Muskegon asks residents Oct. 20 to help shape a $2.8 million waterfront park next to the Shoreline Inn

MUSKEGON, Mich. — Muskegon residents will get a first look next week at two early designs for a 3.12-acre park on Muskegon Lake next to the Shoreline Inn, a stretch of downtown shoreline the city has been planning around for more than 20 years.

The city will hold an open session from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, on the future park site, according to an announcement the city posted Oct. 12. People can look over the two concept plans, walk the property and offer their own ideas.

The park is funded with $2.8 million in State of Michigan grants, and construction is expected to start this fall, the city said. The announcement did not give a completion date or say whether the city would add money of its own.

The property runs along the lake and then curves into a protected inlet. The city said it wants the park to tie downtown to the waterfront and to the Lakeshore Trail bike path, and that it will work on the design with residents, businesses, community groups and a professional design team.

The idea goes back to the 2003 demolition of the Muskegon Mall. A community design workshop that followed, Imagine Muskegon, sketched a waterfront destination at the end of Third Street. The concept carried into the city’s 2008 Downtown and Lakeshore Redevelopment Plan and its 2017 Imagine Muskegon Lake Plan, which called for more public access to the lake while keeping room for recreation, tourism, development and continued port activity.

More information is on the city’s project page, engage.zencity.io/muskegon-mi. The city listed Deborah Sweet, its community engagement manager, as the contact for the project.

Sources:
City of Muskegon, “Generations in the Making: Help Shape Muskegon’s Next Waterfront Park,” Oct. 12, 2026, https://muskegon-mi.gov/generations-in-the-making-help-shape-muskegons-next-waterfront-park/
City of Muskegon, new park project page (Zencity Engage), https://engage.zencity.io/muskegon-mi/en-US/projects/new-park
Photo: bigmikesndtech, “Muskegon skyline and lake.jpg,” Oct. 20, 2007, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Muskegon_skyline_and_lake.jpg

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