Sort of reminds me of the Cedar Point Chaussee incident...


Wetlands filled without permit
By KRISTINA SMITH
Staff writer, Port Clinton News Herald
July 28, 2007

MARBLEHEAD -- Bay Point resort owners removed vital wetlands and put
anti-erosion material along the Lake Erie shoreline without required
state and federal permits, a spokeswoman said.

Bay Point filled an acre of wetlands this spring without permission from
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the Ohio Environmental Protection
Agency, said Dina Pierce, OEPA spokeswoman.

The area removed was considered a Category 3 wetland, which is the most
valued of the three categories the agency uses to classify marshes,
Pierce said.
"They're very scarce at this point for wetlands," she said. "It's
especially vital because you have your migratory birds. (Wetlands) are
really critical to the ecosystem."

Bay Point is the site of a planned cluster housing development. Owners
Bay Point Acquisitions -- which includes partners Florida lawyer Charlie
Papy, Florida engineer Nasir Alam and John Murphy of Chicago -- have not
set construction dates.

Bay Point manager Brooke Brown did not return a message seeking comment
left Wednesday. Alam was not available Thursday, and Papy and Murphy
could not be reached.

Pierce said she did not know why the resort filled in the area and added
the erosion material or if its housing project would be affected. Brian
Swartz, biologist for the Corps's monitoring and enforcement section in
Oak Harbor, said he could not discuss the specifics because it is an
ongoing enforcement issue.

"If they are going to go forward, they'd have to find a way of doing
that while preserving the wetland," Pierce said.

The resort's consultant, Hull and Associates of Dublin, had until
Wednesday to submit an after-the-fact application for the work the
complex already completed or a plan to restore the area, Swartz said. A
firm spokeswoman was not available for comment Thursday.

Hull and Associates has asked for an extension to file the paperwork
next month, Pierce said. The Army Corps will decide whether to grant the
extra time, she said.

"The consultant is in the process of submitting that information,"
Swartz said. "We're just going to continue working with them."

Pierce said it is highly unlikely the state would approve allowing the
retroactive permit, however.

"The only way we will allow a Category 3 wetland to be destroyed is if
it's in the public interest," she said.

Public interest includes removal for building roads, bridges or schools,
she said.

In the case of the erosion material, a permit could be granted if Bay
Point can prove it has an erosion problem. The state then must approve
the materials it uses to solve the issue, she said.

She said she did not know what items the resort placed along the shore.

E-mail Kristina Smith at [log in to unmask]

http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070728/NEWS01/707280305

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