THERE MAY BE some hope ahead for Nancy Ferro and her beleaguered Mt. Shasta restaurant in Michigamme.
The staffs of State Senator Tom Casperson, Representative John Kivela, Representative Scott Dianda and Representative Ed McBroom will be conferring this week with a few government agencies to determine whether they can fashion a solution for Mt. Shasta’s water contamination problems.
Ferro says her well water was clean until MDOT began blasting near her restaurant in 2009 to realign US 41. Then the water went bad with coliform contamination, and more recently in a newer well, with e coli contamination.
From a legal standpoint, Ferro may have no ground to stand on. A private contractor for MDOT agreed to drill the second well only after Ferro agreed to release the contractor and MDOT from any further liability as long as the water from the new well came back clean.
Which it did initially. And then it went bad.
That’s left Mt. Shasta with a serious stigma–intermittent water contamination problems–and an uncertain future.
This week’s meetings with the politicians’ staffs, as well as MDOT, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Marquette County Health Department, the private highway contractor, and the well-digger will focus on three issues:
1) Did Mt. Shasta truly have no water contamination problems prior to the blasting?
2) If so, what, from an engineering standpoint, can be done to clean up the water?
3) Who might possibly pay for it?
One estimate to clean up the water: $20,000. But nobody knows yet because they don’t have a full handle on the problem.
Kivela and Casperson say that even though Ferro may have given up her legal rights in the case, they’d like to help her if it seems clear that the MDOT construction caused her problems and is ruining her business.
One other intriguing issue that may or may not have bearing on Mt. Shasta’s well problems: The restaurant, the well, and the highway all sit in close proximity to a mine shaft from the old Michigamme Mine which closed down over a century ago.
A Michigan Tech researcher investigated that issue for MDOT in 2008 prior to the highway construction and determined ultimately that the old mine was likely stable, but clearly there were questions that weren’t fully answered.
Specifically, where all the mine shafts were, and what had happened to them over the last century.
None of that much concerns Nancy Ferro. She’d just like clean water at her restaurant again. Maybe the government–the source of all evil!!–can actually help her out.
————————————–
ON THE OTHER hand, prospects look much bleaker for residents along County Road 510 who have been fighting the location of a gravel pit in their rural neighborhood, not far from the McClure Basin.
Negaunee Township attorney Kevin Koch says as far as he can tell, the fight is over.
A law passed in 2011 made it much easier to set up gravel pits even if the neighborhoods and the municipalities staunchly opposed them.
That was the case here. Kona Ridge Mining wanted to build the pit and, after an extensive political and legal battle, has finally been granted a permit to start the extraction on a 30 acre site.
Koch says the township has no further legal recourse to stop Kona Ridge.
Noise? Road damage? Traffic? Possible water pollution? Property depreciation?
The Township argued those would be the consequences if the gravel pit went in. The arguments weren’t persuasive enough, according to a recent court ruling.
Looks like the residents along 510 will soon have a new and unpopular neighbor. Kona Ridge probably shouldn’t expect the Welcome Wagon to be showing up at their door anytime soon.
—————————————
WHAT HAD BEEN been Jack’s I.G.A. in Harvey has now become Cherry Creek Market.
Let’s be honest. Jack’s had never been known for fresh produce, low prices, and an overall clean and bright shopping atmosphere.
Anything but.
However, things may have changed. A switch in ownership, for one. Some new paint, new flooring, an enclosed returnable room, a new meat case, new lighting, apparently fresher produce, a few more organic products…and some lower prices.
Oh, and new signs and a new facade.
It all looks promising. Let’s see if it holds.
Cherry Creek, because of its size, will never truly compete with Econo and Super One, but Harvey residents would gladly settle for a pleasant and convenient alternative to the bigger stores in Marquette.
You got news? Click Here to email Brian.