Township Board to consider Black Bear sewer grant
COPPER HARBOR ’Äì The regular
monthly Grant Township Board meeting date has been
changed to 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 12, in the
Copper Harbor Community Building. The board will
again consider developer Black Bear’Äôs request that
the township apply for state and federal grant
monies to fund the sewer system for the Mt. Bohemia
Ski Resort.
Since the township board’Äôs
informational meeting held on June 27, local
residents, especially those from the Lac La Belle
South Shore area, have continued to express their
opposition to the township’Äôs applying for the
grant to fund a private development. More than 160
people have signed a petition to the board opposing
the grant application, and some have written letters
or met in person with board members.
South Shore Association members meet with board
members
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Grant Township Supervisor Ken
Korhorn
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After meeting with a group of
South Shore Association (SSA) members (Lac La Belle
residents) on Monday, July 9, Grant Township
Supervisor Ken Korhorn said both he and Township
Trustee Richard Powers have been trying to determine
whether there is an advantage to the township in
applying for the grant and becoming owners of the
sewage treatment system. The granting agencies
require the applicant to be the owner of the system.
Said Korhorn, ’ÄúMy judgment is
there would be a measure of control if the township
owned and operated the system.’Äù
He added, however, that he was
still trying to determine whether this ’Äúcontrol’Äù
is of sufficient benefit to the township.
’ÄúOne of the concerns I have
is that the power system is owned by Black Bear,’Äù
Korhorn noted. ’ÄúThe pumps would be operated by
Black Bear power ’Ķ There’Äôs a lot of uncertainty
if the customer of our wastewater treatment plant
owns the power supply. I’Äôm sure Black Bear would
not do anything untoward, but it may not always be
owned by Black Bear.’Äù
Korhorn said he believed, and
he felt Powers agreed, that there is a benefit in
having oversight in the design, construction and
operation of the sewer system.
Korhorn’Äôs impression of
Monday’Äôs informal meeting with SSA members was
positive.
’ÄúI thought it was quite
productive,’Äù he said. I considered it a positive
exchange of ideas ’Ķ I think we all gained a little
better understanding of our respective positions.’Äù
Said Powers, ’ÄúI don’Äôt have
a position yet.’Äù
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Grant Township Trustee Richard
Powers
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Powers had mixed reactions to
Monday’Äôs informal meeting with SSA members. He
said it was good to talk to a small group of
residents because it was a better way to get his
ideas across.
’ÄúI think it was a great
discussion,’Äù he said.
Powers said he offered four
suggestions as to possible benefits to the township
in applying for the grant money and becoming the
owner of the system:
1)
If the sewer system had to be decommissioned
in the event that Black Bear went out of business
and walked away, the township, as owner, would
assure the system was decommissioned.
2)
As owner, the township could make suggestions
in the design of the system.
3)
If the township owned the system, they would
be directly overseeing the operation, even if the
operator were a Black Bear employee.
4)
If the township owned the system, Black Bear
would have to communicate to the township any plans
to expand beyond the original structures included in
the original (Department of Environmental Quality)
permit.
Powers admitted, however, that
his four suggestions were not sufficient to convince
the SSA members to agree on benefit to the township
in applying for the grant.
’ÄúThere really wasn’Äôt
anything I could offer to make them change their
position that we should not be involved,’Äù he said.
’ÄúI think the people of Lac La Belle still don’Äôt
want anything to do with Black Bear. Even the issue
of control is not enough to convince them this would
be of benefit to them.’Äù
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South Shore Association
President Tom Collins
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SSA President Tom Collins and
SSA member Vern Le Blanc both said they felt the
meeting with Korhorn and Powers was a good exchange.
Collins said the SSA had four
main concerns, which he and Le Blanc discussed with
the two board members:
1)
Expertise ’Äì the possibility that other
technology for a wastewater system might be
considered as opposed to the lagoon system with
spray irrigation. An example would be something like
the Cromaglass®
on-site, aerobic, ’Äúbatch’Äù wastewater treatment
system, which has its own built-in 24-hour monitor.
2)
Concerns about the electricity similar to
Korhorn’Äôs
3)
Legal issues
4)
Job creation for Keweenaw County
Collins said the discussion
centered around ’ÄúYou want control, but can you
really get it?’Äù
Le Blanc said the issue of job
creation, required for the Michigan Economic
Development Corporation (MEDC) grant, was a big
concern for Keweenaw County residents.
’ÄúI think we should question
the economic viability for Keweenaw County,’Äù he
said. ’ÄúSo far we haven’Äôt seen it (from Black
Bear).’Äù
Le Blanc, who formerly shared
with relatives a cabin near the site of the proposed
lagoon system and is familiar with the area, said he
still has concerns about the proximity of the spray
irrigation area to a wetland that leads to a
tributary of the Montreal River.
Le Blanc said he gave Powers
information about alternative technology for sewage
treatment because of this concern and the fact that
one of his family members is using this type of
system with success. He also voiced his concern
about the wetland at the June 27 informational
meeting of the Grant Township Board and
representatives of the DEQ and U.P. Engineers &
Architects, Inc.
Township Board holds June 27
informational meeting on sewage treatment system
At that meeting, Le Blanc said
he noticed the stakes marking the spray irrigation
area extended as close as 200 feet to the wetland
area.
Rick Wuori, project manager for
U.P. Engineers, replied, ’ÄúWe have an isolation
distance from that wet area ’Äì the surface water
’Äì that we’Äôre maintaining.’Äù
Said Le Blanc, ’ÄúIn the
spring, that’Äôs full of water; and it flows
directly into the Montreal River ’Ķ There’Äôs no
way you could expand that system without getting
into the Montreal River.
Randy Conroy, senior district
geologist for the DEQ Waste Management Division in
Marquette, said the groundwater protection standards
have to be protection not only of groundwater but of
surface water as well.
He noted, in addition to soil
absorption capabilities and vegetative uptake
protecting groundwater that is within 30 inches of
the ground surface, there would be additional
protection.
’ÄúI believe the groundwater
table is 10 feet down, so (the effluent) has to
migrate another seven feet or so, which will provide
even more of a treatment and possibly dilution; and
then it will have to migrate along the groundwater
flow (north) and possibly into that wetlands
receiving area. And wetlands are a purification-type
process ’Ķ so as far as trout fishing and whatnot
this is a very protective system.’Äù
As for expansion, Conroy
admitted ’Äúthere might be trouble expanding the
spray irrigation’Äù and he would expect any
expansion to occur with the lagoons.
’ÄúWe’Äôd want the
pre-treatment area to be expanded (if there’Äôs any
evidence of problems),’Äù he said.
Noted Wuori, ’ÄúWe’Äôre really
conservative in our design so far ’Ķ We’Äôve got
seven million gallons annual treatment capacity.’Äù
Added Conroy, ’ÄúI wouldn’Äôt
expect it to ever reach that 40,000 to 50,000
gallons per day level.’Äù (The ski hill reportedly
used only12,000 gallons this year.)
Le Blanc said he wasn’Äôt
really satisfied with Wuori’Äôs and Conroy’Äôs
replies to his questions because of the possibility
of expansion.
’ÄúI still think it’Äôs
dangerous (to the environment),’Äù he said. (Click
here for more details on the wetland
and the lagoon/spray irrigation system.)
At the same June 27 meeting,
Black Bear President Lonie Glieberman said,
’ÄúWe’Äôre building a system that’Äôs conservative
’Äì to handle all possible situations.’Äù
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Janet Shea, Copper Harbor
business owner
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Janet Shea, Copper Harbor
business owner and member of the Grant Township Land
Use Planning Committee, asked Glieberman,
’ÄúWhat’Äôs all the possible situations? It sounds
to me, if you’Äôre building a system that’Äôs more
than the capacity that the ski hill would ever need,
then you must have some anticipated expansion that
we would be interested in knowing about.’Äù
Conroy noted that the DEQ would
take a new look at the basis of design if additional
capacity were needed.
Added Shea, ’ÄúWe have not seen
any drawings of this total project, so we don’Äôt
know what the boundaries are in this thing; and if
the sewer system is going to allow further expansion
because the capacity that has been built into it
hasn’Äôt been used to this point, then we could end
up with more development over there than we might
want.’Äù
Glieberman replied that Black
Bear was following directives from the DEQ in
designing the capacity of the system.
(In a July 10 letter to the
township board, Shea gave several reasons why the
grant application would not be of benefit to Grant
Township. She also suggested the township ask Black
Bear to set aside a portion of the acreage they have
under option to purchase as open space that would
never be developed.
Shea writes, ’ÄúIn an informal
conversation with Mr. Glieberman after the meeting,
he said that an additional 600 acres under option is
now part of the ski hill complex, a total of 1080
acres. Does this mean that those 600 additional
acres will also be served by the sewer system that
Grant Township is about to hand him for ’Äòjust the
ski hill lodge and the 50 cottages’Äô? He said that
in any new building project a developer always buys
more property than they need to cover unexpected
contingencies, such as happened in the relocation of
the sewer system from down the hill to up the hill.
But 600 acres for contingency? A larger piece of
ground than the entire original project of 480
acres?’Äù)
Collins asked Conroy if
Michigan law would require Lac La Belle residents
living within 200 feet of a municipal system to hook
up to it.
Conroy’Äôs reply was that a
local sewer ordinance would have to require such
hook-ups and there would have to be enough capacity.
Collins also said he wanted to
know if there were any other places in the Upper
Peninsula using this type of system.
Conroy said most of them were
downstate, because year-round use of spray
irrigation would require warmer weather; but since
Mt. Bohemia is a seasonal operation this system
makes a lot of sense. He added the Department of
Corrections in Marquette also uses this type of
system.
Said Collins, ’ÄúI would
suggest to the board that that municipality be
contacted to get a better understanding of
maintenance costs and operational costs.’Äù
Collins also asked if written
agreements with the township involving maintenance
and possible fees would be made before or after the
grant application.
Wuori noted these would be part
of the application process and would have to be
approved by the granting agency.
Glieberman said if the board
votes at the July meeting (now scheduled for
Thursday, July 12) to move forward with the grant
application, the agreement can be worked out during
the pre-application process.
’ÄúWe’Äôre on a tight time
line,’Äù he said. ’ÄúIf we can’Äôt come to an
agreement we’Äôre going to screw up the whole
process.’Äù
Said Powers, ’ÄúIt was my
opinion that these things have to be agreed upon
before the township accepts the grant ’Ķ I would
assume the township would have money in there for
their own engineer to act as their consultant
because we want to avoid inference of conflict of
interest.’Äù
Collins also asked if there has
been an archaeological survey of the proposed site,
since it is required for the MEDC grant.
Glieberman said that to date
the system has been planned as a private system, not
requiring such a study.
’ÄúIt’Äôs all part of the grant
process,’Äù he said.
Jennifer Kopp, MEDC
communications manager, said their Community
Development Block Grants, or CDBG, (which are part
of a federal program) require both an environmental
review and an archaeological study; but those
studies aren’Äôt done unless the grant application
is approved.
Once the grant application is
approved, the applicant contacts the State Historic
Preservation Office to determine whether there is a
need to conduct an archaeological survey of the
site, Kopp explained. The applicant must also
contact the DEQ to determine whether an
environmental review is necessary.
The CDBG grant guidelines also
require citizen participation and one or more public
meetings.
Korhorn asked Conroy to clarify
whether the system would be considered public or
private.
Conroy explained that if the
cabins were time-share but still rented and not
sold, the DEQ would consider Black Bear the sole
owner; and the system would remain private. However,
if there are at least two owners ’Äì if Black Bear
sells one cabin or if the township applies for the
grant and becomes the second owner ’Äì it would be
considered a public system, requiring a Part 41
construction permit.
Residents sign petition opposing application
Although it is
not endorsed by any of the township board members or
the SSA, a petition circulating for the past few
weeks now bears more than 160 signatures of Grant
Township residents, according to one of the petition
circulators. The petition lists seven reasons why
the signers oppose the township applying for the
grant. It states that Black Bear:
1. has stated they will build the sewer
regardless of the Board decision on the grant;
2. would benefit with $900,000 for the expansion
of a private enterprise;
3.
refuses to demonstrate the viability of Mt.
Bohemia by showing the township board their
financial statement;
4.
has yet to show that they hold title to the
land where the sewer would be built;
5.
has given no written agreement that they will
be totally responsible for the operation, repair,
maintenance and possible removal of the system
should Mt. Bohemia fail;
6.
has given no minimum time frame for their use
of the system, thus
exposing the township to liability should
they leave town or set up their own system;
7.
has not proposed an insurance indemnity
holding Grant Township safe from liability resulting
from failure of the sewer system or from breech of
contract with the federal government.
Korhorn said the petition was
brought to his office on Wednesday, July 11, in a
sealed envelope; but it has not yet been opened.
’ÄúI have the greatest
confidence in the board members making a decision
that’Äôs in the best interest of Grant Township,’Äù
he said.
Click
here for more background on Black
Bear’Äôs request for the grant application.
Click
here for an article on Black Bear's June
13 presentation to the Grant Township Board ...
’Äì Michele Anderson
July 11, 2001
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