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June 8, 2004DEVELOPMENT: Clous requests permitResidents decry proposed 'after-the-fact' permitByRecord-Eagle staff writer ELK RAPIDS - Neighbors, environmental groups and Congressman Bart Stupak are panning a developer's plan to receive after-the-fact federal approval for improperly filled wetlands. Developer Bill Clous' Eastwood Custom Homes seeks to continue work on a 24-home development in the village, called The Preserve, on about 29 acres off Fourth Street. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halted the project two years ago, after determining wetlands connecting with Grand Traverse Bay were filled in violation of federal law. Eastwood's after-the-fact permit request calls for maintaining the more than four acres of wetlands already filled, creating a wetland on two acres of uplands and preserving another 2.9 acres of uplands with a conservation easement. "What (Clous) has proposed here is essentially non-action," said Dave MacDonald, who lives next to the project. Village resident Greg Reisig said the area proposed for wetland creation already has a wetland. And Eastwood never intended to build in the area it outlines for conservation, he said. "If this permit is approved, it will be permission to violate the law," Reisig said. Nearly all site work for the development, including infrastructure, is complete, according to Eastwood's permit application. Under an area on the application asking for alternatives considered, Eastwood officials state, "No other prudent alternatives exist." Messages left with Clous and Williams at Eastwood Custom Homes were not answered. In years past, the area's wetlands absorbed rainfall, said adjacent homeowner Kate Burton. Now, she said, the ditches dug around her home by the developer lead to flooding, runoff into the bay, stagnant pools of water, overgrowth of aquatic vegetation and bug infestations. "I don't like having a moat," she said. "I would like complete restoration. I understand they have (put) all kinds of money into this project, but it's a project that never should have happened." The Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council and The Watershed Center in Traverse City also oppose Eastwood's after-the-fact permit request. Chani Wiggins, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, said Stupak "absolutely opposes" the permit, and would inform the Army Corps of his concerns. Ed Arthur, a biologist with the Corps of Engineers' Sault Ste. Marie office, will accept public comment on the permit request until June 16. "No question we'll make a decision before the summer's over, I'm sure," Arthur said.
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