Gallup Park canoe livery to invest $563K in renovations

Ann Arbor's Gallup Park canoe livery will soon be more accessible, safer and easier to navigate after $563,398 of improvements coming to the property. Work is slated to begin late this week or early next week, will continue through Memorial Day, and will pick up again after Labor Day to avoid the livery's busy summer season. 

 

Work will include ADA accessibility on trails to the waterfront and additions to existing docks that will better facilitate kayaks, as well as an ADA accessible kayak dock.

 

"The docks themselves are really exciting," says Gallup Park Facilities Supervisor Cheryl Saam. "These three new docks will be like fingers coming off [the existing dock]. One of the fingers will have an ADA accessible kayak dock. It's pretty difficult for anyone to get into a kayak, so that will be tremendous." 

 

The project will also include improved wayfinding signage, separating a sidewalk and driveway for improved safety, an ADA accessible fishing dock and expansion of the patio outside of the livery coffee shop. 

 

"We have had so much growth at the canoe livery," says Saam. "When it was designed in the '70s, we never dreamt of the capacity we're running at right now."

 

The project was made possible through a $300,000 Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant. The remainder will be funded by the city. During pre-Memorial Day renovations, all Gallup Park operations and staff will be transferred to the Argo livery, which will be open seven days a week.