SAUGATUCK, MI – Construction will begin this spring on a two-lane blacktop road that will allow access across the Singapore Dunes to 18 home sites facing Lake Michigan, according to a spokesman for Singapore Dunes LLC, a development company owned by Oklahoma oilman Aubrey McClendon.
Singapore Dunes, which plans to sell the lots for between $1.5 million and $2.75 million each, announced it received permission to build the road from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality on Friday, March 28.
The permit opens up some 18 building sites, said Stephen Neumer, project manager for the company. The home sites have frontage on Lake Michigan or are nestled in adjoining dunes with views of the lake, he said.
Singapore Dunes received the permit following a nine-month review process and several public hearings in which members of the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance objected to the project. The property that was previously inaccessible except via a narrow and steep driveway.
A spokesperson for the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance was not available for comment on the permit action.
Neumer said the new road will follow a flatter historic wagon trail that led to the lumber mills of Singapore, a village founded in 1836. The village became a ghost town by the end of the 19th Century after it was buried beneath the shifting sands of the dunes.
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The new road will be built to state standards that will allow access by emergency vehicles and two-way traffic. Construction will begin this spring and continue over two construction seasons, he said.
As part of the permit, Singapore Dunes agreed to a conservation easement that will permanently protect more than 8 acres of wetlands on the property, Neumer said. They also agreed to a one-to-one tree replacement plan.
The entire site was listed for $40 million last August by Singapore Dunes. That price included a 23-year-old beach house that is listed separately for $12.5 million.
Singapore Dunes also is planning a separate condominium and marina project along the Kalamazoo River Channel that was once the site of Broward Marine as Phase II of the development, Neumer said.
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Jim Harger covers business for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.
Singapore Dunes LLC gets state permit to build road across dunes to Lake ... - The Grand Rapids Press
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