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Developers
request township support for sewers
COPPER HARBOR ’Äì
Two recent requests to the Grant Township
Board concerning sewage treatment systems are
expected to raise public comments when the board
meets at 7 p.m. Monday, March 12, in the Copper
Harbor Community Building.
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This sketch shows the approximate location of the 270-acre
Hunters Point property which contractor MJO of Hancock hopes to purchase
from IP/ Lake Superior
Land Co. MJO
intends to build 100 home sites, including about 65 waterfront
lots, between the Devil’Äôs Washtub and the village of Copper
Harbor. Local residents would like to see at least some of the
area set aside as a park for public access.
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The first is a request by local
contractor MJO of Hancock, who has a purchase
agreement with International Paper / Lake Superior
Land Co. to buy 270 acres of waterfront in the area
at the west end of Copper Harbor known as Hunters
Point, which was offered for sale in a
bidding process last fall. MJO wants an expansion of
the Copper Harbor sewer system to accommodate their
plans for about 100 home sites in the area,
including about 65 waterfront lots, between the
Devil’Äôs Washtub and the village of Copper Harbor.
Recent land division laws allow 18 lots, planned for
the shoreline on the west end of the harbor, without
platting.
The acreage also includes some land along
Brockway Mountain Drive.
The
second is a request from Black Bear President Lonie
Glieberman that Grant Township apply for a grant to
fund the proposed wastewater treatment system at Mt.
Bohemia. Last spring the Keweenaw County Board of
Commissioners voted against the county applying for
a grant to fund the system.
MJO requests sewer expansion for
Hunters Point development
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This photo by Keweenaw photographer Steve Brimm gives a view of
Hunters Beach looking west from the east end of the
pebble beach. (Photo ©Steve Brimm /
brimmages.com)
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MJO recently requested that
the Copper Harbor Utility Board consider expanding
the Copper Harbor lagoon sewage treatment system to
service the proposed Hunters Point development.
Since MJO’Äôs purchase option expires at the end of
March, the Utility Board plans to meet again at 9
a.m. on Friday, March 16, to talk to MJO about sewer
expansion. If the Utility Board approves granting
MJO’Äôs request, final approval must come from the
Township Board, which could call a special meeting
in March.
Township
Supervisor Ken Korhorn said he understands that if
MJO can’Äôt hook up to the Copper Harbor system,
they can’Äôt build. If the township should approve
the expansion, he said, hopefully it would not raise
the cost for the current users. Another item on the
agenda for the March 12 meeting mentions a Utility
Board report that rates will go up since consumption
was lower this past year and is estimated to be the
same in the next fiscal year (April 1, 2001 ’Äì
March 31, 2002).
’ÄúWe
will do all in our power to insist the rates don’Äôt
go up as a result of new development,’Äù Korhorn
said. ’ÄúAny expansion of the current system is at
MJO’Äôs expense.’Äù
He
added, ’ÄúWe’Äôre going to endeavor to be as
cooperative as we can (with MJO).
Korhorn
said he was under the impression that two other
bidders from outside the area were being considered
for the property if MJO did not succeed in
purchasing it.
The
thin peninsula (70 to 100 feet wide) that shelters
part of the harbor is the only area MJO is presently
offering to set aside as a park, Korhorn noted.
Some
concerned citizens, including leaders of the Public
Access Keweenaw group that held a public
forum in
December, believe a development by MJO could
co-exist with a more significant, set-aside area for
a park on Hunters Point.
Public
Access Keweenaw recently sent an email message to
residents who attended that forum to alert them to
the danger this proposed development poses for
public access and for rare plants in the area.
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Keweenaw
photographer Steve Brimm took this photo of Hunters
Point looking east from the start of the
conglomerate at the west end of the pebble beach.
The conglomerate shore is one of the largest
stretches of accessible undeveloped conglomerate
rock, and, says Brimm,
some of the most spectacular. (Photo ©Steve Brimm / brimmages.com)
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’ÄúThis
1.5 mile stretch of Lake Superior and Copper Harbor
shoreline is listed as a Conservation Priority Area
by the Michigan DNR (Department of Natural
Resources) because of its five species of rare
plants, spectacular scenic beauty an public access
history,’Äù the message said. ’ÄúMJO has indicated
that they will allow public access only to the very
narrow rocky point at the end of Hunters Point. The
existing trail from the Marina will be open this
summer but will then be closed permanently.’Äù
Historically,
the trail has provided access to Hunters Point and
to the 2,000-foot-long stretch of Agate Beach.
’ÄúPublic
Access Keweenaw advocates a greater area for public
access and retention of the west end of Copper
Harbor in a natural state with the hiking trail
intact,’Äù the message continues. ’ÄúReasonable
development could occur with a setback from the
lakeshore so that public access and rare habitat
could be preserved.’Äù
Janet
Shea, Copper Harbor business owner and member of the
Grant Township Land Use Planning Committee, said
MJO’Äôs development plan shows little or no
green space.
’ÄúIt’Äôs
the opposite of conservation design planning,’Äù she
said, referring to the topic of a recent workshop
on land use by conservation design,
conducted by Rod Cortright of Michigan State
Extension for township officials, land use planning
committee members and interested residents of
Keweenaw and Houghton counties.
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The mineral-stained Basalt at Hunters Point is
unique, according to Steve Brimm, Keweenaw photographer. ’ÄúI have
not found this mineral banding elsewhere in the Keweenaw,’Äù he
said. (Photo
©Steve Brimm / brimmages.com)
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Korhorn
noted one new business agenda item for the March 12
meeting is a request for township board support of
possible acquisition of all or part of the Hunters
Point property by the State of Michigan or The
Nature Conservancy (TNC). The board may decide to
write a letter indicating that support to the DNR
and / or TNC.
Jim
Ekdahl, DNR Upper Peninsula field deputy in
Marquette, said Friday he had just learned of the
MJO proposed development and sewer request. He said
Dan Plescher, former Fort Wilkins manager, who was
recently transferred to manage the Porcupine Mountains State Park, would attend the March 12
Grant Township Board meeting as a DNR
representative. The present Copper Harbor sewage
lagoons are located on state land near Fort Wilkins.
In
addition to preventing public access and impacting
ecosystems new developments such as the one proposed
for Hunters Point impact the area’Äôs cultural
resources, according to some Keweenaw residents.
Said
Paul Campbell of Lac La Belle, ’ÄúKeweenaw County is
very unique; and as we know from the issues arising
from Mt. Bohemia, an archaeological survey should be
done by anyone who develops property in the Keweenaw.
We just have to be more sensitive to these
issues.’Äù
Shea
noted many residents and regular visitors to the
area who are not involved with the business side of
this development would like more time to study the
sewer issue, which is still in the early planning
stages.
According
to Richard Supina, engineer and president of
Traverse Engineering in Hancock, who is acting as a
consultant to the township, MJO has reportedly
considered several options for the location of a
sewage lagoon. Supina said it appears MJO’Äôs first
choice would be addition of another lagoon at the
present Copper Harbor lagoon site and extending the
sewer line to the proposed development.
’ÄúTechnically
it’Äôs feasible,’Äù Supina said. ’ÄúThe whole thing
is pretty preliminary ’Ķ Before we can make a recommendation to the township we have
to evaluate the data that (MJO) submitted, plus ’Ķ
collect more information.’Äù
Supina
added his firm would try to relay this information
to the township before the end of the month.
Should
the state not allow an additional lagoon on the
present sewage treatment site, a second option would
be to build one on the development property. A
disadvantage of that plan would be increased
operation and maintenance costs, Supina said.
Both
Korhorn and Supina said recent problems of odors
from the Copper Harbor sewer system were most likely
caused by grease from local restaurants ’Äì a
problem they expect will be solved by the
restaurants removing grease before wastewater goes
into the system. Supina said he would not expect an
additional lagoon for the proposed seasonal
residences to cause such a problem.
However, since seasonal homes
are not used in the winter and since Copper Harbor
has a pressure sewer system, the reduced flow in the
sewer pipes causes solids to settle out, and the
pipes have to be flushed out.
Supina said the present sewer
has to be flushed twice a year and an additional
lagoon would mean additional flushing. There are
several options to deal with that problem, he said.
One option, for example, is designing a system with
a larger pipe for summer use and a smaller pipe for
winter.
Black Bear asks township to
seek grant for Mt. Bohemia sewer
According
to Korhorn, Glieberman’Äôs request that Grant
township apply for grant money to fund the proposed
Black Bear lagoon and spray irrigation treatment
center at Mt. Bohemia was a verbal one. Korhorn said
the developer did not provide details on the type of
grant, but it could possibly be the same federal and
state funding sources considered by Keweenaw County
last spring. In April, 2000, the county’Äôs
Prosecuting Attorney, Donna Jaaskelainen, advised
board members that applying for the grant money to
fund the sewage treatment system would make the
county liable if the system failed.
Korhorn
said Black Bear’Äôs request has raised a similar
concern about liability and ownership of the system.
South
Shore Association President Tom Collins said the
township would be taking on a risk if it applied for
the grant, especially since federal funds are less
likely to be granted if a municipality does not
assume ownership, operation and maintenance of the
system. He said he doesn’Äôt believe Grant Township
would want to become the owner since the Copper
Harbor system is already costing them a lot of
money.
While
the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is
close to approving a Part 31 Groundwater Discharge
permit for the Mt. Bohemia lagoon system, that
permit is for a privately owned system. Whether
Black Bear or IP/ Lake Superior Land Co. owns that
land was unclear at the hearing
held on Jan. 24, 2001.
Should
Grant Township apply for a grant for the system, it
would need a Part 41 permit (for municipal systems
or systems with more than one owner), according to
Randy Conroy, senior district geologist in
the Waste Management Division, DEQ Marquette office.
A Part 41 permit requires a municipality to be the
permittee, co-sign and contract to take over the
system if the developer fails in their
responsibilities, he explained.
Conroy
is presently completing a document with the DEQ’Äôs
replies to citizens’Äô concerns raised at the
hearing.
’ÄúIt’Äôll
be finalized simultaneously with the permit
decision,’Äù he said.
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Michele Anderson
March
10, 2001
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