Lake Township Politics

Huron County Planning Board to Review Beach Easement Zoning

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Lake Township has deferred a decision to repeal beach front easements restrictions to the Huron County Planning Commission. Lake’s Township’s zoning restricting building and storage facilities on private beach front easements has been in place since 2007. Recently Lake Township’s leadership expressed the opinion that it does not have jurisdiction over beach easements. Despite overwhelming support expressed by local residents during a special hearing held by  the township in January, the board proceeded table the topic on beach easements zoning until the Huron County Planning Commission reviews.

The newest member to the Huron County Planning commission is Jeff Krohn, who had served on the Lake Township Planning Commission. The Huron Daily Tribune noted Krohn as saying the township feels it doesn’t have any zoning jurisdiction over easements. He said beach easements are framed by associations, which have bylaws pertaining to the use of easements. Also, he said, the township feels it doesn’t have any jurisdiction in the waters, and can’t regulate how boat hoists are lined up.

Beach easements such as Sylva Beach, located within Lake Township were formed in the early 1900’s before any thought of neighborhood associations were put into place.

In a survey conducted by ThumbWind.com of current land owners of the Sylva Beach easement, 91% supported zoning rules prevent the storage of boats and the building of structures on the 500 foot beach easement. The other concerns of the residents were that the easement was too small to allow more than 1-2 boat hoists. The easement is shared among 34 cottages and homes.

Residents who wish to express their views on this matter are encouraged to email or write the Commission at the following address:

Fred Hasen, Chairman

County Building

250 E. Huron Avenue

Bad Axe, Michigan 48413-1139

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Cheesburger In Caseville, Local Fun & Food

Best of Cheeseburger in Caseville 2012

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For well over five decades the Upper Thumb has been deemed the “Closer Up North” for the Southeast Michigan and Detroit area.  Sandy beaches, great fishing, parks and some of the friendliest proprietors around, Huron County is a great place to steal a weekend away from the “burbs” of Detroit without busting your wallet.  In less than a two hour drive you can be at the tip of the Thumb and sinking your toes into the sugar sand of Saginaw Bay. It’s family friendly unpretentious and considered by many to be an undiscovered Michigan destination.

There are many events throughout the year but the highlight festival of the summer is Cheeseburger in Caseville held in August. When it was first held in 1999 it was purely a local affair attended by only 5,000 locals. Now the event is considered the largest civic festival event in Michigan with over 100,000 visitors during  the 10 day event. Caseville becomes Key North during the event. Bring your Conch Republic passport for diplomatic treatment.

ThumbWind presents the “inside scoop” from locals and those who live here and wish our visitors to have a great time. A new page has been added Best of Cheeseburger in Caseville 2012. This local information offers a collection of the “Best Of” for the 2012 Cheeseburger fest. This stuff just stratches the surface for a unique trip of fun and adventure.

Best of RibStock in Caseville. Weekend of June 22 – Ribstock is considered the warm up act for the August festival. However this celebration of BBQ and country music is quickly becoming a favorite early summer event.

Best Place to Talk Politics During Cheesburger’s “Parade of Fools” – This is the largest event of the festival. It’s also a great chance to meet and great local and national politicians who find their way into Caseville.

Best Gourmet Grocery to Create Your Own Cheeseburger – There are dozens of local restaurants and charity’s who set up for the 10 day event. You may want to make your own. Here is the best place to get all the fixens for your own cheeseburger in paradise.

Best Taste of the Florida Keys in the Upper Thumb – Want to experience a bit of the Keys cuisine without the 1,500 mile car trip and all the bridge hopping? There are many roadside inns along M-53 that can go toe-to-toe with those on A-1-A. The only thing missing is the conch chowder.  Here is a stand out.

Best Bar Cheeseburger in the Thumb – Bar burgers are fun. However you may actually have to leave Caseville to find the best bar cheeseburger in the Thumb.

Best Place to Camp Next to the Beach – The Upper Thumb is a camper nirvana. However there is only one area where you can literally camp steps away on the beach. Find out where.

Best Things to do When Your Bored of Cheeseburger – Ten days of luau shirts, Margareta’s and cheeseburgers sounds like a lot of fun but for kids it can be too much. If you want to step away from the crowds there is plenty to see and do. Check out the suggestions.

Best Stroll During the Festival – See the odd sights and unique sounds and atmosphere found only on the water.

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Uncategorized

Warmest Weather in 125 Years

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ThumbWind.com noted with great interest an advisory by the National Weather Service posted on weather.gov

“The growing season has started in Southeast Michigan, about 5 weeks ahead of schedule.  Therefore, the NWS Detroit/Pontiac office will start issuing frost advisories and freeze warnings as conditions warrant.”

The string of warm weather in March is unpresidented. The National Weather Service noted that “This stretch of warm weather comes on the heels of Detroit’s 5th warmest winter on record, the 12th warmest autumn, and a summer which featured July as the hottest month ever recorded in Detroit.”

The NWS noted that it had to go back 125 years, to 1886, to find an early-season warm spell that compares. The 1886 record occurred in April, a full month later. Needless to say, this stretch of nine consecutive 70 degree days already represents a new March record for Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw

Uncategorized, Wind Energy

Intermittent Wind & Sun?…Technology Rips that Argument a New One.

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All of Minnesota’s electricity generation needs can be met by wind and solar sources combined with improvements to the state’s electric grid system and energy efficiency policies, according to a report released. “Renewable Minnesota: A technical and economic analysis of a 100% renewable-energy based electricity system for Minnesota” was researched and written by Dr. Arjun Makhijani and Christina Mills of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) in Takoma Park, Maryland and Dr. M.V. Ramana of Princeton University.

Researchers reviewed the energy production demands and compared to production potential from Wind and Solar methods and found that Minnesota can meet 100% of its energy needs from renewables. In a study published March 2012 the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research based it model on Minnesota energy usage from 2007.

Photo via ktylerconk

Major components of their analysis are the use of energy storage technology and smart grid technology. The storage technology that they assumed is compressed air energy storage (CAES), which has been used commercially for decades with coal-fired power plants in two locations: Germany and Alabama. Compressed natural gas storage in caverns and aquifers is also a standard technology. CAES is only one option for commercial scale storage technology, and because it has a proven track record, they used it as the placeholder technology for the storage capacity needed.

The major findings of this study concluded.

A renewable energy-based electricity sector is technically feasible, using available and proven technologies. If this is supplemented with an intelligent grid with two-way communication and more efficient use and integration of distributed generation and storage resources, this can help reduce the costs of implementing a renewable energy-based electricity sector.

There are ample renewable resources in Minnesota. There is more than enough wind and solar energy potential to meet the entire 2007 demand of Xcel Energy’s customers every hour and to accommodate growth in the foreseeable future. These technologies are already commercially available. While we have not examined the subject in detail here, there is evidence that the requisite amount of utility-scale storage technology can also be installed within the state.

An efficient, renewable electricity system can be achieved at an overall cost comparable to the present total cost. The added costs of renewable energy generation, as compared to the current generation from mature and fully-depreciated fossil fuel and nuclear generation facilities, can be offset by increasing the energy efficiency of household and building appliances. The net costs of electricity services – lighting, cooling, running appliances, etc., would be the same as today, but partitioned between generation, storage, efficiency, transmission and distribution.

Energy efficiency lowers the effective cost of electricity services and electricity bills.

The full study can be found at http://www.ieer.org/reports/renewableminnesota/

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Fun in Michigan's Upper Thumb

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