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Gov. Rick Snyder’s office said today it will withdraw an offer for the state to lease Belle Isle and manage it as a state park after the Detroit City Council decided not to take a vote on the measure this afternoon.
Only council members James Tate, Saunteel Jenkins and Gary Brown voted to approve taking an up-or-down vote on the lease today, meaning that final approval or rejection of the lease likely wouldn’t have been taken for at least two more weeks. The proposal would have let the state Department of Natural Resources manage Belle Isle as a state park for 30 years, with two optional renewals, in exchange for the state taking on the $6 million in annual operations and maintenance costs, a savings for the cash-strapped city.
Caleb Buhs, a spokesman for Sndyer, said today the council’s decision means “we have to withdraw the offer, and there can’t be another time extension.”