Parks department hopes voters will renew parks millage in 2026 to continue development

OTTAWA COUNTY — Ottawa County’s Parks and Recreation millage is up for renewal in 2026, after the current one is set to expire next year.  

The millage, which is a property tax, was first approved in 1996 for 10 years and was renewed in 2006 and again in 2016. 

The dedicated park millage, combined with grant funds, user fees and gifts and donations, has allowed the county’s Parks Commission to provide an award-winning park system to serve residents and visitors. 

However, with continued park expansion, a higher percentage of millage funds is now devoted to operations and maintenance, creating greater reliance on other funding for new initiatives.

The Parks and Recreation Commission was created in 1987, when the county only had a few trails and parks open to the public. Since then, the county has become “one of the fast-growing counties in the state of Michigan for the last 30 years,” said Curtis TerHaar, coordinator of Park Planning and Development.

The department wanted to expand to keep up with the demand of the growing population, which is why they asked voters to approve the first parks millage on the 1996 ballot. 

The approval rating for the millage increased every 10 years. 

In 1996, “the first millage passed with a 53% approval rate,” TerHaar said. In 2006, it was approved by 67% of voters and in 2016, was approved by 72% of voters. 

“Ottawa County Parks is well known now for having a great parks system and really would not be possible without the millage,” TerHaar said.

Key projects that the millage money funded include:

• Ottawa Sands: a land acquisition that was formerly a sand mine that was converted into a new park. The project included ecological restoration and other amenities. A documentary film released earlier this year, called “The Ottawa Sands Project,” won a national Savvy Award from the City-County Communications and Marketing Association in 2025. It tells the story of the park's acquisition, conservation efforts and community collaboration.  
• Crockery Creek Natural Area: Another project that uses millage money to buy land, more land has been acquired by the Parks system since 1996. Part of a few parks in the county that allows hunting on the land, this area allows hunters to enter a lottery to hunt there. 
• Rosy Mound Natural Area: A project that has been a work in progress for over 30 years. The department bought 291 acres over the past 30 years. Most of the 127 acres added recently will be restored as a nature area, and other sections used as an area for hiking and a boardwalk through the sand dunes for the public. 

The parks commission is still in the planning stages for the next millage. 

The millage renewal will appear either on the August primary or the November general election ballot. 

Meanwhile, the commission released a draft of the 2026 long-range Parks Plan. The public commenting period ended Oct. 17, and a public hearing took place Oct. 22. The public is still able to review the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Plan on the county’s website. 

— Contact Katelynrose Birchmeier at newsroom@ottawanewsnetwork.org.