Traverse City Record-Eagle

Antrim County

September 12, 2009

Wetlands Restoration is under way

Federal regulators deny request to delay work at Antrim County housing complex

BY LINDSAY VANHULLE

ELK RAPIDS -- Work is under way to restore wetlands at the center of a stalled housing complex in Antrim County after federal regulators denied a developer's request to delay work.

Elk Rapids Preserve LLC, headed by developer Bill Clous, planned The Cottages of Elk Rapids project on the village's west side. The company has until Tuesday to remove fill material added to the wetlands without a permit years ago, according to an Aug. 25 memo from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit.

Soil erosion also will need to be addressed by Tuesday, the letter states.

Matthew Vermetten, the developer's attorney, requested an extension for restoration until December 2010 in an Aug. 3 letter to the Corps "as a result of the dire economic issues that developers throughout the state and country are experiencing."

"It does not make a great deal of sense (at least to me) to have men and iron in the wetlands on more than one occasion," Vermetten wrote, adding that developers plan to move ahead with the housing project next year.

He did not return a call seeking additional comment. Nor did Clous, a Grand Traverse County-based developer.

The entire wetlands restoration was supposed to be completed by December, but because the company delayed starting the work, it can have until June 1, 2010, to finish replanting, said Ed Arthur, a biologist and field project manager with the Corps in Sault Ste. Marie.

Instead, Arthur said, developers can use a seed mix to maintain the site throughout the winter and plant once the ground thaws.

"The amount of time it would take to get woody vegetation established is just not there now," he said. "At the moment, they're being very cooperative."

Plans for the Cottages of Elk Rapids include two single-family homes and 12 duplex homes surrounding the wetlands.

Federal environmental authorities required restoration years ago after they discovered the developers filled wetlands without a permit.

"I'm still hopeful that this will be a successful restoration project and not just a hole in the ground where they stick in a few plants and call it a wetland," said Greg Reisig, chairman of the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council board.

"There was so much fill brought into the site that it completely changed the hydrology."

The Corps recently recommended the company set aside money in what's known as a performance bond, essentially a fund that would cover repairs if developers are unable to pay, Arthur said.

The topic remains under discussion.

"They're citing economic hardship, which means if they can't afford to do it this year, they may not be able to afford it next year," Arthur said. "We need some financial assurance that that will occur."

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