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Concerned Citizens for Saugatuck Dunes State Park was founded in the fall of 2001 to work
for the preservation and expansion of Lower Michigan's most spectacular state park after
the City of Holland and Laketown Township each submitted separate plans to the Michigan DNR
to use the park for a water treatment plant. The DNR ultimately rejected the details of those
two plans but not the overall concept. Both Holland and Laketown Township continue to pursue
the state park and its environs as the most attractive location for a water treatment plant.
Concerned Citizens does not believe that a water plant can be built in or next to Saugatuck
Dunes State Park or maintained there without causing permanent damage to the park. Please
browse this web site to learn more about the park, the threats to it, and what you can do
to help.
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February 10, 2010
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The Denison South Is Ours!
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Gone is the toll booth at the north end of Oval Beach and its companion, the "Keep Out"
sign. The 171 acres of pristine dune land known as the South Denison spent nearly five
years under the pall of developer Aubrey McClendon's intentions. Now it belongs to
the City of Saugatuck and is open to the public to enjoy, rechristened as the Saugatuck
Harbor Natural Area.
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"This is a wonderful holiday present for West Michigan," said Peter Homeyer,
executive director of The Land Conservancy of West Michigan which closed on the
$19 million purchase December 22, acting on Saugatuck's behalf. True, the gift
wrapping was tattered and faded from a few decades of getting bounced around, and
the credit card has an outstanding balance of some $4.5 million but, hey, it's
Christmas!
Visit Saugatuck
Dunes Coastal Alliance to read details about the purchase and the numerous
organizations and individuals who worked tirelessly to finally bring the deal to a
successful conclusion. While you're there, consider contributing to close the gap on
the funds yet needed.
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South Denison and Lake Michigan from above the Oxbow.
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Of course, now that the holidays have passed, it's back to reality. The new Saugatuck Harbor
Natural Area is great news, but the situation at the North Denison is not so cheery.
While most eyes have been on the South Denison, McClendon has been quietly spending $10 million
consolidating his holdings on the north side of the river. Parcel by parcel, he has purchased
an additional 100 acres adjoining the original North Denison tract. This brings his total there
to around 332 acres.
Recall that, in 2006, then-billionaire McClendon wrested the North Denison from numerous
conservation groups about to purchase it for the public after decades of effort. Comprising the
last undeveloped navigable river mouth on Lake Michigan, with Indian burial grounds and ruins
of the 19th century logging town of Singapore hidden beneath the nearly untouched foredunes,
the DNRE has stated its goal to acquire this totally unique property for inclusion in the
Saugatuck Dunes State Park from the park's inception.
The passerby notes a continual low level of activity. Bulldozers arrive one day. Their tracks,
lurking into the forested dunes, are all that's left the next. Houses are loaded up and carted
off one by one. There is always evidence of traffic through the gates which once led to the
Franklin Denison home and now provide access to the new mansion of his son.
Estranged by his father during the last many years of the elder Denison's life, Kenelm Denison
managed to glean a few choice acres of his own as his mother's and father's trusts yielded to
McClendon's land grab. Kenelm has consistently defended the trusts selling the land to McClendon
for $39.3 million instead of the conservation group's $38.5 million, and claimed he played no
part in the decision. He maintains it was the trusts' obligations to sell the land to the highest
bidder and that it was never his father's intent to see the land preserved.
Senator Patricia Birkholz disagrees, however. In 1998 Franklin Denison approached her, offering
to give the state some of the land and sell the rest for $14 million. Unfortunately, Denison's
intentions were complicated by his holding only a half interest in the land, the balance held
by the trust of his deceased wife. Denison died before the sale took place and the three
Denison heirs wanted no part of that arrangement. "The kids wanted to take the money out of
it," said R. J. Peterson, Tower Marina owner, Saugatuck Chamber of Commerce President, and
Denison's close friend.
So that deal died with Denison in the year 2000. Then a supposed billionaire arrived on the scene
astride a jet ski. After years of haggling, during which the trusts were paying fractional
millions in annual property taxes, McClendon outbid the conservation groups by less than a million
and took the prize. Having done so, he wants things his way and views the legal system as a
handy bludgeon to be wielded against Saugatuck Township to have them so.
McClendon threatens suit unless the township alters the current fairly restrictive zoning to
a brand new district dreamed up by his attorney, Stephen Nuemer, just for McClendon. This
new district would allow a few hundred homes instead of the 80 or so allowed at present. In addition,
there would be numerous new uses which have never been permitted since the land has been zoned,
including marinas, hotels, restaurants, and horse stables. A change indeed from the
conservation minded R-4 Lakeshore Open Space zoning presently in effect and born of the
Tri-Community Survey and resulting master plan.
At one point, another suit was threatened unless the township bowed to McClendon's demand
his holdings north of the river be taxed at only 30% of the previous total for both the
south parcel and the north combined, but to also include the additional 100 acres
more recently acquired. The remaining 70% was to fall on the publicly owned south.
Ever reasonable, McClendon now suggests a 50-50 split of taxes between the undevelopable 171
acre south and the 332 acre north parcels might be enough to keep him from driving the
township into financial ruin, never mind his acreage is developable and nearly 70% of the
total.
On yet another front McClendon is working the Tax Tribunal with his claims he has been
unfairly taxed, demanding compensation that could total $1.5 million dollars in refunds
from the township and its residents, along with a 50% devaluation of the property's
assessed worth.
Saugatuck Township, having spent more than $40,000 defending itself against McClendon's
legal claims since 2008, is faced with the expenditure of another $40,000 for a land
appraisal and an additional $10,000 in attorney costs. Despite donations now in excess of
$80,000 from the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance, plus more from the community, the
township is considering asking voters to approve a two-year, 0.5-mill property tax
increase to help with legal expenses. "We can’t continue to draw down our fund reserve as
we have," said township clerk, Jane Wright.
Just to stir things up a bit more, the Michigan DEQ has proposed to add 25 acres of land
to the critical dunes area, most of which lies within McClendon's holdings. This would
render many prime building sites undevelopable. Unfortunately, the DEQ requires the
township to give them the nod on 11 acres of the land in question, further embroiling a
community already reeling under the financial assault of a man with apparently limitless
desires and a net worth likely greater than the municipality he is bullying, although
probably considerably less than it appears on paper.
For now, the North Denison lies quietly beneath its blanket of snow with a deceptive calm
about it. But in the distance, the ominous rumble of an approaching storm...
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October 26, 2009
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Saugatuck to Purchase South Denison
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After years of negotiation and one failed attempt, representatives for the city of
Saugatuck have arrived at the threshold of an agreement to purchase the South
Denison tract from its current owner, ex-billionaire Aubrey McClendon. Purchase price?
$20 million.
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If the sale goes through, Saugatuck proposes to create a natural area on the property
with designated trails, stairs, and platforms from which to view the protected dunes
and the lakeshore.
The Land Conservancy of West Michigan
took the lead in negotiations, with
The Nature Conservancy of Michigan
and
Saugatuck Save Our Shoreline
assisting in fund procurement. To date, some $6 million has reportedly been pledged by
various private entities including Fred and Lena Meijer, the Jim Brooks family, the Frey
Foundation, the J.A. Wollam Foundation, and various anonymous donors.
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In early Spring of this year the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund board denied a grant
application for the purchase primarily because they do not formally consider such requests
until December of each year. However, in response to an appeal from State Senator Patricia
Birkholz, the board passed a resolution stating they would support granting between $11.6 and
$15 million toward eventual purchase.
The board had strong reservations about the non-negotiable asking price, $25 million a that
time. Their concern was understandable, considering the entire Denison property had just
sold for $39.5 million and the south tract's 171 acres comprise only slightly over 40% of
the total. Further, unlike the larger 232 acre Denison North property, the south is basically
undevelopable due to being landlocked and designated critical dune area. Also, the proud new
owner was griping loudly (and still is) that his purchase wasn't worth what he just paid
for it. A bit odd, bearing in mind no one was holding a gun to his head during closing.
The trust fund board has been presented a new grant request of $12.6 million, to be considered
in early December. That leaves around $4.5 million to be raised, according to Nature Conservancy
of Michigan director Helen Taylor, who estimates total project cost to be in the neighborhood
of $23.1 million including a maintenance endowment. The Land Conservancy of West Michigan will
carry the torch in seeking donations from public sources and the local community to cover the
difference.
"This is the closest we’ve ever been," said Phil Miller, co-chair of the Saugatuck Save Our
Shoreline, but "There is more land to preserve."
That's so true.
McClendon recently suggested the township create a new Planned Unit Development district, just
for him, which would apply to the North Denison and nearly 100 adjacent acres he has acquired
since he outbid numerous conservation organizations to possess the Denison land. His dream
district would allow marinas, multi-family townhouses and condominiums, hotels, golf courses,
horse stables, restaurants, and other commercial uses, many which have never been allowed under
any previous zoning, far less the new R-4. You can view the full text of his proposal at the
Saugatuck Township website on page 9 of their
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 board agenda
in .pdf format.
David Swan, president of the
Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance,
observed McClendon's proposal completely contradicts the
Tri-Community Comprehensive Plan (9.8MB)
and asked that the township swiftly reject it.
But, McClendon has previously threatened to sue the township for $1 million plus in tax refunds
if things don't go his way. Never mind that in 2006 he graciously agreed to stay all attempts
to bankrupt the township via legal actions in return for any plan he might present for the property
over a period of three years being considered "in good faith".
That agreement recently expired and McClendon once again trotted out his tired complaint that
the Denison property was improperly rezoned from the lenient R-1, 2, and 3B to the more
restrictive R-4. He states, among other things, that meetings were not correctly posted and the
rezoning devalued his property, never mind it wasn't his property when it was rezoned.
For the moment, McClendon has once again offered his battered olive branch by extending the old
agreement through April of 2010. After that, the branch will likely be presented as a flail.
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March 30, 2009
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So Many Lawsuits...
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So many lawsuits, so little time, so little money...
Stephen Neumer is suing Saugatuck Township on behalf of Aubrey McClendon to force a change
to the tax valuation on McClendon’s township properties - 503 acres in total, 332 (66
percent) of which lie north of the river.
The lawsuit is an attempt to place 70 percent of the taxable value of McClendon’s properties
on the former south Denison (171 acres, or 34 percent of the total). The south Denison is
currently inaccessible making development impractical, if not impossible. The taxable value
should be negligible. By what logic is Neumer arguing that these acres represent 70 percent
of the taxable valuation of McClendon’s properties?
Neumer is also suing the Deam family, who own the old Saugatuck lighthouse property north of
Oval Beach, to gain access to the south Denison. But the action repeats the 1965 lawsuit which
already determined that there is no legal access across that land.
The south Denison will be difficult to develop because of endangered species, Indian burial
grounds, wetlands, flood plains and critical dunes. Neumer would also have to first get
permission to access the property through Oval Beach or Fishtown Trail (currently a narrow,
eroded path between Mt. Baldhead and the Oxbow - again across city-owned property).
The question of tax valuation is vital of course, but note also who would take on the burden
of the shifted tax responsibility: the City of Saugatuck. Because the city is negotiating to
buy the south Denison, Neumer is really looking to load the heaviest tax responsibility onto
the people of Saugatuck.
If successful, Neumer's lawsuit would create a severe four-fold economic strain on our
local community:
1) Neumer is selling the city an island - south Denison is inaccessible - at a greatly inflated
price. His appraisal assumed access when legally there is no access.
2) Not only has Neumer inflated the price of the south, he now wants the city to pay an unfair
portion of McClendon's property taxes.
3) Placing 70 percent of the tax value on the south will cost our community more than $600,000
in tax revenue for just one year; in five years this will accumulate to more than $3 million in
lost services. Visit the township Web site for details.
4) Shifting 30 percent of the tax value to the north provides McClendon a huge tax reduction,
making it easier for Neumer to flip the property or develop.
Neumer's lawsuits have already caused a considerable burden on local officials, families
and philanthropic funds and volunteer hours.
Neumer likes to claim the lawsuit stems from the township rezoning the former Denison, which
changed the number of houses that could be built there. But the township changed the zoning
before McClendon finalized purchase of the parcel.
The township did so to comply with the recommendations in the Tri-Community Comprehensive
Plan, a plan years in the making, and after nearly a full year of transparent public meetings
- meetings where Neumer could have voiced his concerns.
The township legally changed the zoning before McClendon finalized the purchase, but because
of the way Neumer structured McClendon's offer, McClendon could not back out of the
agreement due to a zoning change.
Perhaps Neumer is pursuing these lawsuits in hopes of forcing our community to bail McClendon
out of a risky speculative investment.
Since last year the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance has raised more than $80,000 for a legal
fund to help fight these lawsuits. The Alliance continues to help Saugatuck Township with its
mounting legal bills.
We encourage others to consider making a donation to the township general fund to fight against
McClendon and Neumer's frivolous lawsuit.
David Swan
President,
Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance
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See Also...
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Be sure to check out the updates, reports, media coverage and more that we have
archived on our Resources &
Reference
page. Here are a few of the more recent entries.
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Last updated March 30, 2010
Comments
regarding website design, errors, and maintenance only please.
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