Long Lake Township dredging ban gets hearing

Nov. 26—TRAVERSE CITY — Long Lake Township is considering an ordinance that would ban dredging above any lake's ordinary high-water mark.

Planning commissioners will hear public comments on the ordinance amendment Tuesday, nearly a year after township trustees passed a dredging moratorium. It falls more than a year after a Long Lake property owner's request to dredge a channel and boat well prompted another look at the township's ordinances.

Joe Quandt, an attorney for the applicant behind the original request, said the process was driven with the focus of one property owner.

But township Supervisor Ron Lemcool denied this, as did township Zoning and Planning Administrator Leslie Sickterman.

"So all of the work that we've done to date has been not project-specific and not property-specific," Sickterman said. "We've been trying to come up with policies and regulations that are not tailored to fit one property, but to address the concerns of the community in a more comprehensive way."

Planning commissioners recently voted to move forward one of four options under consideration. Another would have allowed dredging above the ordinary high-water mark with a conditional use permit, which the township's shoreline committee recommended in a 2-1 vote.

But planning commissioners largely agreed that township ordinances had historically barred any dredging within setbacks, which would include anywhere within 50 feet of the ordinary high-water mark, meeting minutes show. Outside attorney Chris Bzdok replied that if the township wants to measure setbacks from that line, its ordinance should clearly state as much.

Quandt said planners had other options available that would have resulted in what he believed to be a more justifiable approach.

"Their attorney basically gave them a couple of options and it's unfortunate that they have chosen the most draconian option," he said, adding that township trustees will ultimately decide on the amendment.

Other lakeshore owners and residents told planners they wanted a ban, Anne Morrison Perry among them. She served on a 46-member steering committee that helped examine shoreline land-use issues during the moratorium and said she sees the possible ban as protection for the township's lakes for years to come — citing the Seventh Generation Principle.

"I think the new language for the ordinance is well-written and it protects our natural resources, and it protects our property values and it protects the aesthetics of the lake," she said. "So it does everything that we need it to do."

It's been a controversial topic since the Barnes Family Trust sought a Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy permit to build the boat well, channel and dredge an underwater channel to it.

The department denied the permit in November 2021 and the applicant appealed.

That coincided with the township starting its master planning process, Lemcool said. With significant growth in the township in the last few years, lakeside setbacks needed a fresh look.

What followed was a "citizen-driven" process to identify objectives, including making sure the township's ordinance clearly defined ordinary high-water mark, Bzdok said. The existing definition looked solid, and he gave recommendations for how the township could tighten regulations for shoreline alterations.

The hearing is the next step for choosing the township's preferred option.

"And it's my opinion that the path they're on has been a very open, public process and is on very solid legal ground," he said. "And that's really my only job."

Quandt, on the other hand, said he believes the process has been riddled with procedural issues. He said he believes the proposed change goes further than most land owners realize, and that the steering committee included a subgroup of people, the majority of whom opposed the very land use they were debating.

He said he was particularly disappointed that no one seemed interested in the merits of the project the Barnes Family Trust proposed.

"At no time has the applicant ever been given 15 minutes to explain the merits and the benefits, the considerable benefits, that come from this project," he said.

Sickterman said that, because the process wasn't focused on individual projects, there wasn't a forum for such a presentation. And township officials did make the project application part of the record.

The township also allowed anyone interested to join the steering committee, and also tried to honor their requests for which subgroup they served. Several wanted to join the subgroup examining the dredging issue, and those interested tended to oppose dredging.

Morrison Perry said she served on that subgroup along with Robert Barnes, with Quandt occasionally taking his place. The process may have seemed stacked, she said, but she believes it represented a strong public sentiment, plus science showing the environmental harms dredging can cause — Quandt said an expert testified to its benefits in the permit rejection appeal.

"So, in my opinion, it was not stacked against, the power of science drove our determination and opinion on not dredging above the ordinary high-water mark," Morrison Perry said.

Planning commissioners could vote Tuesday to send the amendment to township trustees, who would decide its fate at a future meeting.