Multifamily or Methylphenol: Is North Washington Property a Contaminated Site?

[XLFD]

As the officials of the City of Ludington continue to bury their head in the sand as the severely contaminated sands under the Pere Marquette Bayou festers, and their wastewater treatment plant continues to function below the state's minimal standards for the last five years, another environmental bugbear crops up on the other side of town. 

At the last council meeting, the rezoning of 916 North Washington was the topic du jour, with many of the residents and even the head of the main business in that area coming forward to oppose the rezoning in strong fashion.  A diverse number of problems was brought up by these concerned citizens, most who were in the immediate area.  The potential developer, the real estate broker, and a representative of the property owner all predictably called for the rezoning, but nobody else other than a Planning Commission member voiced approval.  For more see the public comments at the last council meeting starting at 8:00 in and continuing for the next hour:

January 11, 2016 Ludington City Council from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

The initial Planning Committee discussion was analyzed here:  Apartments or Residential?: Showdown in Post-RIO Ludington. 

In that article, the lot outline I had put up was erroneously placed, further south than what it actually was.  At the time there was no good map of the proposal offered to the public, in the most recent 1-25-2016 council packet they offer the following map on page 145.  My initial objections to the rezoning do not occur here.

And whereas the Saturday COLDNews (1-23-2016) has some updates on the discussion, including a likely postponement of a final decision on the rezoning.  That ward's representative, City Councilor 'Katy Moonbeam' Winczewski, who also moonlights on the Planning Commission, finally did some actual research and noted some setback concerns with adjacent properties had merits.  She does go on and say she is for the rezoning if it can be conditionally rezoned, which currently is not allowed by the city's zoning law. 

The lengthy article details the concerns of some of the people for and against the development, and a new proposal by the developer that would put less apartments in.  But even with these updates, the COLDNews fails to address another major issue that came up. 

This issue was in the same vein as their ignoring of the contamination studied by the DEQ of the PM Lake Bayou, their ignoring of this contaminated site when they stirred up those poisonous sediments when they redid the Washington Street Bridge (pictured below), their ignoring of the demolition of the old Lyon's Market which was filled with asbestos tiles and which should have been handled a lot differently for the health and safety of the demolition crew and the neighbors, their ignoring of the dangers inherent in having contractors using a very contaminated lot at the old Padnos lot on Dowland as a staging site for months, spreading this contaminated soil throughout that street when replacing dirt in front of people's homes (including my own), etc.

Not to mention the five years that they have failed to live within the state's parameters of acceptable wastewater treatment for the last five years, while keeping it secret from the public as long as possible.  The COLDNews has willingly been an accomplice for all of these and even now.  For if you look at the packet provided earlier and check out page 139 you will find this at the bottom of the page:

To me, half buried barrels indicate that there is a good chance there are fully buried barrels around too.  Barrels of what, nobody knows, and there seems to be no indication that anybody's in a hurry to find out.  For although Shay's memo indicates that Mr. Bogner is retaining a firm to investigate the environmental issues, the city's options and directions that continued over the next two pages had no concerns over the dumping grounds.  The city seems willing to let Bogner's private firm decide whether the site was safe and to dig up extensively if their firm said it was okay.

                                                         Other half buried barrels found elsewhere

Hopefully, it is not the same environmental firm that permitted the old Lyon's Market building to be demolished without precaution or protective measures even with old asbestos tiles littering the scene and nearby sidewalks. 

None of our players seem to know what these half-buried barrels signify in this lot, but tax records note that the lot was built on in 1943, and a little research shows that there were dumps in the general area historically. 

The current owner probably does not know, but it seems that her word may be hard to believe after she fudged the tax figures at the Planning Commission meeting in December and has apparently lied to the assessor since this was taxed as if it was a homestead property in 2015.  The intact structure appears to be far from uninhabitable as she portrayed, unless she was declaring it that way because of the contamination in the landfill in the backyard.  Sources seem to indicate that the former owners were not all that old when they passed away from 'natural' causes.

As has been noted, Councilor Katie Moonbeam is a member of a local environmental activist group called AFFEW ( A Few Friends for the Environment of the World ) whose mission and purpose are to deal with such issues proactively to promote a healthier ecosystem.  

Her usual verbose self has remained mum over the last few meetings of the council and the Planning Commission (and with the COLDNews on Saturday) over the dangers being posed to the delicate ecosystem known as the City of Ludington.   Ask her why you should dispose of batteries properly and use cloth shopping bags and I'm sure she will talk your ear off; ask her about the environmental hazards posed by the barrels in this lot, the heavy contamination in the PM Lake Bayou, the asbestos dust storm caused by the demolition of Lyon's Market, the lack of a NPDES Permit for the Wastewater Treatment Plant, and she'll be sure to deafen you with her profound silence.

City of Ludington's North Harrison Street Warehouse is a Testament to how the City Handles the War on Blight and Environmental Hazards on Their Own Property

[Willy]

Low income housing communities may not be a problem in Ludington but it certainly is a problem in larger Cities. In a former life in a land far far away, part of my job was dealing with property managers and tenants of subsidized [low income] housing, apartment complexes and high rise buildings. Without exception the police were called to these units on  a regular basis, there were problems with drugs, prostitution, violence and other criminal activity. The information I speak of came from the managers, police and the good tenants that were living there. Surrounding neighborhoods had a much higher percentage of break ins, burglaries and other problems arising from the tenants that live in the adjacent low income housing. Some complexes had their own security personnel to try and keep the peace. I would hope that Ludington's low income housing would be more low keyed.