By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com

A popular youth soccer tournament will be returning to Hamburg Township this spring.

The Michigan Jaguars Football Club is one of the top models for player development in the state. Over the past several years they have held a tournament in Hamburg Township, attracting a large number of attendees. The Board of Trustees, Tuesday, approved a park use permit for this year’s event, which will take place from May 6th through the 8th at Manley Bennett Park West.

Parks and Recreation Coordinator Deby Henneman wrote in a memo that they anticipate their being up to 2,000 attendees at the park at any given time, with attendance potentially reaching 5,000 over the course of the weekend. These numbers trigger a review from the Hamburg Public Safety Department. Normally, attendance numbers at that level would warrant a “high level” charge for public safety, but Public Safety Director and Police Chief Richard Duffany told the Board why he was comfortable with a “medium level” charge. Duffany said they have worked with the Jaguars before and that they do an excellent job providing their own staff and traffic control. Going to “medium” will still put 2 public safety personnel at the event, with Duffany saying he is comfortable with that, given their track record.

The Board of Trustees unanimously approved the application with the “medium level” of charge as recommended by Duffany.

While the event will occupy all of the parks soccer fields, it was noted that the same weekend is the traditional opening day weekend for the Pinckney Hamburg Baseball Softball Association. That takes place in the east portion of the park, leading officials to believe there will be a high volume of activity on both sides. To date, Henneman writes there have been no reported issues relating to this event.