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What's New: Current Projects: Jean Klock Park, Michigan, Threatened By Golf CourseJean Klock Park, Michigan, Threatened By Golf Course The 74-acre Jean Klock Park on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan was given to the City of Benton Harbor, Michigan in 1917 by John and Carrie Klock in memory of their daughter Jean. The deed explicitly restricts use of the land as follows: "Said lands and premises are conveyed ? upon the express condition , and with the express covenant that said lands and premises shall forever be used ? for bathing beach, park purposes or other public purposes; and at all times shall be open for the use and benefit of the public ?" Jean Klock Park is one of the oldest public parks in Michigan. It has over a half mile of shoreline, tall dunes and Great Lakes marshland, constituting three globally rare or threatened ecosystems. Benton Harbor is a working class, primarily African-American community, and JKP provides the city with its only lakefront access. People use JKP for swimming, picnicking, weddings, baptisms, family reunions, an Iron-Man qualifying Triathlon and enjoyment of nature 12 months a year, but especially in the summer. But the City of Benton Harbor has leased the heart of the park ? the dune crests and central acreage ? to Whirlpool Corporation?s Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment, Inc. for three holes of a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course in violation of the deed?s restrictions, and also of the donors? express intent for use of the park.
As important as the original Klock deed and Consent Judgment are, Jean Klock Park is also protected in perpetuity by the legal provisions of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, a federal law which created a grant program to protect public parks. Because the City received a grant in the mid-1970?s for improving facilities at the park, the National Park Service must approve any "conversions" of the park to nonpublic recreational use. The City of Benton Harbor, working in concert with the developers and with the collusion of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, ignored the public disclosure requirements of the conversion process and kept plans for the golf course a secret. Once revealed, the City and the local, private sector economic development entity, a partner in the development, attempted to gloss over the severe changes and environmental impacts which would occur and presented a conversion plan to the National Park Service that only public citizens with $300.00 to pay for a Freedom of Information Act Request ever saw. The NPS flatly rejected the conversion plan in a five-page denial letter in October, 2007, but political pressure was brought to bear on the NPS, and in July, 2008, it approved the conversion. In August, and with no other recourse, seven Benton Harbor residents sued the National Park Service, State of Michigan and City of Benton Harbor in federal court because of the severe, and rare, violations of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act and National Environmental Policy Act. When the lawsuit did not stop the developers from moving forward with their plans to destroy the park, a Temporary Restraining Order was filed by the plaintiffs in October. At this point, the amply funded, Whirlpool Corporation-backed Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment Inc. sued to intervene in the lawsuit and flew defendants to court in Washington, D.C. in Whirlpool?s corporate jet. The plaintiff group of park protectors and many others are continuing the fight in court, exposing extensive politicizing of agency decisions and raising serious questions about the severe environmental impacts to the park and the surrounding environment?the dunes, the shoreline, wetlands and the waterways. Without bringing the offenders to court, the destruction of Jean Klock Park and the gross violation of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act would pave the way for other massive "public private" redevelopment plans that take the public?s pristine parkland for private profit. Defense of Place has supported the fight to save and preserve Jean Klock Park since 2006. The two organizations that are supporting the state and federal lawsuits are: Friends of Jean Klock Park (state court action) and Protect Jean Klock Park (federal court action). |
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Five years ago, the City sold about five acres of the park for a housing development, and six people filed suit to try to prevent it. What resulted was a Consent Judgment which further restricted future use of the remaining parkland to "public park uses?. The six plaintiffs thought that the matter had been settled and that the remaining park acreage would be off limits to further commercial development forever. Less than one year after the signing of the Consent Judgment, the golf course development plan was revealed. Since that time community members have been fighting to defend the very court order that was intended to prevent development in JKP. In the summer of 2008 two plaintiffs from the first lawsuit were forced to take legal action against the City of Benton Harbor and Harbor Shores (golf course developers) to uphold the deed and to enforce the 2004 Consent Judgment. Unfortunately, the Circuit Court ruled in favor of the Whirlpool Corporation-backed developers and the City. The plaintiffs have filed an Appeal of the decision with the Michigan State Court of Appeals.