Trustees approve Bonior sculpture plants

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — With David Bonior dedicating much of his life and legislative career to environmental issues, it can seem odd that the memorial to his nearly 30-year career is a metal tree.

The Clinton Township Board of Trustees took a step to alleviate the memorial’s aesthetic discord at its Oct. 16 meeting by approving the installation of plants at the site.

A five-member board — Trustee Mike Keys was absent — approved installing lily turf, marigolds and daffodils around the memorial at the corner of northbound Gratiot Avenue and Wellington Crescent, just south of the bridge connecting Clinton Township to Mount Clemens. The site is located within the Michigan Department of Transportation’s right of way and required approval from MDOT before planting could commence.

“It’s a beautiful piece,” Clinton Township Supervisor Robert Cannon said of the monument. “I hope everybody stops by it to see it. And when you get out of your car, get out and see the different things that David Bonior has done for the community and the books that he has done because they’re all out there right now.”

Dedication ceremonies for the monument and two markers along the David Bonior Trail were held in September.

Piper Street project abandonment

Trustees approved a request from the Macomb County Department of Roads to abandon the creation of Piper Street, originally designed to connect Groesbeck Highway and 15 Mile Road as part of the Piper’s Factory Site 1 development.

“The county has determined that Piper Street has little to no chance of being used as a public roadway,” Township Clerk Kim Meltzer said, reading from the department’s letter. “It has no direct access from 15 Mile Road or Groesbeck Highway and serves only those properties that abut its west line. … Therefore, the county has determined that it is in the best interest of the public to abandon the remaining right of way for Piper Street and allow the respective land to revert to the abutting owners.”

Cannon told board members that township department heads were in favor of abandoning the road project, which already had its southernmost parts abandoned in 2004.

The item was brought before the board at the recommendation of the township’s legal counsel, to ensure the board’s approval of the abandonment process was recorded.