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08/02/2006Regional agency gives resort's shoreline a clean bill of healthContaminants had prompted restrictionmccoolrecordeagle@sbcglobal.net BAY HARBOR — An area of shoreline that had been restricted for environmental reasons is no longer off-limits. The Northwest Community Health Agency this week canceled a restriction on about half-mile of shore in the Bay Harbor resort, where leftover contaminants from a former cement plant posed problems in recent years. A ban along 2,800 feet of shoreline in front of the Coastal Ridge Drive area of the resort was lifted Monday, though the area apparently was given the all-clear a few weeks ago when officials removed warning signs and fencing, said CMS company spokesman Jeff Holyfield. CMS was an initial developing partner in the resort and is funding an estimated $80 million cleanup under the direction of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. "Actually, that's been done the last couple of weeks" that fencing and signs came down, Holyfield said. "We got approval from EPA. We removed it." Shoreline restrictions in three other areas of Bay Harbor and adjacent East Park remain. The area along Coastal Ridge Drive, west of Bay Harbor Lake, roughly in the center of the five-mile long resort, was the first area where contaminants from buried cement kiln dust piles leftover from the cement plant were discovered in 2004 seeping into Little Traverse Bay. It also was the first area where CMS installed a series of buried "collection trenches" along the beach to prevent contamination from reaching Lake Michigan. "We've got more of a track record there. We've got a proven record of success" with the collection trenches, Holyfield said. Coastal Ridge Drive also is the part of the resort where plaintiffs in a pending lawsuit against Bay Harbor and CMS own a vacation home. The area of shore in question apparently passed muster in a series of tests checking for pH levels along the shoreline — high pH levels often accompany cement kiln dust seepage. Holyfield said CMS completed a shoreline survey this year sampling the entire five-mile stretch of resort shoreline in 75 feet increments. That survey has been followed up by continual monitoring of the collection systems, he said. See related stories:
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