KENT COUNTY, Mich — A brand new Kent County Parks Department office opened Monday morning following a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The new office building is located at 1700 Butterworth St. SW in Grand Rapids and will be open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
The $2.68 million facility was approved by the Kent County Board of Commissioners in 2020 to replace the temporary modular offices that are near 20 years old.
"Our county parks are a pillar of our community,” said Kent County Board of Commissioners Chair Stan Stek. "The Board of Commissioners is very pleased that we were able to build this new facility without raising taxes or issuing a bond."
The new facility is much larger, with 7,000 square feet of office space that can be used to improve public access to Parks operations.
“This is an exciting time for the County and has been a long time coming," said Kent County Administrator Al Vanderberg. "The opening of this facility brings closure to years of hard work and equips our Parks staff with the resources needed to maintain our public spaces for years to come.”
The Kent County Parks Department is one of the largest and oldest in the state.
"We are able to manage 140 miles and trail, almost 7,400 acres of open space in 43 different parks across our county. Our experience through the course of this pandemic has of course taught us that these open spaces, these parks are essential for the health of our community," said Stek. "And so with this new headquarters, we believe that we will be able to our parks department will be able to go ahead and provide services above and beyond where we've been in the past."
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