celery pond

The need for the theme of diversity and a healthy balance is ushering us into a period of new decision-making by the Council, and the public, with elections coming in November.

How will all the issues of public lands, job employment, and honest assessment of what the community needs now and in the future play themselves out? There are complex issues on the table for South Haven now, and further into the 21st century.

Will it retain the Master Plan identity of a small town - quaint and beautiful? Or will it ’sell its soul’ to overdevelopment of condos galore, a theme recently explored by Annie Brown in her opinion column in The Herald-Palladium, published on July 26, 2007, with the title: “South Haven might as well change its name to Condovia.”

Along with writing about the state of South Haven at present, with over 800 requests for condominium units having been approved, Annie also looked at the past, when the River Noire was placed on old US maps that are lodged at such places at Jefferson’s Monticello and George Washington’s Mt. Vernon.

Writing about the seven plans the Dunkley Street area and “the eastern banks of the historic River Noire,” Annie writes “Four plans cry out for more growth in the form of hotels, condominiums, boat slips and a water park. But three plans, submitted by the Parks Commission, Cool Cities and Celery Pond Advocates…would keep public lands in public hands. Those three plans with vision are crafted on foundations of arts, culture, recreation and eco-tourism with facilities like a kayaking path, art center, educational center and nature preserve that are open to all families from all walks of life.”

“The glistening emerald of the Dunkley Street area is the Celery Pond.”

Remembering too the heritage of horticultural history, Annie writes: “That high-pitched whir you hear over the sound of dump trucks and backhoes in South Haven is the sound of Stanley Johnston and Liberty Hyde Bailey spinning in their graves. Those South Haven men who became world-famous horitculturists and scientists would be heartbroken at the lack of environmental vision of city council members and our city manager.”

As to the issue of economic development and ultimately jobs, she moves toward her conclusion: “Regardless of economic impact, the Dunkley Street plan should be a plan that is open and available to a wide diversity of families. A healthy community is one with economic and racial diversity in all neighborhoods. This land should be developed as Johnston and Bailey would’ve wanted it - as a sprawling, green educational park with open vistas that are unobstructed by multi-story monuments to municipal greed.”

“As many of South Haven’s wise leaders said at the July 9 city council meeting, once you give city park land away, you can never recapture it. Like an emerald that’s tossed into Lake Michigan, it’s gone for good.”

Annie Brown lives in South Haven with her husband and three children.

Can you remember what South Haven looked like in 1987 or 1997, just ten to twenty years ago? If you were in town then, think of how many changes have come into the community, from housing to residents to the volume of non-residents. Think of what will be in another ten to twenty years…

The ten acres of public lands off of Dunkley Avenue, near the boat launch, are pictured as they are today, scattered with a few city buildings but open and in need of some caretaking. Think of what this area might be in another ten or twenty years with each of the proposals before the Council.

The Celery Pond Advocates, Cool Cities, and the Parks Deparment want to keep these lands in public hands, open to green space and preservation of the land, with proposals for an Arboretum and a Black River Cultural Center. A kayak canoe trail suggested would lead into a wetland preserve.

The other proposals suggest either development of condos and hotel, or a waterpark, with housing ranging up to 6 stories. The proposal aimed at the marina in Celery Pond asks for a land trade for the parcel of land near the river in exchange for marina space for the City.

The beauty of the Black River bend near the public lands would be dramatically changed with a display of condos, hotel, waterpark and/or marina.

The beauty of the River bend would be preserved and enchanced if allowed to stay in public hands, while being developed into an ecotourism destination and cultural arts center, something which could give South Haven a new focus, a new identity and something to maintain year-round interest.

The City Council will be in a special session this Monday, July 30th, starting at 6:30pm at City Hall to “rank” the seven proposals received for the Dunkley Avenue public properties. According to the Sunday Tribune article by Andrew Lersten, Mayor Dorothy Appleyard said that this “may be too early, based on the magnitude of the decisions involved.”

Not so, for an anxious-sounding City Manager who seems to be short of work. “Where do you want to go from here?” he asked the Council last week. “I’m ready to go to work on a project, but I just need to know which project.”

Is this a project to categorize and rate? Or is this a call to have a vision which may require long term thinking and more discussion? The public comments surely were asking for time and more study.

Jobs are important to Councilman Scott Smith. Well, Scott, an Arboretum as proposed by Celery Pond Advocates would hopefully, like Naperville’s Riverwalk story, involve many of the city folk of South Haven in helping in the park installation. Jobs would be there for this first stage, then jobs would continue as a restaurant and shops could move into the Pavilion, then guides for educating the public on the wetland and hydrology of the Black River Watershed.

Someone who seems to be thinking with more long term vision is Vikke Andersen who disagreed with Smith’s chief concern about jobs. “Economic impact can be a detrimental thing if that’s your only, or primary, goal, I would rather look at the impact on the city, and what it would do to the river and to the environment. That’s at least as important as economic impact.”

Councilman Dave Paull, who is running for re-election for Council this fall, has fallen for the fast moves to rank the proposals, hoping to vote on recommendations by August 6th.

Now isn’t that making demands for a project that the public commentators asked to slow down? Have we missed something? Will the City Manager give Council answers to all the questions asked during the public session? Let’s get marching.

The Tribune, which is the source of this article, also had opinions by Council member Tim Stegeman. He thinks the Council should use four standards to rank the proposals, something that was required in their submission: “impact on Black River, economic impact, compliance with city land use plans, and the level and qualtiy of infrastructure improvements involved.”

Lersten offered no quotes or comments from Council people Bradley or Fahs, so we’re left wondering what they think.

The long term need for thinking should rank first, before any aggressive opinions to get a project rolling. This is not a project but an issue that could dramatically change the whole landscape of South Haven.

Celery Pond Advocates proposal did not merely “paint” a picture (to quote Kevin Anderson’s itemized review for the Council), it offers a new dimension of economy for South Haven. It combines ecotourism and, with the Cool Cities plan, brings in art and culture to the natural setting which an arbortetum would provide.

Will the Council bend to the demands to make a ‘project’ happen? Or will Council turn to embrace something entirely new and possible for the future of South Haven’s vitality and economy and community? The public and the Council have much to decide. Most importantly, long term thinking and longer time is something that will benefit everyone and settle may outstanding issues and questions.

The special Council public meeting (7/8/07)on the public lands and marina/channel cut proposals have left us with a tally of 23 commentators, with the preponderance of voices against the channel cut and against the selling of the public lands. There was also a strong current asking the Council to slow down in order to effectively re-write the Master Plan and define our community vision, before making a decision on these lands and the wetland.

The next key date for Celery Pond is July 23rd, when letters are due to the US Army Corps re: public comment on the draft permit given by MDEQ.

If you object to the permit approval, please let your opinions be made known. Check the internet browser’s address window and type in the address http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/functions/rf/html/pncur.htm

This link will direct you to the Celery Pond Case under the following columns:

File number: LRE-1983-530041/05-80-0061-P

Applicant: City of South Haven, 1st Choice Marine, J&B Landing

Location: Van Buren County, Michigan

Waterway: Black River

The applicant has requested authorization to construct a marina.

Please refer to the Public Notice with link address above on how to submit comments.

According to law the US Army Corps has to issue a public notice with time to submit comments. The USAC notice says that “We will interpret lack of response as meaning there is no objection to the permit application.”

<IT IS IMPORTANT TO WRITE A LETTER TO MAKE THE CORPS AWARE THAT THERE IS PUBLIC OBJECTION TO THE PERMIT>

You can also request another public hearing in your letter.

The US Army Corps can still reject the permit SO WRITE your letter TODAY.

Twenty-three people came forward to speak at last night’s Special Council Meeting to hear public comments on the 7 RFP proposals for the Dunkley Lands.

Only four people spoke in favor of the marina/channel cut, but as one of them is a developer involved in the City’s plan for a marina (Steve Schlack, First Choice Marina), we’d say only three were in favor of dredging the Pond for commercial use. (Why Schlack was allowed to speak and later, Steve GoForth, another developer, was not allowed to speak is a mystery.)

Nineteen people spoke either in favor of keeping the public lands or asked the Council to wait to make a decision, that is until the Master Plan is re-written. This heavy majority in favor of countering the City’s plan to put the marina/channel cut and condos into the area was very encouraging to hear.

Will the Council listen to these comments and really answer the questions asked?

As one citizen asked, “What are our present needs? What are our future needs?” We hope to have further workshops and public discussions, to determine our needs and community identity. We need to re-examine the vision set forth from the past and re-consider the needs of the future.

Having toured the town by foot and car, having talked to many real estate agents, there is one thing for sure, this summer is different than last summer. The weather is great, no rain (like last summer) but there is a slow down of sales of real estate, even on the lake. Condos are for sale with phase 2 waiting for those sales to happen before they begin (a sure sign of market uncertainty), and there are plenty of empty boat slips lining the harbor.

The Lake is at its lowest level since the 1920s, the Black River is getting shallow and dredging is expensive and even not necessarily a solution. In the midst of all this, there are serious things to really consider with the Dunkley lands development proposals.

Come to City Hall on Monday (July 9th) at 6pm to hear the discussion of people’s comments on the 7 proposals. Three by developers would involve tremendous phase 1-2 ideas of density of condos and/or hotels, up to six stories. Then there’s the channel cut proposal, linking to the open draft permit status, with 155 more boat slips proposed.

Having grown up in South Haven, it’s good to see the updating of things around town but it’s also sad to see all the “private property no trespassing signs” in neighborhoods that were once open. Could this happen in the area of public lands off Dunkley Avenue?

The people need to come forward to express their views. I’ve met real estate people who want the green space saved (see the Celery Pond Arboretum proposal on the City website), with bordering condos as a possible solution for the area. What do you think? Write an email this weekend and send to the Council/City Manager/Mayor, or show up Monday night.

It is recommended that the City slow down the whole process.

The people and the Council need many more hard facts about the lands on Dunkley, ie. their level of contamination. We need to know many more facts about the wastewater treatment plant and if a move is indeed necessary. We need to explore other solutions for wastewater treatment such as the flowform techniques used in Scandinavia, Germany and England with great press.

See you Monday night at 6pm, City Hall, to start the process of public comment. We assume this event will be televised.

Monday, July 9th starting at 6pm, the Special City Council Meeting at City Hall opens its public forum where everyone is encouraged to come and give their comments on the Dunkley Redevelpment Proposals.

Seven proposals were submitted and can be found on the City website, www.south-haven.com under the Dunkley Proposals box.

Council will receive comments, of up to 5 minutes in length, by all persons interested in sharing their points of view regarding the proposals. If you want to speak, you’ll have to fill out a card for accurate record of the meeting and to insure your time.

We encourage everyone to participate to let the Council, Mayor and City officials know what you want to happen to the 10 acres of public lands off Dunkley Avenue. Come and join this important community event.

Do you want to keep the public lands in public hands? If so, we encourage you to look at the Celery Pond Advocates proposal in conjunction with the Cool Cities proposal and Parks Department recommendation to hold onto the public lands, and let us know what you think about these ideas.

The US Army Corps issued a public notice to receive public comments until July 23, 2007, re: the permit for the marina into Celery Pond. You are asked to write a letter, again, to a new set of people, not in the MDEQ, but in the US Army Corps. Public response can mean that the public has objection to the permit application. Please write a letter or send an email to the following:

Include your name, mailing address and the following file numbers: LRE-1983-530041/05-80-0061-P.

Emails can be sent to Henry.Rosenfield@usace.army.mil but remember that the email must include your name and mailing address, and the file numbers.

Letters can go to:

Wally Gauthier, Chief, Permit Evaluation Branch B, Regulatory Office, Detroit District, Corps of Engineers, P.O. Box 1027, Detroit, MI 48231 (remember the file numbers).

The last blog posting refers you to the whole pdf folder and information about procedures.

Go to your browser bar and type: http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/functions/rf/html/pncur.htm

MOST IMPORTANTLY, there is a paragraph in the above prf folder that says:

“Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider this application. Requests for public hearings shall state, with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing.”