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Copyright 2011, Leelanau Enterprise, Inc., all rights reserved.
Vol. 134 — No. 46
Lake Leelanau, Michigan 49653
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Four Sections
No surprise here; Lakeshore is beautiful From staff reports of the Leelanau Enterprise
Residents of and visitors to Leelanau County are being given a chance to vote for something they’ve always known: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is one of the most beautiful places in America. The Lakeshore was nominated by a Muskegon man in a contest through the Good Morning America television show — and low and behold, the Lakeshore was selected as one of the “top 10” most beautiful places in the nation. Voting continues this week to determine No. 1. “They sent someone here last week to do some filming, and I gave her a little interview, reported Lakeshore deputy superintendent Tom Ulrich,
who said the show’s crew tried to keep a lid on the extent to which the area would be featured. “She was somewhat reticent about what the story was.” Instead, Ulrich said, reporter Sabrina Parise said she was putting together a story “in case Sleeping Bear is one of those places that is shown.” Ulrich said he did his part to put the Lakeshore on top. “I know she’s convinced Sleeping Bear is the best. She was surprised, and actually kept saying that, he said.” Parise sent the television crew to shoot footage from Overlook No. 9 with sweeping views of Glen Lake and Lake Michigan, South Manitou
Island, the Dune Climb and the Empire Bluffs. The Lakeshore was featured on the show Tuesday morning. To vote for the Lakeshore, go to www.abcnews.com and click on the Good Morning America tab at the top of the screen. Submit your vote in the poll box on the right side of the screen. The winner will be announced next week. Ulrich said the Lakeshore seems to be on a media roll this season, having been named by “Dr. Beach” as having one of the top beaches in America, and being featured as one of the top family trips by National Geographic. “That’s pretty cool,” he said.
64 Pages
Our suggested ballot to vote online in a poll to select the most beautiful place in America:
FOR FIRST PLACE: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
✔
SECOND THROUGH TENTH PLACES: All Others
Brownfield blowing up Old courthouse deal falls upon difficult times by Alan Campbell of the Enterprise staff
Riders pedaling to a big weekend
INSIDE
CEDAR, THE COMMUNITY That Cares, will be hosting the State Championship Road Race Sunday that features a 15.5-mile loop around the town. Greilickville cyclist Norm Licht, one of the racers, is shown in front of the town sign during a practice break.
Tall ship coming to Northport By Mike Spencer Of The Enterprise staff
Leelanau's hoppin' Sec. 2
In Section 2:
✓ Leland teachers have new contract, Pg. 7 ✓ Bingham goes 'home occupation' route for marijuana, Pg. 8 ✓ Suttons Bay loses band teacher, Pg. 9
In Section 3:
✓ Classified ads
Call 231-256-9827 for home delivery 8
38413 30065
9
A tall ship is coming to Northport for a short stay. The Privateer Lynx, a replica of the celebrated War of 1812 ship, will visit the Village Harbor next Thursday, Aug. 18, sometime after 10 a.m. The unscheduled appearance is being sponsored by Bob Schafer and Mark Thompson, of SeaPorts Great Lakes and the Sweetwater Challenge. Schafer is a friend of ship’s owner, Jeff Woods of Newport Beach, Calif. The 77-foot Privateer Lynx will be en route from Frankfort to Bay Harbor in Petoskey when it stops at Northport, the only stop in Grand Traverse Bay. “I’ve had a long association with the owners of Privateer Lynx and it will be great to have the ship come in,” said Schafer, who is also trying to expand his SeaPorts Great Lakes program into Northport. “I think it’s a great thing for Northport to have this tall ship come in,” said Barb Von Voigtlander, Northport Village Council trustee. “I’m just tick-
led pink with anything we can do to help improve the business situation and help the chamber and help tourism for our area.” Last week, Schafer got the Village Council to approve his request to build a boat in the harbor. (Concluded on Page 15)
THE PRIVATEER Lynx is shown off the coast of Hawaii (Big Island). Next week, the tall ship will be making an unscheduled stop in Northport.
While the future of a million dollar development officials hoped would turn the nearly empty former county seat campus in Leland into family housing is being deliberated behind closed doors, one outcome is becoming very public: Leelanau will not be receiving the $2.4 million it once felt the property was worth. Local developers now say they will need major price concessions from Leelanau County to continue their project in the wake of the housing market collapse, and question whether the property was ever worth the amount they offered to pay for it. The allegations, however, get nastier, as the principals of Varley-Kelly Properties II, LLC, claim that representatives of Leelanau County have been misleading them for some time about a number of issues. Leelanau County Brownfield Redevelopment Director Trudy Galla paints a different picture. “The accusations by Varley-Kelly are irresponsible and without substance,” she wrote in a response. “Unfortunately, these accusations indicate an attitude on their part that has impaired productive progress on their development plans. Counsel for the county, faced with the difficult task of unwinding the relationship between the parties in the face of multiple developer defaults, might interpret these remarks to foreshadow a lack of cooperation by Varley-Kelly. We hope that will not be the case.” The developers, who both reside in Leelanau County, feel that they were used as pawns to leverage state Brownfield money sought by the county to clean up contamination at the former county seat. “They needed us and used us to establish the false Brownfield Authority,” said Gene Kelly, a builder and co-owner of PDM Lumber with retired dentist Jim Varley. The two are business partners in the Rivertown development. “After that was accomplished, there has been no cooperation. They have forced us into positions that we did not like, always promising that if we just went along everything would work out alright.” Kelly is alleging that the county understated the level of contamination near the old jail left by “leaky fuel tanks that left plumes of contamination in the soil,” and that “the buildings were full of asbestos and lead paint.” State Brownfield grants for cleanup cannot be given to polluting parties; the county needed a developer to secure clean-up grants, he said. (Concluded on Page 15)