Contractors added cantilevers to parts of the structure that had begun sloping downward, and raised the foundation.

Emergency Services Director Richard Warner did not respond to MLive’s requests for comment.Some people have been out gawking, Gancer said. I want the natural beach, and this gives the natural beach a chance at life.”But McKay, of the watershed council, said efforts to avoid hard armoring shouldn’t be solely a matter of landowner preference. Reducing this action can reduce this erosion, dramatically in specific shorelines.If you care about Michigan, please support our work.This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.Wendy Slade loved to take in the sights and sounds of Lake Michigan from her beach house on Cathead Bay, until the lake began to turn against her.Over several consecutive springs of heavy rainfall, Slade and her partner, Peter Davidson, watched the sprawling beach disappear from their property near the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula. Additionally, the resorts, beaches and parks create community wealth and at a minimum, seasonal employment opportunities for our youth.This may not have happened in your lifetime, but 1986 was in my lifetime. “Isn’t it a miracle that he was able to get it?”Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our © 2020 Advance Local Media LLC. Gancer has lived with chronic illness since her second pregnancy, when she came down with meningitis. Short term “solutions” for long term irrevocable natural activities?

With lake water levels 3 feet above average, beaches are disappearing. Lake Michigan shoreline homes in peril after storms swallow duneland "We’re doing what we can to …

Three or four still have rocks coming in.“It’s a huge stretch, and that was supposed to take care of it," she said. Her two sons, now 22 and 28, grew up visiting the house, too. "Some people think this only affects "rich" people, but a lot of public owned parks, recreation areas, and municipal streets, bridges, and septic systems are also adversely affected. (Bridge photo by John Russell)Guy Meadows (Courtesy of Michigan Technological University)Record-breaking Great Lakes water levels already wreak havoc on Michigan’s coastline.

As the waters recede, they often deposit sand back onshore, partially replacing what's been lost. When the water recedes, Pollock will tear open the fabric and leave the sand in-place. Preventing erosion is the easiest and least expensive approach to maintaining a healthy shoreline. Let the homeowners suffer so that future generations learn a lesson. "Every time this happens" has never happened in our lifetimes. Site your house a minimum of 100 feet from the lake.

All along the Great Lakes, homes are being threatened by shoreline erosion. Encourage volunteers to plant deep-rooted beach grass.Many of the people who own property along the Great Lakes are truly selfish.

As the seawalls and riprap proliferate, neighbor-to-neighbor disputes are cropping up in coastal communities, especially along Lake Michigan, whose sandy bluffs are prone to erosion.Conflict often arises when landowners suspect their neighbors’ revetment is worsening erosion on their property.Then the neighbors commissioned a boulder revetment that LaPorte said has hastened erosion along her strip of beach.

As waves continue to batter the Lake Michigan shoreline, homeowners are looking for clarity on what state and local government are doing to curtail property loss from erosion. “Now I’ve gotta figure this out.”Gancer, 55, grew up visiting the house, about six miles from downtown Montague, with her “big, Irish Catholic family,” before taking ownership of the property when she was 22.“My first memories are up there,” Gancer said. In West Olive, on the central coast, a group of homeowners Township Supervisor David Bunte said local officials are considering more permanent solutions, such as limiting when and how residents can armor the shoreline.Bunte said he feels for people whose homes are at risk, but worries that as revetments hasten erosion on neighboring properties, they will force a chain reaction of armoring throughout the township.That would transform beaches into boulder fields, he said, harming Chikaming Township’s tourism-dependent economy by making beachwalking “almost impossible.”“It could be catastrophic, from an economic standpoint,” Bunte said.As anxiety grows about the consequences of armoring Michigan’s shoreline, some groups are working to promote alternative solutions.Petoskey’s Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council began hosting webinars to show property owners about how they can move homes away from the water or reject hard armoring in favor of “bioengineering” techniques such as using deep-rooted plants to help hold soil in place.Jennifer McKay, the watershed council’s policy director, hopes more landowners will consider such “softer” solutions.