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www.newbuffalotimes.com
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
Local Government Meetings New Buffalo Times
Democracy Requires Transparency
CITY OF NEW BUFFALO JOHN HUMPHREY, MAYOR CITY COUNCIL LOU O’DONNELL, IV. MARK ROBERTSON, JOHN HUMPHREY, ROGER LIJESKI, BRIAN FLANAGAN City Council meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 6:30PM CITY OF NEW BUFFALO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETINGS to be determined NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP BOARD PETE RAHM, MICHELLE HEIT, JUDY H. ZABICKI, PATTY IAZZETTO, JACK ROGERS Board meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7PM NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Tuesday of each month at 6:30PM NEW BUFFALO AREA SCHOOLS BOARD CHUCK HEIT, PRESIDENT HEATHER BLACK, VICE PRESIDENT JOHN HASKINS, TREASURER LISA WERNER, SECRETARY JOYCE LANTZ, TRUSTEE FRANK MARGRO, TRUSTEE PATRICIA NEWSTON, TRUSTEE CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP BOARD DAVID BUNTE, PAULA DUDIAK, LIZ RETTIG, RICHARD SULLIVAN, BILL MARSKE Chikaming Board meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6:30PM CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 6:30PM THREE OAKS THREE OAKS TOWNSHIP BOARD Meets on the 2nd Monday of each month at 7PM VILLAGE OF THREE OAKS BOARD Meets on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7PM GRAND BEACH VILLAGE OF GRAND BEACH COUNCIL Meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7PM MICHIANA VILLAGE OF MICHIANA COUNCIL Meets on the 2nd Friday of each month at 1PM
New Buffalo Shoreline Alliance seeks more participation in Army Corps of Engineers lawsuit at special meeting
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embers of the New Buffalo Shoreline Alliance (NBSA) implored more lakefront property owners in the Village of Grand Beach to join in their fight against the Army Corps of Engineers at a meeting at Village Hall Thursday, Sept. 2. A 501-C3 nonprofit corporation, NBSA is planning to file a lawsuit in federal court against the United States of America, alleging that the United States government, through the Army Corps of Engineers, designed and built a recreational harbor in New Buffalo “causing substantial harm to lakefront property owners south of the harbor for approximately threeplus miles, from the harbor through Grand Beach,” according to a statement that was handed out at the meeting. Damages include loss of beach, loss of property value and the cost of adding shoreline protection. Ted Grzywacz NBSA president, said that they formed the organization after a 2014 Halloween storm to find a “nonlitigious” solution; however, after more than three years of working with the Army Corps and government agencies, NBSA decided to pursue litigation. The lawsuit is a takings claim that is based on the Fifth Amendment (“a person may not be deprived of property by the government without due process of law and fair compensation”). Only shoreline property owners
BY FRANCESCA SAGALA
have the right and standing to sue for the “takings claim;” however, the statement said that “all lakefront property owners from the harbor south through Grand Beach suffered losses in property value when their beaches eroded” and needed to add expensive shoreline revetments. “Our goal is to get money for what the government has unjustifiably taken from us by bad engineering when they built the harbor,” Grzywacz said. NBSA has partnered O’Hagan Meyer out of Chicago, a law firm that’s familiar with a similar case out of Stevensville, the Banks Case, and arrived at a fixed fee arrangement that caps entire legal costs at $400,000. If the lawsuit is won, proceeds will go into a Trust Fund that will be administered by the representatives/communities impacted. Funds will only be used for the purpose of sand nourishment and breakwaters. According to the statement, the “cost to implement our solution,” which includes the sand nourishment and the offshore breakwaters that will restore the beaches and shoreline, is large – which is why the majority of the lakefront property owners must join as plaintiffs to “maximize the award amount.” Grzywacz said they’d like to go in with the lawsuit at $100 million, knowing they “probably have a chance to settle for $60 million” - which is a “guess estimate.”
“If that came to fruition, we could build a pretty good lakefront,” he said. Grzywacz said that they hope to meet with engineers in January to find more details on the plan. NBSA was going to file the lawsuit earlier; however, it was advised by their counsel that more participation is sought by Grand Beach property owners. Grzywacz said the current plans calls for it to be filed by at least Thanksgiving “if not by the end of the year.”
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ll Homeowners Associations (HOA) from New Buffalo to Grand Beach are “onboard” with joining the lawsuit as plaintiffs, Grzywacz said. On Sept. 2, he said about 35 percent of Grand Beach property owners are onboard. In February, the Grand Beach Village Council approved the village joining in the lawsuit as a plaintiff, as well as contributing $5,000, which would go toward legal fees. (Grzywacz said the Village of Michiana “dropped out” as a plaintiff. NBSA is requesting the lakefront property owners donate an amount of $4,000. It’s requested that property owners with deeded beach rights (but aren’t plaintiffs) make a $2,000 donation. Donations are tax deductible. Ron Watson, NBSA secretary, said the strong data that the NBSA has collected played a role in why O’Hagan Meyer took the case for a $400,000 limit.
Grzywacz said the Corps testified in open court with depositions that said they “needed to nourish the beach for 50 years.” “They said the harbor was going to reach equilibrium five years after it was built - as of 2020, the harbor hasn’t reached equilibrium,” he said. A 2009 engineering study (of which Grand Beach was a big part) said that equilibrium would be reached in 2020. Grzywacz said it’s anticipated the lawsuit will take two to three years. Watson added that if no action is taken, there will likely be a lot more damage done. “I think this is the solution for at least 50 years, it’s been done in a lot of different places, and it’s worked quite well,” he said. Grzywacz concurred that not acting now could spell trouble for the future of lakefront properties. “We’ve all put in these revetments and spent a bunch of money...The bottom line is in a couple years if we don’t do something, we’re all going to spend it again because the bottom is steepening, the toe stones are going to let loose, the rip-rap is going to come down and we’re going to have to put in new toe stones and build it back up,” he said. For more information or to donate to NBSA, visit https:// newbuffaloshorelinealliance. org or contact newbuffaloshorelinealliance@ gmail.com.
Great success doesn’t come in short periods of time. — J.B. Pritzker
