Positive Sign at Sugar Loaf

While I think the headline New Hope for Sugar Loaf? has been used two or twenty times before, this story from last week’s Ticker has some positive news. They report:

The Leelanau County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (LCBRA) recently made a small but meaningful move in the hiring of AKT Peerless. The Saginaw-based consulting firm’s mission: to market and make use of a $1 million dollar revolving loan fund granted to LCBRA by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Roughly 80 percent of the fund would be available to developers to help with up-front and long-term environmental clean-up costs in the county, a tantalizing incentive LCBRA hopes will make redeveloping the resort more attractive to potential developers.

But what exactly needs to be cleaned up? And how much will it cost?

Leelanau County Planning Director Trudy Galla tells The Ticker that the project wouldn’t be easy – or cheap: “The buildings are falling into disrepair … There are issues with mold, water intrusion and a bit of asbestos. There was also a septic backup in one of the buildings. It looks like the Tennis Barn will need to come down, and there are old underground storage tanks that need to be removed.”

Photo by Karl Kitchen from the Friends of Sugar Loaf group on Facebook – see more of the condition of the resort in his Sugar Loaf – April 2010 Album on Facebook!