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Cannon Township - Balk Family Park Site Work

Important Information

Cannon Township, in cooperation with Kent County Parks, is working toward substantial improvements in Balk Family Park, which is located on the former Silver Lake Country Club property. Improvements include a community building, a 124-space parking lot, storm water management, a large natural playground, a site access road north off Belding Road (M-44) across from Sunfish Lake Avenue, and widening of Belding Road.

Cannon Township has contracted with Visser Brothers Inc. for the community building, with Dykema Excavators for the site and road work, and with the Outdoor Discover Center for the playground.

Site work is scheduled for completion late this spring or early summer.

Access/Traffic:

Belding Road and Sunfish Lake Avenue traffic is being managed via lane closure and temporary traffic signals while the road widening work is underway. After working through significant challenges associated with wet weather and unstable soils, Dykema anticipates paving and reopening Belding Road in early May.

 

Contact

P&N Engineer
Kevin Gritters, PE
616-364-8491

Architect
Robert Andrus
Andrus Architecture
616-863-8850

Contractor
Dykema Excavators
Eric Olson
616-363-6895

Cannon Township
Steve Grimm, Township Suprvisor
616-874-6966

August 12, 2026

Progress Report:

Site work remains paused while building construction by Visser Brothers continues. The entire building has taken shape, and the look and character of the building are becoming evident. Good grass growth adjacent to the work areas is making the site feel more like a park again.

Upcoming Work:

  • Building construction will continue.
  • The Outdoor Discovery Center (ODC) plans to mobilize next week (8/17) to begin removing undergrowth from the stand of large white pine trees west of the parking lots, which is where they will build a new, natural playground area.
  • Sidewalks will be poured and asphalt pavements will be placed when heavy equipment no longer is needed for building construction.
July 23, 2026

Progress Report:

Dykema Excavators and their concrete subcontractor returned to the site this week to start pouring curbs around the parking lot islands. Over the past few weeks, Visser Brothers and their subcontractors made great progress with building framing, installing the electrical service, and setting light poles.

Upcoming Work:

When the curbs are finished, Dykema will pour concrete sidewalks and place more topsoil for lawn restoration. Building construction will continue.
June 29, 2026

Progress Report:

While Dykema’s site work has paused, Visser Brothers’ work on the building is in full swing. In the last month, Visser Brothers and subcontractors poured the foundation, backfilled the foundation walls, installed underground plumbing including piping in the fire protection tanks, installed underground electrical, poured the concrete floor, started framing walls, installed light pole bases, and placed the fire protection pump. Grass is starting to grow in the mass grading areas around the site.

Upcoming Work:

Visser plans to install light poles and continue building framing.
May 29, 2026

Progress Report:

Visser Brothers is working on the Community Center Building. The aerial photos here were taken earlier this week just before the building footings were poured.
May 22, 2026

Progress Report:

Dykema completed installation of gravel for the access road and parking lots, and they continued grading the rest of the site to level out stockpiles and ensure good drainage. Dykema’s site activity will be reduced for the next couple months while Visser focuses on building construction.

Upcoming Work:

Building construction by Visser.
May 15, 2026

Progress Report:

Soil conditions on site improved considerably in the past week, and Dykema made significant progress. Road access was provided to Visser Brothers Construction so they could begin working on the Community Center. Dykema also graded and installed sand and gravel for most of the two large parking lots on site. The access road and parking lots will remain gravel for the next couple months while heavy trucks and equipment work on the building.

Upcoming Work:

Dykema will finish installing gravel for the parking lots, leveling the rest of the site to finished grades, and doing restoration and soil erosion control.

Visser Brothers will start working on building foundations.

May 11, 2026

Progress Report:

Pavement markings for the Belding Road widening were placed last Monday, and the road was re-opened to through traffic in both directions. Dykema continued working in the public road right-of-way installing the gravel shoulder, grading the drainage ditches/swales, and forming the side slopes at close to finished grades.

Dykema also continued constructing the new road back into the site. With the recent dry weather, the site conditions improved significantly. As shown in the aerial photos, a portion of the road still required filter fabric and extra sand subbase to create a solid foundation. The access road is installed almost back to the community building location. Dykema started cutting down to subgrade for the west parking lot.

Upcoming Work:

Dykema will continue finalizing ditch grades and doing restoration along Belding Road, and they will also continue installing the north end of the access road and the west parking lot.
May 4, 2026

Progress Report:

Paving for the Belding Road widening was completed last week. Temporary traffic signals were removed on May 2. PK Contracting will be on site May 4 to place the pavement markings. A shoulder closure on the westbound side will remain in effect until Consumers Energy moves a guy pole/wires and until Dykema finishes constructing and restoring the road shoulder and ditches.

Upcoming Work:

Pavement markings in Belding Road and shoulder and ditch construction along the north side of Belding Road. Dykema also plans to continue road construction northward into the park.
April 24, 2026

Dykema continued working on the Belding Road widening this week, which included removing existing soil and placing sand subbase and gravel base for the added lanes.

Most of the park site itself remained nearly inaccessible due to the clay soils and significant rain in recent weeks.

Upcoming Work:
Dykema will continue to focus on Belding Road until it can be paved and the temporary traffic signals can be removed. When thru traffic in both directions is restored, Dykema intends to move back into the park to continue road and parking lot construction.