Published: May 31, 2008 12:00 am      

Cherry Tree Inn owner facing charges

TRAVERSE CITY -- An owner of a local hotel faces criminal charges for sending a bulldozer into Grand Traverse bay to reshape his beach.

Authorities charged Joseph Moffa, 42, president of Ohio-based Omni Hospitality and vice president of Pride One Cherry Tree LLC, with two criminal misdemeanors for violation of state wetlands and submerged bottomlands law. Both offenses are punishable by up to one year in jail.

Moffa allegedly authorized a bulldozer to dredge and move great quantities of Great Lakes bottom lands near the Cherry Tree Inn on U.S. 31 near Holiday Road in East Bay Township.

State and federal authorities who investigated the inn and its owner determined a bulldozer drove as far as 122 feet into East Bay over Thanksgiving weekend in 2006.

Moffa's attorney told Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider's office that Moffa would turn himself in Thursday, but he failed to show.

Schneider said Moffa has until today to surrender at the county jail or other "steps" will be taken.

Reached Thursday afternoon at his office in Medina, Ohio, Moffa told a reporter "it's none of your business," and hung up the phone when asked if he plans to turn himself in.

Schneider's decision to charge Moffa heartened area environmentalists who weren't pleased by a deal the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality cut with Cherry Tree.

"It's good to see local authorities stepping in where the state has not lived up to our expectations," said Andy Knott, executive director of the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay.

The DEQ agreed to a consent decree with Pride One Cherry Tree LLC in 2007, but didn't ink the deal until April 2008.

The consent decree required the company to restore 0.8-acre of disturbed wetland, pay a $35,000 fine to the state's general fund, monitor the restoration for five years, and remove invasive plants from East Bay Township's Gens Park. It's estimated that restoration and monitoring could cost $67,500.

The Watershed Center called for the state to require up to five times more restoration and mitigation in the bay and a more significant fine.

Knott was surprised to learn the DEQ filed the criminal complaint with Schneider's office after it signed off on the consent order.

"That does make up for some of the shortcomings," Knott said. "At least they recognized more needs to be done."

Moffa's Traverse City attorney, Joseph Quandt, said he was disappointed the DEQ filed the complaint after the company agreed to restore the site "well above" what the law required.

"Usually when someone participates and goes well beyond what is required almost never does it go to criminal prosecution," Quandt said. "I think it sends a poor message to people that you might as well not negotiate with the DEQ if a criminal charge may come out of it."

Schneider decided not to charge the parent company.

"People make decisions ... and individuals are responsible for their conduct," Schneider said.