Overview:
- The Belle Isle Conservancy and Michigan Department of Natural Resources are seeking feedback on the Belle Isle Commons concept through the end of the year.
- The Belle Isle Commons design came out of a two-and-a-half-year mobility study of the state park in the Detroit River.
- "This is my backyard because I live in an apartment," West Village's Yasmine Shitta says of Belle Isle.
Sharon Brandywine picked up a phone receiver Tuesday at the public preview of the Belle Isle Commons to record a memory about the island.
Brandywine, who lives on Detroit’s east side near the island, told Planet Detroit she remembers horse and elephant rides on the island in the 1970s, and would like to see the island once again have a water slide.
“I love how the island is doing. It’s way better than it was,” said Brandywine, who was eating dinner on the island with her husband, Carl Moore. The couple saw the event and walked over.
The Belle Isle Commons concept, for which the Belle Isle Conservancy and Michigan Department of Natural Resources are taking feedback in a survey through the end of the year, would create a centralized hub near the island’s most popular destinations, the side-by-side aquarium and conservatory.
The concept’s main elements are The Promenade, Inselruhe & The White House, The Main Plaza, The Outdoor Classroom, and The Canal Boardwalk.
The Commons concept includes multimodal connections to Detroit Department of Transportation buses, bike and scooter rentals, air stations, and expanded water and ADA-accessible features. The design came out of a two-and-a-half-year mobility study of Belle Isle.
Visitors at the public preview, held in the aquarium and conservatory parking lot under a tent with a DJ, food trucks, and a bar.
The event brought people together to enjoy the island in a central space — precisely the goal of the Belle Isle Commons concept, said Belle Isle Conservancy President and CEO Meagan Elliott.
“I feel like the vibes are just immaculate — exactly what you want the Commons to feel like,” she said.
The exhibit is portable, and Elliott said she wants to bring it to block clubs and public events off the island, adding that the design comes from what residents said they wanted for the island, and will get stronger with more feedback.
Belle Isle decisions ‘directly affect my life’: West Village resident
Yasmine Shitta, who lives in West Village, said she’s excited for the programming on Belle Isle and for what’s next.
“This is my backyard because I live in an apartment,” she said. “Everything that happens here will directly affect my life, and everything that’s happening is making it better.”
Husband and wife Marcus Hutson and Kathleen Plowden, who live in Greektown, strolled through the preview night’s interactive exhibits. They’re frequent visitors to the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory.
Hutson said he’s visited Belle Isle “since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.” The Belle Isle Commons “could be nice,” he said. “I like all the stuff they’re proposing to add.”
Plowden said the island’s past features, such as a zoo and restaurant, should return. She remembers practicing on the island’s tennis courts in high school.
“It was a safe space,” she said. “When you came out here in the morning, you’d be here all day.
Dr. Sabrina Jackson, who lives in Rosedale Park, said she often comes to Belle Isle to pray.
When the island first became a state park, Jackson said police followed her and eventually pulled her over, and the officer asked her what she was doing.
“That offended me, because I’ve been doing that forever,” she said.
Jackon said she loves the improvements made to the island, and said the policing has evolved too. She wants Belle Isle to be a place where all people, regardless of nationality or race, feel comfortable and safe, she told Planet Detroit.
“I don’t see (police) as much as I used to. I feel it’s not excessive, which is good. A park needs to feel like a park.”
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