The reason I made this a topic is because of the potential cost for any damage / repairs to infrastructure. If the water continues to rise and there is severe ice damage this winter we may have to open our pockets and add to the tax coffers.

I played hooky today and spent some time taking photos. I first went to Little Sable Point. I fear the light house there is in peril. I would hate to see it damaged or destroyed. Many homes along the Lake are in a serious situation of being destroyed if the erosion continues.

Next I visited the boat ramp parking lot and Ludington Ave beach, then the City Marina. All had issues with high water. The following photos are a small fraction of what I took. I didn't include the new construction at Ludington ave beach because all there was to see is water.

Little Sable Point lighthouse. If this lighthouse does not make it thru the winter we will be losing a major tourist draw and a lot of history. I hope there is something in the works to protect this monument to maritime history.

Boat launch parking lot takes a real beating when water is high because the waves crash against the breakwater instead of scraping the sand bottom. The breakwater can take only so much pounding without significant damage.

City Marina docks and the walkway are being damaged as we speak from high water. If the water doesn't recede then the next problem will be the damage caused by ice which could possibly cost a fortune to repair.

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Thanks for the photo's Willy.

Compelling evidence of the short-sided nature of the old guard city council and the former city manager with our funds.

I shared this with our friends at the Ludington Pitchfork on Facebook to give a little more exposure to your exposures.

I'm sure I'm going to get evil looks and rebukes from city employees at the next council meeting, but when we already have around $650,000 in unexpected estimated damages from high water before this storm, it seems sinister to give city employees a 3-4% pay raise (or more, plus 73% extra  for an effective 5-7% raise, when fringe benefits are added) when the cost of living has risen less than a third of that and we have these emergency problems that will likely have to be paid by locals.  

The maritime walkway fix has probably went up another $100K or more since that storm, the walkway has been demolished, the West End probably just needs many hours of clearing by hand and with baby dozers at this point, the city marina might need to dip their hands in the state's purse for more subsidies...

The damage to the area between the parking lot and center breakwater is going to need significant repairs, not only to the ground and barrier damage but will also need major protection. When water levels were low, large waves did not penetrate far into the harbor especially near walkways, however the photo below shows what potential damage may lay ahead if water keeps rising and high winds continue blowing water into the harbor. It appears that the wave below is close to 15 ft. high and surely the area it is attacking was not intended to take this kind of punishment. The only way to save the walkway is to extend the boat launch breakwall in order to protect the exposed sidewalk and surrounding area.

Good work with the photo's Willy.

It might be better to extend the stubby pier to the North rather than extend the length of  launch ramp breakwall to the South. As it is now configured waves can move in unimpeded  from the opening of the pierheads to Loomis street parking lot. A direct shot to the shoreline. Extending a rock pile from the stubby eliminates this. But it will put boat traffic and the proposed location of the kayak facility adjacent to each other. Not a good mix especially since there is no law against kayaking drunk. It would be better to relocate the kayakers to a quieter location because of this. But I don't see the old guard city council being capable of handling such a decision.

One other factor is that when the Lake level eventually recede this area will require constant dredging and not from land as they now do but from a barge which will cost substantially more and not be covered by the Army Core of Engineers as it is not commercial use. More burden on taxpayers and people who trailer their boats to launch here. Of course most kayakers will get a free rid.

Another thing is that when they built the pier from the shore to the rock pile in front of the launch ramp if any thought was given that wave energy coming in would now be cut off from dissipating and the full force of the waves would be slammed repeatedly against the shoreline .  Wonder if there was any consulting done by a marine hydrologist when they built this structure or if bobble headed city council just nodded their approval as if this would be sufficient and Mother Nature would be pacified.  

Good points X and shinblind and thanks for the photo compliments. I also wondered if any of the improvements were approved by or originated from marine structure experts. From what I have seen over the years it looks like Ludington's elites treated any water related construction like a kids erector set. I knew we were in trouble when I  saw the lighthouse become the leaning tower of Ludington. Even tho that was not a screw up by locals, it just seems like it's been one project after another that's been a bubble short of level and common sense. I could be wrong but my understanding as to why the light is leaning is due to a botched restoration job. Anyone know for sure?

Willy;

Here is a link explaining the Leaning Lighthouse of Ludington.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/08/19/Corps-decides-to-let-lake-l...

Thanks shinblind

So does anyone think that the removal of the dune which was taken out when the "west end" project was constructed has something to do with this?

FS, that partial dune removal was against both St. of Mi. and Federal Laws, yet the COL did it w/o any repercussions. The problem is that with that being done, the West End and playground are both getting flooded, and damages will be forthcoming to both. As for that sidewalk and seawall to the south of the ramps, they were poorly planned with no engineering thought process at all too. Now it's in ruins, and the statues nearby may also be in danger soon.

Aquaman, I am inclined to believe that state law was violated when they took away a significant segment  of the dune, though it's hard to quantify the amount that was lost without the contractors or City keeping any records of the amount re-purposed around the project or taken out.   State law makes it illegal to reduce a sand dune by a certain amount, it's difficult to claim that happened here-- even though the dimensions of the dune loss make it a compelling argument.

The removal of the dune seems to have allowed more of Lake Michigan to go inland quicker, but it is a little bit harder to gauge what has caused the frequent playground flooding, since they have made significant changes to the storm drainage over the last couple of years that have likely exacerbated the new problem.

X;

If you go to the Satellite view from Google Maps or Google Earth  you can plainly see the drainage pattern from the playground before the West End Scheme was constructed. It shows the flow from the playground along the north side of the parking lot and into PM Lake. 

The West End construction changed that and blocked off this flow pattern. Now half of the drainage water flows from the concrete towards the playground and accumulates in what use to be part of the drain. I believe this was intentional too ease the undercutting of the concrete by the drainage water.  So there is standing water in the playground after a hard rain or with the lake level being high, a strong SW wind pushing water to this low area.

The best fix would be to move the playground to a different location, of course this negates the fallacy that the West End Scheme won't effect the playground.  They could move hundreds and thousands of cubic yards of sand to raise the area of the playground much like they did with the splash pad. The dune is right there and they already removed part of it. Of course the water would then flow back to the concrete slab.

Foolish planning and the fault lays with the ass scratching old guard city council and their minion John Shay who packed up his carpet bag and left town before what he created hit the fan. 

I would appreciate you developing this point (other than the last paragraph, which is moot) in another forum article, shinblind, complete with illustrations of before and after.  I have been talking this over with others and your points seem to interpolate the facts the best.

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