Saturday, July 25, 2009

Law suit would delay the opening of Benton Harbor golf site

(This entry was originally published on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009)

Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment is now facing serious problems with a lawsuit that would delay the building of a golf course. Seven people from the Benton Harbor community in Lake Michigan filed a lawsuit to stop the transfer of 22 acres of land from the city’s Jean Klock Park for building a golf course.

Harbor Shores Community is the poorest community in Lake Michigan. For many years, people of this community have been trying to improve their economic condition. With that end in mind, three 18-hole golf courses have been planned to be built in the area. The total area requirement for the golf courses was 40 acres out of which, Jean Klock Park gave gave out 22 acres. Now, seven people of the area filed a lawsuit to stop the transfer of the 22 acres land. They are saying that developers should first have an in-depth environmental study of that area because it is covered with bluffs, dunes and located close near the lake.

This has irked the supporters of the project. They are saying that the legal hassles should be resolved quickly because, it would delay the opening. On December 17, 2008, Carol Elder Bruce, the defendant lawyer said:

“The need for help is plain. … The delays threaten to upend a project designed to put the poorest city in Michigan back on its feet,…..The citizens of Benton Harbor and the surrounding area have spent years trying to revitalize their community, and all previous attempts to do so have failed,”

State, local and federal officials, already gave necessary clearance for the land transfer. The National Park Service got involved in this deal because federal money was spent earlier to improve the Jean Klock Park and building a bathhouse. Harbor Shores agreed to provide around 40 acres of land else where to make up the 22 acres land of Jean Klock Park that had been signed off to the golf course developers.

Related articles:

Chicago Tribune

wsbt.com

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