Millennium Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan

"Millennium Park" is the largest urban park in West Michigan, located on the southwest side of Grand Rapids. Millennium Park connects four of the major cities in the area together, including Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Grandville, and Walker. It is considered to be under heavy development and will take several more years to complete; and when complete, the park will be twice as large as New York City's Central Park, at approximately 1,500 acres (6 km²), by the year 2014.

The project began in 1998 when the Parks Department director Roger Sabine began planning for an expansion of Johnson Park. The Kent County Parks Department seemed very intrigued about the project. Sabine expanded the Johnson Park expansion into the 1,500 acre (6 km²) park project. The project was finally submitted to the Secchia Millennium Commission (SMC) later that year and later approved the project by which the Kent County Board of Commissioners named the park Millennium Park.

Park features

In the park master plan, there several attractions and features that will occupy the park once it is completed. These features include:

* Bike trails & rental shop
* Kent trails (expanded through Johnson Park, Millennium Park and John Ball Zoo)
* Beach (7 acres)
* Campground
* Chapel in the woods
* Nature center & trails
* Several picnic areas
* Several fishing docks and boat docks
* International playground
* Water Park

Fees

On March 23, 2006 The Kent County commissioners approved a pilot, one year plan to begin charging fees for beach entrance in the summer of 2006. The following fees have been instituted:

* $3.00 Adults
* $2.00 Seniors
* $1.00 Children (3 to 15)
* Children Under 3 Free
* $1,005 Picnic shelter rentals