A Big Week for Chassell
Our hiking group leader Mark was out of town this past Sunday, so our friend John coordinated a spur of the moment hike from High Point Road to the north of Hancock into Churning Rapids. It was rainy and cold as we headed out, but the precipitation would stop as we met up with the small group that assembled where the Maki Loop comes along High Point Road.
We would initially hike in northward on the Maki Loop and pick up Villi Maki where we would take in this view over Spring Creek.
The recently emergent foliage still held its bright green color which lit up the forest on an otherwise overcast day.
Connecting up with the Maki Trail, we would cross Spring Creek and then pick up Jimmy Dean.
We would then pick up the Spring Creek Trail and head southward.
The ultimate goal of this hike was to eventually loop back to the Trillium Trail, Uncle Schmunk, and High Point Pass where we would take in what seemed like thousands of blooming trillium.
We would even find ourselves in the middle of a snow shower which seemed crazy for May 18th! You can check this out on a YouTube short at this link: https://youtube.com/shorts/_gyenMoEHAQ?si=wxo_Chcx3zfyOR_r
As you can see, the trillium blanketed the forest floor!
If you are not familiar with the Churning Rapids mountain biking trails, you might want to check out this map on the Hancock Trails Club website at this link: https://hancocktrails.org/maps/
You can see my GoPro video from this 4.2-mile hike on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
Monday would start with a 3,000-yard swim at MTU. Afterwards, I would meet up at the Chassell Heritage Center with fellow Chassell Historical Organization board members Ed Kautto, Mat Moore, and Steve Spahn where we cut out the water pipes and drainpipes from the Strawberry Room ceiling on the first floor that once served the home economics classroom that had been located above.
The look and feel of this exhibit space was much improved once the work was completed and we had cleaned up afterwards! I have to give a shout out here to Keweenaw Power & Lite for their re-lamping and re-wiring project which installed LED lighting to replace the high-energy fluorescent lighting that had been there previously while maintaining the historic fixtures. A big thanks as well for the grant funding from the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission and the funds contributed from the Veterans of Foreign Wars/Chassell Lions Club benefit breakfast that helped make this project possible!
After we wrapped up, I would write my President’s Message and a Finnish Roots article for the upcoming issue of the Chassell Historical Organization Newsletter. That evening, I would chair a Chassell Historical Organization board meeting at the Chassell Heritage Center.
Tuesday would be a very big day for Chassell as the Michigan Strategic Fund Board would approve a $1.5 million Michigan Community Revitalization Program grant in support of T & J Properties redevelopment project on the Chassell Mercantile site. As I have discussed previously, this project will bring twenty-two 1- and 2-bedroom apartments along with 2,000 square feet of streetside commercial space to downtown Chassell. This final step clears the way for work on the project to begin on June 9th.
This project significantly underlines what a smaller community can do when everyone pulls together as a team! Rather than accept a blighted, turned dangerous, building in our community owned by an out-of-state owner that let it collapse under the snow load, our Planning Commission pursued input from residents on blight and put teeth into our dangerous building ordinance with the approval of the Township Board. After securing one judgment and in the process of going for a second judgment, the owner transferred the property to the Houghton County Land Bank. This set the table for the property's redevelopment thanks to the vision of Dan Palosaari of T & J Properties. With significant help from Jeff Ratcliffe at the Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance navigating the tools through the Houghton County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (low interest loan), MSHDA (TIF), and the MEDC (MCRP Grant), important supports were provided to make this $4.5 million project possible.
I would like to acknowledge the Michigan Legislature for its bipartisan efforts and the administration of Governor Gretchen Whitmer for making these important tools available to support this significant, game changing investment in Chassell by Dan Palosaari to develop workforce housing and commercial space!
It did not take long for the word of the MSF Board’s decision to get out as Dan, Jeff, and I would all be interviewed by TV 6 that afternoon. You can see that story at this link: https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2025/05/21/chassell-township-will-soon-add-new-affordable-housing-units/
Tuesday evening, we would be at the Orpheum in Hancock for the Hancock Trails Club annual meeting. The Orpheum was a great venue for this meeting as we had an hour-long social hour with pizza ahead of the business meeting. Our Treasurer John Diebel who is stepping down after many years of service led off with a briefing on the Club’s finances, our President Jay Green provided a review of the past year’s events with our Trail 17 bridge and boardwalk project being the top highlight, and board member Ian Helman looked at the year ahead highlighting the Bike Park/Grillhouse Trail project. In my role as Secretary of the board, I would then carry out the election of board members. Nearly all of the voting had taken place online ahead of the meeting utilizing the Simply Voting platform with eighty-nine of our members voting in that manner. Two additional members voted by mail and one voted in person at the meeting. Jesse Wiederhold, Mariana Grohowski, and Brett Hauswirth would be elected to the board.
Wednesday morning, we would get a late start to MTU for our swim at the SDC, so I only put in 2,500 yards. Afterwards, Brian Waters, Steve Spahn, and I would meet up with Chassell Township Schools Principal Tricia Tervo and two sophomore students at the Chassell Fitness Trail to walk the trail and determine directional sign needs on the trail. These students will be producing these needed signs with the school’s Glowforge machine.
Later, I would talk with Carly Graff from the MDNR and learn that the EGLE would be the final word on being able to draw water from the lake if we were to pursue a splash pad for the park. Jerrod Sanders with EGLE in Lansing had reached back out to me and shared the EGLE’s water withdrawal permitting process, noting that there would be discharge permitting requirements as well. The bottom line here is that ithis project may be difficult to accomplish as we are currently envisioning it. He also encouraged us to get with our local health department as ongoing water quality would be a key issue here as well.
On a separate EGLE related matter, after talking with Matt Lubejko about our silted-in kayak launch, he indicated that we would need to complete a dredging permit in order to remove the silt.
The log jam above the bridge apparently had an impact on the stream velocity in front of the launch and an eddy caused the silt to accumulate in the launch. I spent my evening putting that application together.
Thursday, Brian Waters, Craig Austin, Dave Mattson, and I would meet with Matt Lubejko from EGLE at the property the township recently acquired to the south of the off-leash dog park to discuss permitting and design considerations for the marina envisioned in the Centennial Park preliminary engineering plan. One of the immediate good news items from our discussion is that we will have no wetland or issues or permitting requirements with redeveloping the sawdust pile on the north side of the parcel. For example, we could remove the material, fill it, and construct a parking lot there. Matt highlighted the areas on the property that would be considered wetlands as well as those that are not. He was very positive about how a marina could be developed on the site.
Matt was also able to help me with questions I had about the dredging permit which I was able to complete and get submitted to the EGLE that evening.
With our visit with Matt completed, Brian, Craig, and I stopped by to check-in on the restroom renovation at the pavilion being completed by DP Construction under our $495,000 MDNR Spark Grant. Fixtures were in the process of being installed and the goal is for the restrooms to be available for the pavilion’s rental this weekend!
Carly Graff from the MDNR would follow up with me to let me know that the Pike River bridge decking/railing project has been added to the MDNR’s master project list. We discussed the need for us to demonstrate the demand for this project as well as how a potential combination of local resident and township funding directed toward engineering could get this project moving.
Julie and I would then get out with the Let’s Walk group in Chassell for a 1.86-mile walk from the Chassell Cemetery up into Chassell Trails and back.
Upon returning, I would meet my second cousin, once removed, David Hendrickson. We had a really nice conversation, and his wife Elaine would invite me to come talk with her on the air at WMPL radio about things happening in Chassell. I am looking forward to that opportunity!
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