By Jim Hayden
Correspondent
Gates of the ex-Fennville Dump closed 45 years ago, but a June 19 site walk through by city officials and environmental scientists could lead to a cleanup and transformation.
The inspection was step one in working with the Allegan County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority towards winning a U.S. Environment Protection Agency Targeted Brownfield Assessment grant. The city commission approved seeking same unanimously last fall.
The walk-through could lead to further assessment of the 21 Manlius Township acres along 54th Street a half-mile north of M-89 to ascertain if there is contamination and remediate it at no cost to the city.
Why Now?
The old dump had not been discussed publicly for years. Past city commissions spoke of it in whispers if at all, not wanting to raise the specter of what might be under the soil and who’d pay to clean it up.
Fennville has worried about such uncertainties for years, city administrator Kathryn Beemer said. By using grant funding these could be addressed and a plan formed to make it a public nature area.
Earlier this year, the city adopted eight core values to help guide decisions. One, said Beemer, is “the idea we are responsible for not only our actions but ones we do not take.
“Not matter what happened many years ago, we are accountable for this land going forward,” she went on “Concrete data will help us answer questions about what needs to be done to address the contamination.”
Mannik & Smith Group scientist Jessica Trainer led last Monday’s walking investigation, joined by peer Madison Nassar, Beemer and city commissioners John Jamros and this story’s writer, a vocal supporter of testing the site and, if found safe, putting in trails for low-intensity uses such as bird watching and walking.
Jamros thought a disc golf course or dog park could be developed on the open land.
No record of the dump could be found in city hall. Some commissioners and staff didn’t know it existed or that the city even owned the land.
In 2020, Hayden began independently researching the dump through local newspaper articles, city minutes and state records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. Those findings have been turned over the city.
Property for the dump was bought in 1938 for $440. Some 30 years later it expanded. It is not yet clear when it started operating as a landfill.
It was owned and used by Fennville, surrounding townships, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Allegan County Road Commission and Michigan Fruit Canners (now Fennville-based pie-fillings maker Conagra).
Records show 1960s and ‘70s violations for exposed trash, burning cardboard, insect and rodent infestations. Old city minutes show commissioners were frustrated at policing the site and its rising operation costs. Test wells were recommended but not installed due to cost.
The dump was closed Sept. 3, 1979 and last inspected the next year, per FOIA’ed documents. There was “still exposed garbage in the swamp” nor was the final cover layer properly mulched and seeded. On Feb. 11, 1980, the DNR “closed” on its last report.
Mostly Forgotten
Over the decades the gate and fencing vanished as memories of “the city dump” faded. People new to the area would say on Facebook they’d heard of a dump, could they bring their trash there? Other residents pointed them to transfer stations, the 1980s option chosen by neighbor townships to keep garbage from being dumped roadside in the Allegan State Game Area. Fennville eschewed that solution and told residents to get pickup from private haulers.
The city recently closed off the former dump’s entrance with wire and posted a “No Trespassing” sign. Otherwise there are no boundary markers. Only on second glance do jarring signs of its past poke through undergrowth.
The Walk
Trainer took notes and photos, pointed out chunks of concrete and asphalt still visible through the dirt, weeds and raised berms. The grassy space at the opening grew wooded and shadowed with thorny plants, poison ivy. There are no trails, so the group followed GPS, ducking branches and swatting insects.
Only 5 acres were allowed for waste burial, so much looks unspoiled. We came upon clusters of rusted bed springs, bottles, broken glass, some unearthed when a tall tree old enough to grow over it had tumbled.
From terrain elsewhere twisted tires proturded. A collapsed water heater, red motor dropped off among leaves and fuel tank. Indistinguishable metal skeletons, half-buried tubs or casings echoed with a dull thud poked by a walking stick.
We emerged from shade of high-canopy woods after two hours into grassy field sunlight where we first entered. Small flowers bloomed, a butterfly floated by.