Torch Lake Township Asked What to Fund Next. The Nakwema Trail Split the Room.

At the Torch Lake Township Hall on September 21, residents put sticky dots on a poster that asked whether they would pay more in taxes, fees or donations for recreation. When the dots were counted, the vote was tied at 16 yes and 16 no. Four of the five comments posted under yes named the Nakwema Trailway. On the same evening, on a different poster, the item that drew the most votes was a design workshop for the villages of Eastport and Torch Lake. It got 19 dots, more than anything else on the board.

The Planning Commission's October 19 meeting packet shows how far the trail debate has moved ahead of the township's decisions. The board's only formal action backed a route the project team no longer recommends, and it committed no money. Meanwhile, the item that drew the most dots was about what Eastport and Torch Lake village should look like.

How the room voted on money

The open house asked a follow-up question: if new property tax funding were considered, what yearly cost per household would feel reasonable? The township printed what each amount would raise, which gives a sense of scale for a community this size.

The two lowest amounts got no dots at all. People willing to pay something mostly chose $100. Five comments were posted under "None." Most objected to new costs, and one suggested user fees "of whatever dollar amount is necessary" so residents could choose to participate. The yes comments show what the money meant to supporters, with notes like "Yes, if bike trail included" and "I believe Nakwema bike trail should be first priority." Another said the trail "can only improve the area as the TART trail has improved the desirability of where it passes." The single comment under no did not mention the trail. It said many people unable to pay were not there to speak because they were working or caring for family.

Trail skeptics wrote on other posters. Under the recreation plan questions, one comment called the trail a lower priority "at 1.5 million dollars per mile." Among the "None" comments on the cost question, people asked who would insure and staff a trailhead building and who would pay to clean its restrooms. One sticky note did its own math: $1 to $3 million a mile over nine miles, for an estimated $18 million total.

Those cost figures come from residents' notes, not from a project budget. They show how much of the debate rested on a dollar amount nobody has formally proposed.

The only vote the board has taken

The Torch Lake Township Board has acted on the Nakwema once. At its December 19, 2023 meeting, after a schematic design process that put the trail on the west side of US-31, the board approved this motion:

Motion by Cook that the Torch Lake Township Board supports the proposed Nakwema Trailway Bike Path as presented, with the Board not committing any financial resources to the TART Trail project at this time.

That wording comes from a February 12, 2026 memo to the board from TART Trails' project manager. The motion did two things. It endorsed a specific route, and it said plainly that the township was not paying for it. When the trail came back to the board in January 2026, it was listed as an informational presentation, not an action item.

So the funding question residents argued about in September has not come before the board. The open house was collecting opinions for the Master Plan and recreation plan, and the October packet lists the results only as a "Master Plan Review" item. No hearing or adoption date is set.

The route the board backed has moved

The same memo explains why the 2023 vote no longer matches the plan. After the board's motion, survey and early engineering work on the west side of US-31 found that the route would need many private easements, ran into encroachments and right-of-way limits, and required significant retaining wall. The project team then ran an Alternatives Analysis that compared both sides of the highway and extended the study south to the edge of Milton Township. It recommended the east side for four reasons:

• Fewer environmental constraints
• Less need for private easements
• Easier construction
• Fewer crossings of US-31 along the corridor

The Nakwema Trailway's Torch Lake Township page describes the current preferred route. It runs along the east side of US-31, crosses near the US-31 and M-88 intersection, and continues north to Old Dixie Highway. The analysis was done with the engineering firm C2AE and the Torch to Bay Trail Team, a group of resident trail supporters. As of the spring 2026 update, the work underway is surveying, preliminary design, landowner outreach, phasing, looking for funding, and planning for maintenance with township and county partners. The memo calls the east-side route a recommendation that still needs more information, and it describes its purpose as keeping the board informed.

For anyone who lives along US-31 between Eastport and the Milton Township line, this matters. The side of the highway named in the township's only vote is no longer the one the project team is pursuing.

A trailhead parcel at the edge of Eastport

The one piece of the trail that physically exists in the township is land. In December 2024, the Nakwema Trailway announced it had bought a five-acre parcel at US-31 and M-88, near Lake Michigan and next to Barnes Park, for a future northern trailhead and community activities. The trail organization credits local donations for the purchase. It says it will work with Torch Lake Township on how the space will be used.

The project page describes this stretch as a link between Barnes Park and Torch Lake Township Day Park, the hamlets of Eastport and Torch Lake, and the businesses along the corridor. The new route crosses near M-88, the same intersection as the trailhead land, so the parcel and the route now line up.

The larger project is moving in other places. The Nakwema is a 45-plus-mile planned connection between the TART network in Acme and Traverse City and the Little Traverse Wheelway in Charlevoix. TART Trails and the Top of Michigan Trails Council lead it together. The Deepwater Connector in the Acme area was reported complete in April 2025. In May 2026, the project announced a conditional $2 million MDOT Transportation Alternatives Program commitment for Phase 1 of the Elk Rapids-to-Maple Bay segment, south of Torch Lake Township.

What drew more votes than the trail

Back at the open house, residents could choose two priorities from the draft Master Plan action list for the first one to three years. Here is how the dots fell:

1. Hold a design workshop for Eastport and Torch Lake villages on what development the communities want: 19
2. Identify areas with heavy walking and biking and prioritize nonmotorized investment there: 11
3. Hold an annual joint meeting of the Township Board and Planning Commission: 8
4. Consider duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes in suitable areas such as the two villages: 5
5. Support agriculture and limited commercial uses in the agricultural district: 3
6. Review the Torchport Airport approach plan and adopt an airport zoning ordinance: 3
7. Identify road ends and keep them publicly accessible within the limits of Public Act 56 of 2012: 2
8. Review zoning language for the villages after the workshop: 1
9. Encourage cluster development or open-space preservation: 0

The nonmotorized item is where the trail would fit, and it finished second. But the village workshop drew more dots than anything else, and two other items on the list are also about Eastport and Torch Lake village. One comment pointed in the same direction: "I think TLT should support their own residents BEFORE trying to make TLT village and areas a tourist destination." The Planning Commission had planned the open house around three subjects: recreation, Torchport, and the villages of Eastport and Torch Lake Village.

Smaller requests came up too. Some residents asked for clearly marked road ends so neighbors can walk to the water without trespassing, and one asked for a boat launch at a road end on Lake Michigan. Opinion on pickleball at Torch Lake Township Day Park was split, with some asking for courts and others concerned about noise near homes.

Where it goes from here

The recreation plan has a practical deadline behind it. Michigan's Department of Natural Resources requires a community to have an approved five-year recreation plan on file by February 1 of the year it applies for Land and Water Conservation Fund, Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, or Waterways grants. A township's recreation plan shapes which projects can compete for state money. That includes trail segments, road-end improvements, and anything at Day Park.

The October packet has no next hearing date, comment period, or adoption date for either plan. On the trail side, the memo says topographic survey work is to be completed once snow conditions allow, and landowner outreach is ongoing. Agendas and packets are posted on the Torch Lake Township website. Planning Commission meetings are held at 7 p.m. in the Community Services Building.

At Pat O'Brien, we follow township planning across Antrim and Charlevoix counties because decisions like a village design workshop or a trail route shape daily life along US-31 for years. If you would like to talk through what the Eastport and Torch Lake planning process could mean for your property or your plans, please Contact Us.