[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by magellan

That project was approved and they've already begun selling. I'm not sure that it will greatly impact Saugatuck. You can really only see that land if you're going through the channel, which is oddly quite a ways from downtown Saugatuck. Much different than a lot of the other coastal towns. The people who used that land recreationally (illegally) are the ones who it will affect the most. The development will also not have a marina as they once planned, so boaters living there will have to get slips in town.

That WMEAC blog was way off base. He's not pulling out of the development.

I've been in that house for a tour once, it's unbelievably cool. It looks a lot smaller inside than you would think, and is really pretty modest, seriously (the kitchen has 8 foot ceilings). I've been in much more ostentatious places.

I will also point out that many of the development are being done by local West Michigan developers. The locals are trying to make it sound like it's big bad big city money coming in and spoiling their habitat. It's not.

Whether it's "big bad" local money or not, it still is spoiling a local resource for public enjoyment. Developers have always been licking their lips over the acquisition that property, and locals have been beating them off.
Any development of the Dennison property is another nail in the coffin of public enjoyment. Anything a developer plops down there will be an eyesore while at the same time barring the public from yet more quickly-disappearing lakeside acreage.
Why should our entire coastline be in private hands? People like McClendon have zero allegiance to, or empathy for, the locals or the Michigan tourist economy.
Okay, we still have the UP, but its days are probably numbered also.