Back in 2020, the City of the Village of Douglas acquired a marina on Kalamazoo Lake.

“The owners didn’t want to maintain the property anymore,” said City Manager Lisa Nocerini. “They thought that it would be a good idea to give the City an opportunity to do something a little different—reenvision it.”

“It’s in a beautiful location, visible from Blue Star Bridge, which is a main thoroughfare between Saugatuck and Douglas.”

The property had a house with a pool. Neither was salvageable, so both ended up being removed. The City now had a one-acre plot with 500 feet of waterfront footage and 14 slips to work with. “It’s a marina, and because people around this area are particularly vocal about having access to water, we thought it would be a good idea to advance it into a public space,” said Nocerini.

“We thought, well, let’s add it into our park system, and let’s add an opportunity for it to be sort of an event venue,” she says. “That gained popularity with the council and with residents.”

Just a short time later, the Douglas Marina Park & Pavilion is nearing completion. Achieved through philanthropy and community buy-in, it will boast a gorgeous pavilion with gas fire pits, Adirondack chairs, accessible boat slips, open to the whole community. It is the City of the Village of Douglas’s submission for the 2026 Community Excellence Award.

To fund the project, the City was awarded $100,000 from the Consumers Energy Foundation. Then, two neighboring property owners, Bud Baty and Max Matteson, chipped in with a matching $100,000 contribution. “The fact that we have two amazing people that are well respected in the community getting behind this—it’s really been impactful on what’s going to be a very successful project,” says Nocerini.

A low-key groundbreaking took place early this month, and construction on the pavilion is currently underway, with completion projected for July. “It’s going to take about six to eight weeks because of materials, but it is moving along very quickly,” says Nocerini.

After a bidding process, the City hired CarbonSix construction out of Grand Rapids. In addition to building the pavilion and refurbishing the boardwalk, the site has also been landscaped and stabilized. ADA-compliant sidewalks have been installed, and the kayak launch has been redone. “We’re making it very functional and very accessible,” says Nocerini. The fourteen boat slips are rented out to the public, with all the money going towards maintaining the park.

Landscaping assistance has come from an unexpected place. “On Earth Day, every year we plant trees with the Douglas Elementary preschoolers,” says Nocerini. This year, the kids helped the Department of Public Works plant two new trees on the site. “The DPW just has a ball working with them,” she laughs. “We’re teaching them about environmental sustainability and replanting. They’re learning a lot and even at that age, they ask a lot of cool questions. The teacher says the kids often come back and point out: ‘That’s my tree.’”

One major ask from the community has been for restrooms with showers. Luckily, the property already has water and sewerage, thanks to the house that used to be there. “We’re going to have to raise some money for that,” says Nocerini. “People are really excited, and once we get the pavilion done, they want to sit down and start talking about fundraising for the bathrooms.”

The jewel of the upcoming park, the pavilion, will have enough space for six or so picnic tables. It will be rentable for a nominal fee. “We feel it’s going to be used a lot,” says Nocerini.

“I never imagined it would be this beautiful,” she adds. “It’s going to be a work of art.”

A ribbon-cutting for the Douglas Marina Park & Pavilion will take place in July. The entire community will be invited, as will the Consumers Energy Foundation. Nocerini is proud of how quickly and smoothly things have gone. “This city did a fantastic job acquiring an amazing piece of property and keeping their promise to the state with that grant funding—continuing to invest in making it a public space that’s accessible for everybody.” She’s proud of the community’s buy-in and the generosity of Bud Baty and Max Matteson. She’s proud of Douglas.

“I think this is a little diamond in the rough,” she says. “I think people don’t often know Douglas. They know Saugatuck. But Douglas is a very special, charming little place. It is very, very community-oriented and people really love this. They love their community.”

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Emily Pinsuwan

Emily is the League’s full-time Content Writer, composing emails, articles, blog posts, and press releases. If you need words, she has many. Prior to becoming a word person, she was a restaurant person, handling catering, event management, and marketing; prior still, she was a teaching person, at a private boarding school in Massachusetts. Having earned a master’s degree in Classics from the University of Georgia, Emily is confident that she is the only League employee fluent in Latin. She also enjoys cooking, stand-up comedy, and is an avid gamer, having achieved level 40 on her Steam profile.