Landowners at Crystal Lake in Benzie County are suing a local township and developer over environmental violations during a recent construction project.
The construction of Sunkissed Hills, a development of eight homes on the shore of Crystal Lake, violated a soil erosion permit in 2023, causing sediment to flow off the steep work site and into nearby wetlands.
Now, Crystal Lake Watershed Association is suing Sunkissed Hills’ developer, along with Benzonia Township.
"Our allegation is that it's a violation of [the] Michigan Environmental Protection Act, which protects regulated wetlands," said Kristyn Houle, attorney for Crystal Lake Watershed Association.
The association says the developer violated state environmental law as well as local zoning ordinances and alleges that the township officials didn’t permit and oversee the project properly, which led to the damage.
"You have two defendants, and they both have, in our opinion, culpability," said Houle. "The township, in their issuing the permits, played a part in allowing the damage to the environment."
She says the township failed to enforce the zoning ordinance in place, for example, by not measuring steep slopes before permitting the project.
The lake association wants the court to require permanent erosion controls and remediation of the wetlands.
Houle, the attorney, says her client asked for environmental remediation before suing and got no response.
"Our concern is that they want to do more development on this site," Houle said. "So we're trying to be proactive and say, 'OK, if if you're not going to work with us, we don't have a seat at the table. Then what we'd like to do is go to court and see if we can get some relief from the from the judge.'"
Benzonia Township officials and Sunkissed Hills' developer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
