Big Plans in the Works for Pine Lake Park in West Bloomfield
(Terry Lakins, Sept. 14, 2026)
West Bloomfield, MI – The West Bloomfield Parks department will be doing a complete renovation to Pine Lake Park. The park will be getting several amenities, improvements, and will be connected more seamlessly with the rest of the park system.
Park Superintendent Chris Frey has described this as their next big park project, and something they’ve been working on for a while. Frey, whose been with West Bloomfield Parks since 1999, sees this park’s renovation as something long overdue for the residents on the east side of the township.
“We have very high standards in West Bloomfield Parks,” Frey said. “Our residents love our park system, their complimenting us on it every day, and we want to bring those high standards to this specific piece of property.”
Pine Lake Park originally was Pine Lake Elementary, which is in the Bloomfield Hills School District. When the school shut down in the late 2010s the property sat for a while. Due to this park’s proximity to West Bloomfield neighborhoods, and its trail system, a unique opportunity arose. With talks starting back in 2020, and then finalized in November 2023, West Bloomfield Hills Parks came up with a deal to lease the property for a 30 year period.
On the surface it benefits both communities. Bloomfield Hills Schools has vacant property maintained and West Bloomfield has got a new park. But Frey, having spent nearly 27 years working for the township’s parks department, saw this for something more than just adding another park to their already stacked list. The inclusion of Pine Lake Park would accomplish two things in tandem; it would bring a more low-key neighborhood area for residents and would also help solve a unique blind spot they’ve had for years, this being the lack of parks on the East Side of the township.
“We always knew through years of planning through the park system that we were lacking park property on the East Side of Orchard Lake Road in West Bloomfield Township,” Frey said. “Our goals is to have everybody within the township in a five-to-eight-mile radius of a park. This won’t happen everywhere because some places aren’t close to the parks. If we can we love to see our parks connected to our safety paths or through the West Bloomfield Trail Network. This particular property, Pine Lake Park, connects to our trail network.”
For reference, most of the parks in the township are north and south, on the west side of Orchard Lake Road. The West Bloomfield trail network runs from east to west throughout the township. The safety paths refer to paths that run parallel to the road all around West Bloomfield Hills (about 85 miles). They are similar in function to bike paths but allow for both biking and walking, and have unique terrain (concrete, asphalt, wooden bridges over wetlands).
The function of Pine Lake Park is not only to have something on the east side of the township, but a park that has its own unique identity. West Bloomfield has many parks, notably Drake Park and Marsh Lake Park, which are quite large and very busy. The goal of this park is to make it an essential residential neighborhood park that is a bit quieter and more intimate, reflecting its proximity directly in a residential area. The size of the park, which is where a school used to sit, also lends itself to keeping that neighborhood feel. Frey’s goal is to give people on the east side a park without the need to travel to the west side for it.
The improvements they want to make for the park are a combination of improving what is already there and adding new amenities, for both kids and adults alike. The park already has a baseball field, a basketball court and a tennis court, all leftovers from the school that was previously there, all in need of improvements. A pickleball court is also in the design to be added, as well as nicer walking paths, and improving the parking lot.
A natural playground will be added, which will be built out of boulders, logs, and mounds of dirt. Unlike a traditional playground of steel structures and swings, which can be set up quickly through pouring concrete and setting up posts, natural playgrounds take a bit longer as grass and plants need to be grown around these natural structures. This type of playground will be the first of its kind introduced to the park system.
Frey said they would also love to have a proper bathroom facility with running water and flushable toilets for this park, but they are unsure if they’ll have the funding for it at this time.
Though this park will have a lot of additions to it, Frey also emphasized that this park will have a lot of open space. Some areas will be open spaces that are non-mowed, which are designated spots the city will deliberately avoid cutting the grass. These certain spots will have a more prairie like feel of wildflowers and plants taking over. Other areas will be open spaces that are mowed, which are just areas completely left untouched to allow anyone to pitch a blanket and have a picnic at any time. The open space also supports the neighborhood feel they seek with Pine Lake Park, which Frey said was based on surveys they did with the nearby residents.
“It’s important that everyone gets out and plays. In addition to the amenities, we also want a lot of open space. It’s very different from our sports parks because we don’t have the space for anything too big, and we want to preserve that neighborhood feel. We don’t want to build on every single square inch of this property, so we’re going have some space left alone as grass.” Frey said.
Frey also added that they will be preserving a path to the nearby woods through the park system, which is a holdover from connecting through the neighborhoods.
This project is being spearheaded by West Bloomfield Parks, budgeted for the next two to three years, with a sizable contribution from Oakland County Parks. They are hoping to have an engineering firm ready to go by October 1st, 2026. The first big milestone they would hope to make is to have the playground and some of the path work, if not all of it, done by spring 2027.
While this was originally conceived in four phases Frey hopes that the budget could allow them to combine phases to speed things up. But Frey also knows he’ll have to wait for the process plays out and he had this to say looking forward:
“At the end of the day it all depends on money. If we can get the contractors in and out, we’ll continue to do this over the next two to three years. We’ll start in the south end of the park, which is at the back, and were going to work our way to the front towards Long Lake Road, until it’s finished.”
While the West Bloomfield Parks will always be making improvements to their current parks, they have not planned any other big projects on this scale. Pine Lake Park is their last big park project for the foreseeable future. Though it always possible that another large property could become available to be converted into another park there are no current plans to pursue that. Any additional information can be found on their website.
