My esteemed blog friend at
The Night Train: Detroit asked on her facebook page (probably jokingly) what I thought about the idea floated by
a guy at Tech Town to put a vineyard on Belle Isle. Be careful what you wish for, TNT. Since the island is so near and dear to my heart, I'll give it a shot. It sounds like this is just a fledgling idea for now, not really thought-out and with few details attached. However, we recently saw a tweet go from a far-fetched crazy idea to an actual statue in the making pretty quickly (the Robocop statue). If the vineyard thing turns out to be a serious plan that may actually happen, I have some questions, and I hope other people that are smarter and more influential than me do, too.
The guy who has the vineyard idea, Randal Charlton, suggests putting a vineyard on 10 "vacant" acres of land near the lighthouse. I don't think of the land he suggests as "vacant" at all. I consider it to be the most serene, peaceful, and scenic part of the island, with trails along the river and the Blue Heron Lagoon. Last time I checked, having open green space was an important thing in a park. On any given summer day, there are people using the "vacant" land to walk, fish, jog, play football, picnic, bike, read, meditate, do yoga, take pictures, or just sit and watch the boats go by.
Belle Isle is unarguably Detroit's finest public park. Is it a good idea to sell or lease part of it off to a private company? What parts of it are people willing to turn over to a private company? I'll agree that parts of the island are underutilized or not used at all... a section of the old golf course and the closed zoo come to mind, and there certainly could be more of an effort to develop the island into a winter attraction. If we're talking about redeveloping the island, is there a master plan and how does a vineyard fit into it? How would the private company's vineyard benefit the island as a whole?
How would having a vineyard in this area impact public access? Would this private company be able to fence off their "property"? Cut off access to the water? Charge admission to this part of the island?
Before we dive in head-first on this vineyard thing on Belle Isle, I'd like to see a conservancy established to run the island, like the conservancies that successfully run Central Park in New York, and Campus Martius and the RiverWalk here. With a conservancy in place, I would feel more confident that a vineyard plan or any other plans for the island would have safeguards in them to make sure that Detroit's public playground and park doesn't get chopped up into a bunch of private parks that benefit their private owners, while making it harder for us regular folks to enjoy the river.
Although I'm not so sure about a vineyard on Belle Isle, I actually do like the idea of a riverfront winery. Since we're tossing around ideas here, what about using some city-owned land along the riverfront that IS vacant and needs to be redeveloped for a vineyard? There is talk of the West Riverfront, when it is developed, cutting a much wider, deeper swath along the river. Would a vineyard fit in to this part of the riverfront? If we're talking about a vineyard and winery being a big draw for visitors, why not use it as an anchor for redevelopment somewhere that doesn't already get thousands of visitors a day, like Belle Isle does? What about vacant city land adjacent to Fort Wayne? Fort Wayne has incredible potential for being a significant tourism draw. Wouldn't a winery along the water be a great fit there, on the bluffs overlooking the river?
I'm clearly no expert on any of this, and I don't have any answers. Maybe this is a really cool idea and I have just been drinking the kool-aid about people trying to steal Detroit's precious jewels for too long. But if Detroit really does have any precious jewels left to steal, surely Belle Isle is one of them. Can we please not screw this one up?
