By Scott Sullivan
Editor
The Michigan Environment, Great Lakes and Energy department has turned down Northshore of Saugatuck’s request to create a boat basin north of the Kalamazoo River channel to Lake Michigan.
The developer’s first application to build a marina was approved by EGLE in 2018. Those permits expired in January 2023. The agency held a public hearing about NorthShore’s second application July 10 last year, and received public comments that provided s new evidence to be considered.
“After due consideration of the permit application, site conditions and other pertinent materials,” EGLE Feb. 9 wrote Northshore’s Scott Bosgraaf, “your application is denied for the following reasons:
“a) The proposed project will have significant adverse effects on the natural resources associated with the Kalamazoo River, the uses of the river and the public trust.
“b) The hydrologic groundwater modeling completed by your consultants, then provided to EGLE for review is inadequate and contains inconsistencies and other issues. Therefore, the application does not demonstrate that the project will not have adverse temporary or permanent environmental impacts.
“c) There are feasible and prudent alternatives.”
“EGLE’s decision,” said David Swan, co-founder and board president of the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance, which has long contested the development, “is a victory for the Saugatuck Dunes, water quality, globally-imperiled interdunal wetlands, lake sturgeon and the archaeological site of Singapore, all of which would be damaged or destroyed if the applicant were permitted to build its marina.
“Equally important, the decision protects the traditional cultural property of the Potawatomi,” Swan continued. “It also protects the public interest and recognizes that the river mouth is central to the livelihoods, lifeways and recreational pursuits of many.”
“The Coastal Alliance,” board chair Bobbie Gaunt added, “appreciates EGLE’s consideration of new evidence that documents how NorthShore’s proposed marina violates Michigan’s Critical Dunes Act and Inland Lakes and Streams Act.
“By denying the permits, the agency affirmed the public’s significant interests in protecting and preserving the water and land at the Kalamazoo River mouth,” Gaunt said.
“Northshore,” said Bosgraaf Tuesday, “has not had the time to unpack what’s in the (EGLE) letter.”
The firm, he noted, “has completed a significant portion of the property development that includes Lake Michigan, channel frontage homes and a significant number of commercial buildings.
“It’s unfortunate,” Bosgraaf went on, “that EGLE reached the conclusion they have on the proposed boat basin. This is the same application submitted in 2018 that received EGLE approval.
“Northshores is committed to a conservation-based plan as it completes the development of this property and is grateful for the time and consideration everyone has focused on this area of the development,” he added.
The developer “will carefully visit the comments outlined in the EGLE letter and proceed accordingly,” Bosgraaf said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has not yet made a decision about NorthShore’s federal permit application, which was submitted in 2017.
Saturday, November 23, 2024
