Coast Guard property city's
By CHRISTOPHER DIEM, Journal Staff WriterArticle Photos
The Coast Guard will directly transfer the 8.9 acres to the city after the Coast Guard moves into its new station, south of the Marquette Maritime Museum in the spring of 2009. The land transfer was included in an amendment of a U.S. Coast Guard appropriations bill that was approved by the U.S. House Thursday.
“This is truly great news for the community,” Mayor Tom Tourville said today. “Our national legislators worked hard so the city does not have to go through the lengthy, regular process of acquiring the land.”
Earlier this month, city officials agreed to sell about 1.5 acres of city-owned waterfront just south of the museum to the Coast Guard for $1. The Coast Guard plans to build a new station on the property that it says will increase efficiency and decrease response time to emergencies.
Without the direct land transfer, the property would have gone into the hands of the federal Bureau of Land Management after the Coast Guard vacated it. The city then would have had to go through the National Lighthouse Preservation Act to put in a bid to acquire the land that contains Marquette Lighthouse.
According to city staff, the required infrastructure improvements needed for the relocation of the station will cost the city about $170,000. Those costs include roadway improvements, rerouting the bike path, water main construction and water lateral construction.
Tourville said U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, was instrumental in crafting the amendment for the direct land transfer. He also credited U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, for working on similar legislation in the Senate.
“I’m very pleased, very grateful for both Stupak and Levin’s efforts. For the city to be able to acquire 9 acres of just pristine lakefront property ... this isn’t free, but in my view that is still a fantastic value to be able to have that acreage being city owned waterfront,” Tourville said.
The House legislation provides $8.4 billion for the Coast Guard’s homeland security and maritime safety missions. It calls for the addition of 1,500 Coast Guard personnel over the next year. The legislation needs to be approved by the Senate and signed by President Bush before it becomes law.
The bill also addresses a problem that has plagued the Great Lakes region: invasive species that sneak into the lakes aboard oceangoing cargo ships. Oceangoing ships would be required to install ballast water treatment equipment to keep foreign species from U.S. waters.
Ballast tanks help stabilize ships in rough ocean waters. But ballast water is widely considered a leading source of aquatic invaders, which compete with native species for food and habitat.
At least 185 invasive species have been identified in the Great Lakes, including zebra and quagga mussels, which clog water pipes and do more than $150 million worth of damage a year.
‘‘This is a great day for the Great Lakes and the coastal areas,’’ said Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich. ‘‘Let’s get out there and fight those nasty zebra mussels.’’
