EDITORIAL: The first of Mike Malik's failed attempts to develop a Marina on Harsens Island

According to an Editorial published in the Port Huron Times Herald on 07.24.2007:

...Mike Malik, a former Algonac city councilman is a close associate of Detroit's influential Ilitch family.

Malik is the chief promoter of a proposed casino at the Thomas Edison Inn in Port Huron. He also has big plans for the 430 acres he controls on Harsens Island. For starters, he wants to dig a boat basin and surround it with scores of McMansions and townhouses.

Fifteen years ago, Malik and wealthy toolmaker Fred Smith of Mount Clemens proposed transforming old Camp Drusilla Farwell into a Victorian-style resort called Grande Pointe Marina. The $100 million development would have included a hotel, 18-hole golf course and a sprawling marina with at least 1,150 boat slips.

The Harsens Island Preservation Association, led by A.J. Feeney, put up spirited opposition. On March 4, 1992, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed the public-comment portion of its permit process, it had received 275 letters of opposition and only 12 in favor of Grande Pointe Marina. The project died...