County against road change

Published 10:28 pm Saturday, April 7, 2007

By By JOHN EBY / Niles Daily Star
CASSOPOLIS – A unanimous Cass County Board of Commissioners Thursday night approved Carl Higley's motion to oppose Eagle Lake Road's partial abandonment.
Commissioner David Taylor, D-Edwardsburg, said there are actually only four abutting property owners – developer Paul DeLano himself, Stacy and Kevin Fisher, who own Stacy's Restaurant, Jake Kalka, a retired Cassopolis school teacher, and Dr. and Mrs. Alton Floyd, who were in the audience. "Their front yard on the lake side runs up against the present road."
Taylor consulted these property owners March 31 "and, as I suspected, they were more concerned with the development than the road. None of the three abutting the road even have a driveway on it. Instead, they access their property from South Shore Drive. The owners of Stacy's Restaurant live in (Elkhart) Indiana and are reluctant to become involved in local controversy which could adversely affect their business. They had no objection to moving the road. I believe Mr. Kalka thought it to be a good idea, perhaps making his property more valuable. Dr. and Mrs. Floyd object to the abandonment, however. Without their approval, I do not think we should recommend the road be moved."
Commissioner Debbie Johnson, D-Niles, observed, "Cass County wants to bring people here because of families and our lakes. What I see happening with all the building and improvements on the lakes is that more and more it's becoming segregated for the rich. People who want to go a lake in the county and swim, the places that are there are being taken away. Yes, (DeLano is) offering to make a (public beach), but what guarantee is there that it's going to always be there in the future? Right now we have that guarantee because the county has that right-of-way. That's why I'm against it."
"If the township's against it," added Commissioner Johnie Rodebush, D-Niles, "I don't think the county should say yes and try to put more pressure on them. The township and its board are the ones who are living in that area."
Higley, R-Edwardsburg, agreed with Rodebush. "We're not passing the buck. I don't believe in that. Also, access to the lake would be severely restricted – 1,800 feet versus plans for 120 feet of beach. That doesn't quite compute. The lake access talked about for Brady Road is very small and the lake is too shallow to put a boat in unless you drive halfway out in the lake. We represent the people and the biggest percentage of them – and I've been to probably 90 percent of the meetings they've had -90 percent of the people in that area are against it."
Commissioner Dixie Ann File, R-Cassopolis, said Parks Director Scott Wyman advised her that the Eagle Lake beach park "would not be a very good spot" as proposed.
Taylor said there is a Road Commission hearing for area residents set for Tuesday, April 10, at 7 p.m. at Edwardsburg Middle School auditorium to discuss "township aspects of this proposal."
In a lengthy narrative, Taylor acknowledged that "the east end of Eagle Lake is not a well-planned activity in Cass County. The determination to abandon this road or parts of it may improve the situation there. Presently, Eagle Lake Road runs next to Eagle Lake from the north side to the south side. About 13 homes are on the land side of the road, away from the lake. During summer months, people park their cars along the road to swim in the lake without sanitary facilities or supervision."
In addition to east end residents who support DeLano's proposed residential development, a second group of lake improvement association members "is equally adamant and sincere in its efforts to keep the road from being abandoned," Taylor noted. "They're not primarily interested in the road or transportation over it, but they're not in favor of Mr. DeLano developing his property and thereby adding to boat traffic … To complicate the matter, there is a third group that wants to insure continued swimming. They are generally opposed to any developer making money from developing the lakefront property."
"We need to give the Road Commission guidance," Taylor said, "but not on whether or how Mr. DeLano (owner of The Dock) develops his property. I have called for that cross-communication, together with the input of Mr. DeLano, but because of the high emotions on all sides, that has not been as fruitful as it could have been or should have been.
DeLano yielded his three minutes to Ken Jones of Wightman-Petrie.
Jones said, "The current road bed does not meet county standards. There is public beach use maintained within the public right-of-way along Eagle Lake Road. Parking is between the water's edge and the main traveled portion of the roadway … The current roadway has no curbs, sidewalks and no pedestrian features whatsoever. The existing beach meets no standard we're aware of in Cass County. There are no sanitary facilities there or supervision. The Road Commission has done its very best to make it as safe as possible. We don't know of any injuries occurring, however, that doesn't change the fact that they could.
"Multiple activities are occurring in that area. People are barbecuing and swimming. There are children and animals and doors opening into traveled lanes. The existing boat launch is privately operated. To use it, you must pull onto private property and back across (Eagle Lake Road) into the ramp."
Jones said the "preferred method of development" would be to relocate Eagle Lake Road using modern standards, including sidewalks for pedestrians.
"The proposed beach would include 18 parking spaces," Jones said. "Sanitary facilities would be built and maintained completely by the condominium association.'
"What we're offering you is something Cass County doesn't currently have – a public beach on a lake," Jones said. "If you want to own it, that's fine. We're going to open it up to the public if we're allowed to do this development. Loss of the public boat ramp is also a concern. We would offer to participate, if not fund, development of a boat launch at Brady Road."