels of land for $800,000. City council members have given tentative approval to the plan to use state grant money for most of the purchases. A final vote on the purchase price is expected in 2025.

A state grant will cover 75% of that cost, or about $600,000, and the city will pay the difference.

The two parcels, one at 1624 E. Cavanaugh St., which is selling for about $300,000, and the other near the corner of South Waverly and Jolly streets in the city’s southwest corner, which is selling for about $500,000, would expand each one the path. said Brett Kaschinske, the city’s parks and recreation director. The trail is approximately 25 miles long.

Cavanaugh’s property includes a house, some structures and land that is in a flood zone and is near the entrance to Hawk Island Park. If purchased, the house and structures would be demolished and the land would be included in the park’s current maintenance programs.

The South Waverly property would allow a nearby apartment complex, Waverly Park Apartments, and a mobile home park to have easy access to the River Trail, Kaschinske said. It wouldn’t necessarily lengthen the road, but it would open it up to hundreds of new trips a year.

“There is a significant population of people who are disconnected,” he said.

“We have a Consumers Energy easement on the south end (of Lansing). We are looking to extend it to the west of Waverly through this property and we want to use the church property to connect to those areas: the apartment complex and a community of mobile homes,” Kaschinske said. “This is so we can get more residents to use the non-motorized roads that we have.”

In both cases, Kaschinske said, the purchase price will be set by an appraiser and the owners will decide whether to accept the evaluated offer or reject it.

City council members approved the request for grant money and would have to approve the purchases once purchase prices are set, he said, likely in 2025.

Ingham County could support some of the trail work at the Eaton County site, he said.

Use of the Lansing River Trail is difficult to measure, because people can enter and exit the trail in many places, Kaschinske said, but the city is confident that at least 100,000 people a year use the trails.

He said the Cavanaugh property, if purchased and once demolished, would quickly become a park, while the South Waverly Road property could require more work.

That site, he said, “could open up more trail development and could lead to future expansion in southwest Lansing.”

Contact Mike Ellis at [email protected] or 517-267-0415

This article originally appeared in the Lansing State Journal: Lansing seeks to expand River Trail with two land purchases