BY SCOTT SULLIVAN
EDITOR
A developer’s marina proposal for Hutchins Lake two miles southwest of Fennville will be subject of a state online public hearing Monday, May 9, starting at 6 p.m.
David DeGroot of the DeGroot Family is seeking Environmental, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) Water Resources Division approval for a permit to build a marina on lake bottom- and wetland west of where 59th Street dead-ends on the lake’s northeast side by:
• Installing a permanent open pile dock up to 61 feet long perpendicular to the shore with a maximum 6 feet width, plus a finger pier no larger than 14 feet by 4 feet. It would have an additional portion over wetland up to 15 by 6 feet.
• Connect a seasonal open pile dock to the permanent finger pier up to 106 feet long and 4 feet wide, with six seasonal finger piers each 15 feet long and 3 feet wide.
• Six boat slips and approximately 60 linear feet of broadside dockage.
• Place approximately 29 cubic yards of clean offsite sand in an approximately 35 feet long, 15 feet wide and 1.5 feet deep wetland.
Hutchins Lake, per Michigan Department of Natural Resources information, has a 376-acre surface area with maximum and average depths of 34 and 10 feet.
The proposed marina’s total wetland impact, says the EGLE hearing notice in this week’s Commercial Record, is approximately 0.01 acre. No mitigation is proposed.
A Hutchins Lake Improvement submitted to EGLE notes resident concerns including that the proposed marina will negatively impact the nearby ecology including aquatic species’ reproduction and the safety of traffic from the public boat launch also nearby.
The hearing’s purpose , says the notice, is to secure the views of interested persons concerning the application. To attend register at https://bit.ly/3x3qckz .
After doing so you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Should you wish to join by phone only, call (636) 651-3142 and use conference code 374288. Pre-registration is not required. An informal question and answer session will be held prior to the hearing’s start.
The application is available for review at https://miwaters.deq.state.mi.us/miwaters/external/publicnotice/search . The public hearing record will remain open for 10 days afterward. Written comments may to be submitted for the record at the website above.
For more information, contact Jason Combs at CombsJ8@michigan.gov or by phone at (269) 568-2693 by April 25.
