Coastal Alliance Launches Ad Series to Explain
How We Meet Criteria For Standing
After seven years of legal battles, it’s now up to the Saugatuck Township Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to determine whether the Coastal Alliance has standing to challenge the Township Planning Commission’s 2017 decision to grant NorthShore a permit for its proposed marina. Read our April 24 newsletter newsletter for more information.
We still don’t have details on when the ZBA will begin its review or how long that process might take. But we do know that it will be important for all of us to understand what standing is, why it matters, and – importantly – how Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance members and partners meet the criteria for standing outlined last summer by the Michigan Supreme Court.
To break things down and provide real-life examples of how we qualify for standing, we’ve just launched an ad campaign in the Commercial Record with the ad below. We’ll run additional ads in the coming weeks and let you know how you can make your voice heard with the ZBA. Stay tuned!
Thank you for your continued support!
The Coastal Alliance Board of Directors
Please support our legal strategy to protect and preserve the Saugatuck Dunes and Kalamazoo River Mouth by making a donation today.
https://saugatuckdunescoastalalliance.com/donate/
The Coastal Alliance Board of Directors
Listen to Journalist Tamara Dean’s 29-minute Podcast
The podcast, released last week by Pacifica Radio, details our communities’ efforts to protect the Saugatuck Dunes at the Kalamazoo River Mouth. The podcast includes powerful perspectives from regional tribal communities, as well as Coastal Alliance leaders.
OUR MISSION
The Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance is a coalition of individuals and organizations working cooperatively to protect and preserve the natural geography, historical heritage, and rural character of the Saugatuck Dunes coastal region in the Kalamazoo River Watershed, beginning with the Saugatuck Dunes.
OUR GEOGRAPHY IS OUR ECONOMY
With over one million visitors each year, it makes sound economic sense to protect and preserve what attracts visitors to the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal region in the first place. Throughout the last hundred years, much of that attraction has been our unique natural heritage: the dynamic splendor of Lake Michigan, our beautiful beaches, the Saugatuck Dunes, the tranquil woods, and running through the middle of it all—creating stunning vistas of land and water from every angle—the Kalamazoo River flows through the Harbor and out into the Lake. To be here is to be a part of two worlds: one on land and one on water.