Update August 26, 2002 This summer, representatives from the City of Holland and Laketown Township met with the DNR to express their intention to submit a joint proposal to build a water intake and treatment plant in the Saugatuck Dunes State Park. They asked the DNR what sorts of things would make this revised proposal more acceptable to the DNR than the first two competing proposals, both of which were rejected. (Please see former Parks Chief Rodney Stokes' letter of April 11) The DNR tells us they expect to receive Holland and Laketown's revised joint proposal sometime early this fall. We were not invited to the meeting, but subsequent conversations with our contacts at the DNR have led us to believe that the DNR remains skeptical that Holland and Laketown can find a way to construct a water plant in the park without doing permanent damage to the park's biological and recreational resources. HOWEVER, recent conversations with Holland officials lead us to believe that they are determined to use the park for a regional water plant, either now or later. And recent conversations with Laketown officials have convinced us that--perhaps because they haven't familiarized themselves with the science involved--they remain convinced they can construct a plant without damaging the park. In the meantime, we wonder, aren't they spending a lot of taxpayer money pursuing an option that almost no one seems to support? As for Concerned Citizens for Saugatuck we remain firm in our commitment to the preservation and expansion of Saugatuck Dunes State Park. The more we learn, the more convinced we become that the Park is not only an ecological and recreational asset to southern Michigan. It is an economic one as well. Thanks for your interest! Alison and David Swan Co-Chairs, Saugatuck Dunes State Park Return to Concerned Citizens for Saugatuck Dunes State Park Resources & Reference page. www.SaugatuckDunes.org