Full park access in Benton Harbor will now cost $75

Benton Harbor residents will need to pay $75 to view Lake Michigan from atop the dunes in the city’s lake front Jean Klock Park.

WJSM news reports that a panel that oversees policy at the Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course now partially built in the public park has approved a fee schedule for use of the nine-hole course.

The golf course is part of Harbor Shores, a 530 acre commercial and residential real estate development that has been billed as an attempt to alleviate poverty in economically devastated Benton Harbor.

Though the course is largely built, some locals are pursuing a federal case to reverse approvals for the privatization of the city park. These plaintiffs argue that regulators were wrong to permit the development, which never completed an Environmental Impact Statement, and that the project disadvantages a poor African American community by swapping pristine lake front property for contaminated inland parcels.

On Wednesday, the Department of Environmental Quality convened an environmental justice work group meeting in Benton Harbor.

Nicole Moon, one of the plaintiffs in the suit against the golf development, turned down an invitation to participate. She said that past experience of state involvement in Benton Harbor “leads me to believe our voices will once again be ignored and only our participation will be used as a statistic.”

In a letter to Department of Environmental Quality Director Stephen Chester Moon noted that the environmental justice meeting in Benton Harbor was to be hosted by an organization involved with the Harbor Shores golf development and criticized DEQ for issuing a permit for the project.

“The residents of our city contacted several agencies on behalf of environmental justice.” Moon wrote “… Even as the MDEQ pretends to appear concerned over environmental justice, they’re manipulating the composition of the task force for reasons that may have little to do with improving the quality of environmental justice implementation in Michigan, and a lot to do with silencing opposition to the biggest environmental injustice — the privatization of Jean Klock Park.”

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axual

You say "Benton Harbor residents will need to pay $75 to view Lake Michigan from atop the dunes in the city’s lake front Jean Klock Park."

This statement and article title is a lie and you know it. The $75 is the fee for playing golf when part of the golf course opens this summer. It has nothing to do with viewing from a top the dunes.

You might try using actual facts when reporting.

ToddAHeywood

So, are you saying that unless you want to pay golf, there is NO fee to enter this now PRIVATE space? To view the lake from atop the dunes?

axual

Access to the look out platform is from the very publicly accessible Jean Klock Park's newly minted parking boulevard along the west side of the dunes. Have you been to the park recently?

The golf course is not a private space, but a public facility. The fact that a public facility comes with a fee is a moot point. There are many "public facilities" which come with a fee to use them including Yellowstone Park. But they are open to the public for public use.

ToddAHeywood

Was there a fee to enter the park before the golf course was established? And you failed to answer my question about accessing the area via the golf course, can it be done without paying for a $75 game of golf? Is the new parking area open or under construction?

To answer your question, no I have not been to the park, ever.

Yes some public parks require nominal fees for entry. For instance Ingham County charges $4 for residents to visit the Potter Park Zoo. But is $75 the cost for entering the park area, whether you play golf or not? If not, what is the non-golf gaming fee?

axual

See additional reply below. Yes, there was a fee to enter Jean Klock (for parking, like many parks do). One expects a similar parking fee perhaps, but I've not seen anything established for this yet.

tinkerbell1168

Also... I believe the station you got this story from is WSJM not WJSM.

axual

The new parking is open, and very much brings back memories of how the park was built originally with boulevard parking along the dunes. Makes access to the beach safer and more pleasant. The old parking lot is, now removed and will be covered with, yes, a fairway.

Obviously one would not walk across the golf course to get to the dunes during normal course, but then why would one expect to do that when there is easier access.

You (and others) really need to visit Jean Klock Park before publishing articles or making statements which have no basis is reality (not picking on you, but too much misinformation has been published by people who do not have the history or have even been here).

$75 is the fee for playing a round of golf. The golf course is for playing golf, not accessing Jean Klock Park. The fee has nothing whatsoever to do with Jean Klock Park or access to it, which includes the dunes, beach, the shoreline, etc.

ripoff

Jean lock PARK is a park, not just a beach. The beach is less than half of the entire park, which consisted of forested dunes, now wiped out, and wetlands. This is a PRIVATELY owned golf course on PUBLIC land not a public golf course. The remainder of the park will be within the boundaries of their golf course, including the observation tower. What the residents got in exchange for this pristine piece of lakefront are contaminated parcels scattered on the edges of their golf course. I would encourage those who have visited Jean Klock Park to visit what the developer has given the residents in exchange, but be sure to bring your hazmat suit.
They could have easily improved the beach area without taking the fragile ecosystem that is truly the only thing that sets this area apart from other parts of this country and it was to remain open to all forever per the Klock deed- not at 75.00 a round of 9 holes.

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Full park access in Benton Harbor will now cost $75