SAUGATUCK, MI (WHTC) – The latest effort to keep the Saugatuck Dunes pristine is at Saugatuck High tonight.
A 6:30 PM hearing by state Department of Environmental Quality staffers will collect public comment about a proposed private residential/marina development on 300 acres near the Saugatuck Dunes State Park, on land that had been owned by the Denison family prior to it being sold to the late oil tycoon Aubrey McClendon, whose own efforts to develop the property had been thwarted before his apparent suicide 18 months ago following an indictment on federal charges by a grand jury.
Holland-based Cottage Home bought the land near the site of the ghost town of Singapore from the McClendon estate with the intent of building clusters of single-family homes along the shoreline, along with a marina. Environmental groups, spearheaded by the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance, have continually battled against any development, claiming that sensitive dune land would be at risk, a claim that both McClendon’s Singapore Dunes entity and Cottage Home have disputed.
The DEQ and the US Army Corps of Engineers both need to sign off on this latest development before it can go forward.
