News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Mich-e-ke-wis Park is seen on Wednesday. The City of Alpena will host a special public input session at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, where officials will reveal several preliminary design plans for improvements to Mich-e-ke-wis Park.

ALPENA — The City of Alpena is taking the next step in crafting a master plan for Mich-e-ke-wis Park and officials are asking the public for its assistance in the process.

On Wednesday, the city will host a special public input session where officials will reveal a series of preliminary design plans for improvements to the park that were created based on public input from a previous public meeting.

City Planning and Development Director Adam Poll said people will be able to share their thoughts, opinions, and concerns about the plans at Wednesday’s meeting, which happens at 6 p.m. at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, 500 W Fletcher St. Poll said residents’ comments from Wednesday’s meeting will then be considered and implemented into another set of designs further in the process.

“At the first meeting, we gathered opinions on what people wanted to see at the park, what they didn’t want to see, and got their thoughts on development opportunities at the park,” Poll said. “We had a good turnout, learned quite a bit, and, ultimately, we took their ideas and made some very preliminary designs. We’ll show them at the meeting and get feedback on them, so we can make any changes that need to be made.”

Poll didn’t want to reveal any of the details of the plan before their unveiling Wednesday, but said that, no matter what ends up in the final designs, it would likely be many years before all of the projects and goals are achieved.

“This is a planning document and designed to be fulfilled over a 20-year period,” he said. “Just because there is an element in there, it doesn’t mean they are going to be built in a year or two.”

What the plan does, he said, is put detailed ideas on paper that will be chipped away at as funding becomes available. Poll said having the plan also makes it easier to acquire money from sources other than the city’s general fund.

“It allows us to utilize grant funding for these elements, and we have been fairly successful in the past in getting funding for similar things,” Poll said. “We will likely only be able to do one or two elements at a time in any given one- or two-year period, so it will be a long work in progress.”

Poll said it is possible local groups could help contribute to the projects, similar to when the Alpena Rotary Club paid for much of the cost for the splash park at Starlite Beach. He said there are many instances when private groups fundraise and contribute to making the ideas in the plans realities.

“If you look at our parks and the playgrounds, there have been all sorts of community service groups that have helped,” he said. “Their partnerships have been invaluable, and, if we intend to continue to improve recreational amenities, it will need to continue to be invaluable.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.

If you go

∫ WHAT: Public discussion on improvements to Mich-e-ke-wis Park

∫ WHEN: 6 p.m. Wednesday

∫ WHERE: Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, 500 W Fletcher St.

∫ INFO: Call 989-354-1700 for more information.