Opponents may appeal Jean Klock Park ruling

Opponents of the privatization of Benton Harbor’s Jean Klock park are considering their options following last month’s Michigan Court of Appeals ruling that an elite private golf course built on the city’s public lakefront does not violate the deed that granted the land to the public in 1917.

“We are looking at our options and are seriously considering filing an appeal with the Michigan Supreme Court,” said plaintiff and local resident Carol Drake.

The Harbor Shores golf course charges annual fees of more than $3500 — far beyond the means of most residents of Benton Harbor, who previously had free access to the 73 acre park on Lake Michigan.

Lakefront dunes at Jean Klock Park, Benton Harbor, Mich.

In a Jan. 21 decision Court of Appeals judges Deborah A. Servitto, Richard A. Bandstra and Jane E. Markey said that because the property deed did not specifically preclude the lease of the park to Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment Corp. for use as a golf course, the city of Benton Harbor was free to make that deal.

In 2006 Benton Harbor agreed to a 105 year lease for 22 acres at the center of Jean Klock park. Because the park had been improved with state and federal grants, the park conversion required the approval of officials from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and the National Park Service.

Back in April 2008, as the National Park Service considered whether to allow the conversion of the city lakefront for golf, Hugh McDiarmid of the Michigan Environmental Council warned that the move would set a terrible precedent.

“[T]he cost – the snatching of beautiful publicly-owned Lake Michigan sand dunes that were legally deeded for eternal use as a public park a century ago – is more than the citizens of Michigan should be willing to bear,” McDiarmid said. “Once this legal agreement is torn asunder, no Michigan conservation easement, land trust or preservation agreement is safe from developers with clever legal strategies and powerful political connections.”

Nick Schroeck, an attorney with the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, said that the Appeals Court ruling won’t have a direct effect on other conservation easements around the state because it will not control the terms of any other deed or easement, but he said the case illustrates the need to be very specific in the drafting of those documents.

He said that he expects that the plaintiffs in the case will appeal.

“It certainly appears that Mr. Klock deeded the land to Benton Harbor with the intention that it would remain a public beach and park – a place set aside particularly for the children of the area,“ Schroeck said. “Unfortunately, the trial court and the Court of Appeals reviewed the case very narrowly.”

“It looks like the Court was focusing on alleged vagueness in the deed to allow the lease of land to go forward, rather than protecting the wishes of Mr. Klock and the people of Benton Harbor.”

“The larger point here is that Michigan already has well over 1,000 golf courses. We only have a few unspoiled Lake Michigan Dunes, and even fewer that were meant to be protected and open to the public forever. If the Court can’t appreciate that fact, then it is up to citizens and advocates to place enough pressure on elected officials to prevent the sale, lease, or conversion of our most cherished natural places.”

In Benton Harbor park defenders have so far been unable to influence elected officials in the matter of Jean Klock park.

In an op-ed to Michigan Messenger last year, McDiarmid of MEC pointed to the lack of political power among citizens in Benton Harbor as a key factor in the conversion of Jean Klock park.

“Were these dunes located in moneyed communities like Bloomfield Hills, East Grand Rapids or Lake Forest, Illinois, no developer would dream of taking public park land for private use.”

Benton Harbor, once a thriving manufacturing center, is now a small, impoverished city with fragile and dysfunctional public institutions, which leads to questions over whether the people of Benton Harbor have been fairly represented in city dealings over the golf course.

Benton Harbor remains the world headquarters of the Whirlpool Corp., which controls 40 percent of the home appliance market worldwide and dominates city politics. Whirlpool is a key player in the development of the golf course, and has argued that it will bring needed economic development to the region and help the company attract talent.