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August 13, 2003Wetlands: Clous may go to trialProsecutor walks out on settlement talksByRecord-Eagle staff writer CADILLAC - Developer Bill Clous may be plowing toward a settlement with state officials over alleged environmental violations at an East Bay Township property, but his trouble with Grand Traverse County is far from over. "That looks like where we're heading, right to the courtroom," said Grand Traverse Prosecutor Dennis LaBelle, as he walked out of a settlement conference with Clous and officials from the Department of Environmental Quality on Tuesday. LaBelle has charged Clous with willfully violating soil erosion control laws for not applying for a permit with the county's drain commission. The maximum penalty is a fine of up to $10,000 per day of violation. The DEQ case against Clous involves alleged wetlands violations. LaBelle said he saw no use staying at the meeting, which was a settlement conference between Clous and officials from the DEQ and the county, because he believed no progress was being made. LaBelle said he could not discuss details of the meeting, due to court rules on settlement cases. Clous' attorney, Matthew Vermetten, said after the meeting Tuesday that he could not comment on specifics, but said negotiations are continuing with DEQ officials. Clous is under fire over property he owns between Hammond, Three Mile and Townline roads where officials say he damaged part of 90 acres of wetlands and buried a tributary to the Mitchell Creek Watershed. Clous has denied the allegations, and maintains certain environmental laws do not apply to the property under agricultural exemptions. He enlisted state Sen. Michelle McManus, R-Lake Leelanau, who chairs the committee that funds the DEQ, in his battle against the wetlands charges. Clous also maintains he plans to farm the property, a claim that has drawn skepticism from officials who believe he hopes to develop it. "I think we've done all that was asked of us," Vermetten said of some of the DEQ's demands. That included buffering a stream, adding mulch, planting vegetation and completing an independent wetlands delineation, he said. DEQ officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. If DEQ officials negotiate a settlement with Clous, it will run contrary to recommendations from a biologist from the Department of Natural Resources' fisheries management unit who, in a memo to the DEQ in May, said Clous had done significant damage to the Mitchell Creek Watershed and its trout streams. "It is the opinion of MDNR Fisheries Division that Mr. Clous should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," wrote biologist Ted Kalish in a memo to DEQ official Barry Peterman, who investigated the case and took part in Tuesday's meeting. "This case should be an example to potential future violators that if they decide to break the law and destroy public trust natural resources as Mr. Clous has done, they too will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Kalish wrote.
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