Oakland County is planning a new 275-acre park, to be called Clinton River Oaks, in the Rochester-Rochester Hills area.

Under agreements approved by the county commission on Oct. 16, the county’s parks and recreation department would enter into a 30-year, $4 million agreement with Rochester Hills to manage 108 acres of the 200-acre Bloomer-Yates Park, which will be connected to a 126-acre parcel of a site that belonged to the plastic container maker Letica the county is purchasing and a third parcel estimated at nearly 50 acres owned by Rochester.

The state’s Great Lakes Fisheries Commission approved a $300,000 grant to support purchasing more land.

The new park would be the county’s third-largest, after Independence Oaks, 1,286 acres, and Addison Oaks, 1,140 acres. The county’s smallest park is Catalpa Oaks, 24 acres.

“It’s the largest park since Highland Oaks in 2007 and our first in that area of the county. It’s a rare opportunity,” said County parks and recreation director Chris Ward.

Rochester Hills city council approved the county agreement on Monday without discussion.

Rochester City Manager Nik Banda told The Oakland Press that he expected to take the county’s offer to city council “in the next few weeks.”

Once the agreements are finalized the properties will be transferred to the county’s parks and recreation department, according to public records. Construction on the park will start in early 2026.

Commissioner Brendan Johnson of Rochester Hills said he’s worked on the plans for months.

“It’s a four-legged stool,” he said. “We’ve got the Clinton River Trail, Rochester, Rochester Hills and the private acquisition.

Unlike the county’s operating agreements for existing parks in Farmington Hills and Pontiac, he said, the county is creating a county park that includes part of the Clinton River Trail and is accessible to area schools for programs.

Ward told commissioners earlier this month that the park millage approved in 2024 had doubled his department’s financial resources compared to five years ago, when the parks and recreation department’s annual budget was just over $21 million.

In 2024, Voters approved a 20-year 0.65 millage, which was expected to generate $24 million annually for a total budget of $52 million. Since then, park admission has been free with some costs for specific amenities. Ward said park visits have steadily increased since then.

Parks are more than “just a nice thing to have … they are core health and civic infrastructure,” Ward said, citing studies that show time in nature helps cut depression and loneliness in people, while helping people pursue healthful physical activities and meet new people.

Johnson said residents in the county’s northeast communities will benefit with a much-closer county park, rather than Addison Oaks or Waterford Oaks, which are each nearly 15 miles away from Rochester Hills’ residents.

The original 47 acres of Rochester Hills’ Bloomer-Yates Park was one of several parcels of land donated by conservationist Howard Bloomer, a prominent Detroit-area attorney, Dodge company executive and philanthropist who donated hundreds of acres of land to the state on Oct. 13, 1922. Rochester Hills took over Bloomer State Park in 1994.

The county and Rochester partnered on grants to repair two washed out sections of the Clinton River Trail, a 16-mile rail-trail that runs from Macomb County through Rochester, Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Pontiac and Sylvan Lake. It links three other trails: Paint Creek, West Bloomfield and Rochester and is part of two cross-state trails, the north-south Iron Belle and the east-west Great Lake-to-Lake route.

Rochester obtained a $1.2 million grant from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and $521,000 from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Trail Maintenance Endowment at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan to help fund the repairs.

Originally Published: October 24, 2025 at 10:37 AM EDT