From: New Buffalo Shoreline Alliance <
Date: November 30, 2017 at 11:37:21 AM EST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject:Year End News Letter
New Buffalo Shoreline Alliance Member
UPDATE:
As we get close to years end, the NBSA wants to remind its members who are considering year end charitable donations that your gift to the NBSA is fully tax deductible. Those members, who pledged monies but have not contributed, now would be a good time as it is unclear if charitable giving will remain in full or in part of the new tax plan that is working its way through Congress.
The NBSA continues to work on a solution to our beach erosion problem. Since our last update email, the committee has had a positive meeting with the Mayor of New Buffalo and the City Manager. The Mayor and one of the city council members has sent a strong letter to the Governor asking that he become involved in demanding the Corps correct their problem. Michelle Heit, Township Supervisor, has also written a strong letter to the Governor. The Governor office is now engaged and it is our understanding we are now on the agenda with the Governor’s office when they talk with the Corps.
We continue to work with Congressman Upton’s office as he waits for a response to his letter from the Under Secretary of the Army.
The NBSA and Edgewater Resources have held a meeting with the Corps regulatory group to discuss our conceptual plan to fix the coastline. That meeting gave us some direction on what engineering they may require of us.
The NBSA also held an hour meeting with Senator Stabenow’s office to outline the problem and ask for her support. Follow up emails have been exchanged with her office since our meeting.
The NBSA was recently invited to The Village of Michiana council meeting where we made a presentation asking them to join our alliance.
The NBSA has met with two attorneys who volunteered their time and expertise to discuss how TIFFs and SSA work and how they may be a tool we could also use to solve our problem.
The NBSA will shortly launch a Facebook page and Twitter account to keep you informed on a daily basis as we continue to make progress toward our goal of restoring our beaches. We’ll let you know when the page is launched.
Finally, a workshop was held in St. Joseph on Coastal Resiliency attended by the NBSA. Jeffrey Andresen, state climatologist with Michigan State University, said the long-term forecast is for overall conditions to be “warmer and wetter.” That will mean warmer winters, less ice coverage on the Great Lakes, and rising lake levels, he said. Scientists expect to see earlier warming in the spring. Projections of rising mean temperatures range from 2 to 16 degrees Fahrenheit.
Storms are projected to be heavier, more frequent and more severe, possibly increasing lake levels and further beach erosion, Andresen said. That could result in three to four additional inches of precipitation, “a whole extra month” of precipitation according to Michigan’s monthly average, he said.
The New Buffalo Shoreline Alliance