Elevated water levels on the Black River Channel in South Haven continue to play havoc with marinas and waterfront properties in that community, and tonight the city’s Harbor Commission will take up the request of the South Haven Yacht Club to help remedy the situation through plans to raise some of the docks, eliminate some, and make other improvements at their club site at 410 Williams Street in the city.
Greg Weykamp from St. Joseph-based Edgewater Resources has applied to the Harbor Commission on behalf of the Yacht Club for preliminary approval in order to take the issue to the South Haven Planning Commission to advance the proposed changes.
Weykamp says that the South Haven Yacht Club wants to raise six 35-foot finger pier docks along the west seawall, to remove eight finger piers along the Black River Channel and replace those eight finger piers with six. While that is two fewer than the existing number, the six would be of various lengths and proposed to be extended “to the edge of the harbor lines, but not encroach into the harbor lines or the federal navigable channel.”
Additionally, a new out-building for restroom facilities is being proposed at the northwest corner of the yacht club’s site, but that formal site plan won’t come before the Harbor Commission until next month according to the engineering firm of Williams & Works.
Reasoning for the proposed changes in docks and configurations stems from elevated water levels that have compromised several of the existing piers and that high water has also caused erosion of soil behind the seawalls.
Weykamp is seeking application permits from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the City of South Haven.
If the Harbor Commission gives the project the green light, it will be dispatched to the city’s Planning Commission, and ultimately the South Haven City Council.
