June 03, 2008 09:59 am It is a concept we don't see much of any more. Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider said he decided to charge Joseph Moffa, an officer in the company that owned the Cherry Tree Inn, with two criminal misdemeanors connected to a beach grooming incident in 2007 because "People make decisions ... and individuals are responsible for their conduct." Schneider could have charged Omni Hospitality, based in Medina, Ohio, which owned the inn at the time. But decisions like the ones made here -- to flaunt state environmental law by sending a bulldozer into East Bay and then claim it didn't happen -- are individual decisions and should have individual consequences. Given the circumstances, what Omni did (as contained in a consent agreement the company signed with the state Department of Environmental Quality) was seen as particularly egregious by the environmental community. In 2005, the neighboring North Shore Inn Condominiums had gotten a letter of reprimand from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after a bulldozer pushed sand around in the water. Although North Shore had a beach grooming permit, the DEQ and the Army Corps both said the company went well beyond what the permit would approve. But over the Thanksgiving weekend in 2006 (perhaps in hopes the powers that be would be too sedated by turkey to notice), and without benefit of a permit, Omni sent a bulldozer more than 120 feet into the water, dredged the lakebottom and filled other areas. At the time, Moffa said the inn had a permit to groom 200 feet of beachfront -- it didn't -- and that the bulldozer never went into the water -- despite photos that proved otherwise. A previous owner's permit expired in 2005. It must be said that the latest charges would not have come if the state Department of Environmental Quality hadn't filed a criminal complaint with Schneider after signing off on a consent order under which Omni agreed to what happened and agreed to reparations. The decree -- which wasn't signed until April -- calls for the company to restore 0.8-acre of disturbed wetland, pay a $35,000 fine, monitor the restoration for five years and remove invasive plants from East Bay Township's Gens Park. The estimate for the work is $67,500. There is no question that the years of low Great Lakes water levels have been hard on beachfront resort and hotel owners, whose patrons expect pristine white beaches, not marshland. The state has recognized the problem and has allowed, under permit, expanded beach grooming efforts. That doesn't mean property owners can do what they will. Land below the normal waterline has long been recognized as taxpayer-owned property and under state juristiction -- not the whims of property owners. Accountability must count for something.
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