Board approves $38,500 for sinkhole, culvert repair

Fixes needed along shared-use path on Blue Star Highway.

A section of the shared-use path along Blue Star Highway east of 62nd Street is closed due to a sinkhole. Photo taken Tuesday, July 21, 2026.

The Laketown Township Board of Trustees on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, authorized the repair of a sinkhole and culvert on the township shared-use path along Blue Star Highway at 62nd Street.

The work will cost about $38,500, according to township Manager Stephanie Fox.

“There a pretty big cavern down there and it’s not going to fix itself,” said Supervisor Steven Ringelberg.

The Allegan County Road Commission will seek bids for the work.

The sinkhole was discovered in late July on the path which was completed in the fall of 2024. The path runs from the 66-site Shangrai-La Mobile Home Community, 6180 Blue Star Highway, to the Michigan Department of Transportation’s park-and-ride site at Exit 41 of I-196.

The path is 4,200 feet long and 10 feet wide and includes retaining walls and two boardwalks.

There are no other Laketown Township shared-use paths east of I-196 where this project is located.

A recording of the meeting is available here.

In other business

In other business, the board:

  • Decided not to put a funding issue for public transportation on the November ballot. The proposal would have raised money for bus service by the Interurban Transity Authority out of Douglas and/or the Macatawa Area Express out of Holland. Board members said more information was needed before they could make a decision to put the issue up for a townshipwide vote. Trustees also said they had already said “no” to a millage proposal, voting on Jan. 14 not to put the issue on the ballot.
  • Directed the supervisor to vote for the three candidates on the Michigan Municipal League Workers’ Compensation Fund Board of Trustees as presented.
  • Directed the manager to sign a franchise agreement with Comcast as presented.