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12/12/2006Cherry Tree Inn found in violationOfficial: 'It was a pretty gross violation of the site'
A bulldozer sits near the beach behind Cherry Tree Inn in East Bay Township on Nov. 26. TRAVERSE CITY — The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality determined a hotel on East Grand Traverse Bay violated state law for using a bulldozer to reshape its beach. The DEQ has ordered Omni Hospitality, owner of the Cherry Tree Inn, to cease all activity and to restore or mitigate alleged damage to the shoreline wetlands. "It was a pretty gross violation of the site,” DEQ spokesman Bob McCann said. Joseph Moffa, president of Omni Hospitality based in Medina, Ohio, did not return messages left Monday. He previously told the Record-Eagle the bulldozer did not go into the water to dredge nor did it disturb the western 200 feet of shoreline when the work was done over the Thanksgiving weekend. DEQ Director Steven Chester disagreed. In a letter Friday to Omni, Chester said the DEQ's site investigation determined the hotel dredged material from beneath the waters of East Bay, dredged and filled in part of the western 200 feet of shoreline that was supposed to be left undisturbed, and acted without a valid permit. "Based on the MDEQ staff's investigation, significant grade changes have occurred through the use of a bulldozer to push large quantities of material out of the water onto exposed bottomland areas,” Chester wrote. "These activities go well beyond those activities authorized by law.” The Cherry Tree Inn had a permit to groom and grade approximately 200 feet of shoreline up to the water's edge. That permit expired on Sept. 30, 2005. Omni took over ownership of the hotel in the spring, and on July 12 was notified by the DEQ that the property was in violation for grooming all 400 feet of exposed Great Lakes bottomland. According to the notice, the alleged illegal removal of wetlands vegetation first occurred in 2005 under the previous owner. The notice stated the western 200 feet was to be left undisturbed and noted the expiration date of the permit. The DEQ has given Omni 10 business days to provide a detailed assessment by a competent Great Lakes wetlands ecologist of the ecological impacts from the bulldozing, and wants a plan to restore and/or mitigate impacts on the wetland. McCann said the violation has been shifted to the enforcement process and could be referred to the Michigan Attorney General's office for possible civil action or a consent decree to bring the property into compliance. See related story:
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