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The park will be named Ada Covered Bridge Park. 

The timing of the project will ultimately depend on fundraising. The campaign will accept pledges over a four-year period due to the campaign being kicked off late in 2023. Ada Township will have to identify project phasing once design engineering of the project can be completed. 

This campaign includes a proposed kayak launch on the west side of the Thornapple River in Legacy Park. This was located north of Thornapple River Drive which has a sanitary sewer main running underneath the bridge. This can create issues with access depending on the river level. Unless there is a change in the structure of the sanitary sewer line under the Thornapple River Drive bridge (which is unlikely), there will be an obstacle for paddles and motor boats to gets under the bridge on “high water” days. A kayak/canoe launch at Legacy Park would provide alternative access areas for paddlers to enter and exit the river without the risk of going under the bridge. Note that motor boats do come up the Thornapple River and go under the bridge for fishing, sightseeing, and other recreational activities. Some pontoons have parked alongside Legacy Park and walked up the bank so they could enjoy the summer concerts and access to Ada Village services.

The proposed improvements include the following pedestrian safety updates:

• A pedestrian bridge crossing the Thornapple River on the north side of the roadway from Legacy Park to the property adjacent to the Mosaic development on the east side of the river.

• A boardwalk running under the Thornapple River Drive bridge connecting Legacy Park to the Covered Bridge Park.

• A center island crossing on Thornapple River Drive north of Fase Street to allow pedestrians to cross away from the turning vehicles of Fase Street and the Covered Bridge Park entrance

This plan will add 15 parking spaces on River Street on the west side of the Ada Covered Bridge Park and 12 additional parking spaces to the existing 35 parking spaces at the Ada Covered Bridge parking area. Ada Township continues to evaluate parking and traffic concerns and is tentatively planning on completing a parking study in 2024 when both East Village Apartments and Ada Hotel are completed.

The Oxbow development will be an 88-unit mixed residential development once completed. This project is a private development from the developer Mosaic.

There are still two fields at Ada Park and one at Amway Headquarters that provide both a place for baseball and softball teams, kickball leagues, and community events.

Initially, the park was named “Ada Ballfield Park” since it was established for the intent of hosting ballgames. Later in its history, the community renamed the park, Leonard Field Park, in memory of Leonard Fase Jr, also known as Lenny, who died in a car accident. We have discussed the potential of changing the park name and removing the ballfield with members of the Fase family. In general, the members of the Fase family are in support of the improvements for the park and ask that the history be preserved by good interpretive signs and possibly a statue of a ball player or some other means of recognizing the historical importance the ballfield played in the park’s history. We have also discussed renaming one of the ballfields at Ada Park to Leonard Field to honor that history.

The $200,000.00 purchase price for this project is split between the Ada Township General Fund contributing $100,000.00, and the Parks, Recreation & Land Preservation Fund contributing $100,000.00.