Developer still in pursuit of Harsens Island Bridge despite set backs

7.30.08

Harsens Island bridge stalled in negotiations

By Nicole Tuttle
Voice Reporter

Developers of the Harsens Island bridge [aka Harsens Island Crossing] are currently negotiating roadblocks to their progress with the Department of Environmental Quality.

The bridge, which would link the Algonac mainland to Harsens Island over the North Channel, is the project of the Detroit International Bridge Company. The private company seeks to build the bridge as a commercial venture.

The Harsens Island Transportation Authority met with the bridge developers July 15 at the Harsens Island Lions Hall. Don Verslyte, a member of the HITA who led the meeting, said that Bridge Company President Dan Stamper told HITA they were working to overcoming the objections that caused the DEQ to deny them a permit to build the bridge. The DEQ denied the permit last year.

One objection was the question of riparian rights. The bridge plans interfered with some privately owned property. Verslyte said Stamper told the HITA they had overcome this by purchasing a marina.

Another objection related to interference with the spawning ground of sturgeon. Verslyte said Stamper told the HITA there was no spawning ground where the bridge would cross.

"They resolved that by taking pictures of the bottom," Verslyte said.

Verslyte said Stamper told the HITA the company would be willing to provide funds to help build a spawning ground on Dickinson Island.

The third objection related to interference with wetlands on the island side of the bridge. Verslyte said Stamper told HITA the issue was still under discussion with the DEQ, but the company anticipates resubmitting for a permit with the U.S. Coast Guard within 45 days.

Stamper did not return messages by Voice deadline.

Robert McCann, a spokesman for the DEQ, said the company has not actively pursued an appeal of the denial. "They have the option to appeal or start over with new plans," he said.

Discussions of the issues, particularly the sturgeon and wetlands issues, are still under discussion with the DEQ and the Department of Natural Resources, McCann said.

"We have been discussing the issue with them," he said. "We have heard both for and against from the public."

The DNR is still in discussions with the developer regarding the sturgeon issue, said Mary Dettloff, a DNR public information officer. She said that the DNR has caught sturgeon in the area.

"There would be a loss of aquatic habitat if the bridge is built," Dettloff said.

Dettloff said the DNR has worked with other developers in the past to create "mitigation for loss of habitat" and that would be part of the permit process.

One area that the HITA is concerned with is working out an agreement with the company to control toll rates, Verslyte said.

"That is a problem we have now with the ferry system," Verslyte said.


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More on lobbyist's relationship with Rep. Young

According to reports from the McClatchy Washington Bureau:

A-Team lobbyist Rick Alcalde (Richard Alcalde) was never a staffer to Rep. Don Young (R-AK). He lobbied for the 2005 earmark that shifted $10 million from a road-widening project in southwest Florida to a study of an interstate interchange (Coconut Road) that would benefit Daniel Aronoff, a Michigan developer who raised money for Young.

That earmark mushroomed into a national controversy in part because it was placed in the highway bill, by someone on Young's staff, after the House and Senate had voted on the bill but before it went to the president for his signature.

Young has said he supported the money because local residents and Florida Gulf Coast University requested money for the project. Alcalde has lobbied for both Florida Gulf Coast University and Aronoff's real estate firm, the Landon Companies. Lobbying disclosures show that in 2005, the Landon Companies paid Alcalde $80,000 specifically to lobby on Young's highway bill.

Now Alcalde finds himself at the heart of an official investigation into the Coconut Road earmark matter.

Mike Anderson, Young's chief of staff, said Young doesn't make decisions based on lobbying and his relationship with Alcalde is personal.

"If Rick Alcalde could talk to you on the phone he would tell you that when he was a youngster and so forth he was kind of a rabble-rouser and everything else. The Youngs looked out for him," Anderson said. "And that goes back to the relationship the Youngs have with Mr. Alcalde, with Hector, (Rick's) father and his mother. When Rick went through some tough times and so forth the Youngs were there to help him, to kind of give him some of that guidance he needed. ... Rick credits the Youngs with being a mentor."

Hector Alcalde, Rick's father, is a longtime, top-tier Washington, D.C., lobbyist.

Rick Alcalde represents Michael Malik's affiliates MJM Enterprises and Blue Water Resorts. He also represents Malik's partner the Shinnecock Indian Nation.

Prior to starting the lobbying firm Potomac Partners D.C. in 2005, Alcalde represented the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and Station Casinos as well as the Detroit International Bridge company. Malik has ties to all three of those entities.

Harsens Island Bridge developer denies any connection to Mike Malik's Grande Pointe Development

excerpted from a post on HarsensIslandBridge.info 1.18.08:

On the evening of January 15, 2008 there was a HITA (Harsens Island Transportation Authority) meeting at the Clay Township Hall to update the public on the status of the proposed bridge. The room was filled to capacity...

When asked if there was a connection between the DIBC [Detroit International Bridge Company] and the developers of the Grande Pointe Development the DIBC representative said "I know of no connection." ...

New York Times takes a look at private ownership of Detroit's Ambassador Bridge

10.12.07

Bridge’s Private Ownership Raises Concerns

By MONICA DAVEY

DETROIT — More than a mile of teal-painted steel rises over the Detroit River, just another bridge really, but for the thousands of trucks and millions of dollars in goods that rumble across it each day between the United States and Canada.

In fact, this ordinary four-lane bridge is the busiest commercial border crossing in North America, carrying one-third of all road trade — or more than $122 billion in goods a year — between the two countries.

But the span, the Ambassador Bridge, is owned not by either country, not by the cities of Detroit or Windsor, Detroit’s Canadian neighbor, and not by some public bridge authority. It is owned by one man and his privately held company.

In a remarkable arrangement for a crossing so major, Manuel J. Moroun, a reclusive billionaire from Detroit’s suburbs who oversees a trucking empire, owns the bridge, one of only two privately owned bridges along the United States’ entire northern border and by far the most economically significant privately owned bridge in the nation.

Now, with so much commerce depending on a single structure, people have begun to wonder what would happen if a terrorist were to attack it or if the Ambassador Bridge, approaching 80 years old, were to fail.

And so a race is on to build a new $1 billion crossing here.

In a confluence of concerns over national border security, safety of the nation’s stock of bridges and an economic crisis in Michigan, the unusual arrangement here has prompted a simple question: Who should own a bridge?

Opened in 1929, the Ambassador Bridge was privately built by Joseph Bower, a New York financier. Even during its construction, a fight — led mainly by the mayor of Detroit — raged over whether the bridge should be run by a private company or a public agency.

At the time, plenty of bridges were privately owned, though soon the trends moved away from that. Eventually, Mr. Moroun began acquiring stock in the bridge’s owner, the Detroit International Bridge Company, and gained control of the company nearly three decades ago.

Of the 24 vehicular bridges and tunnels between Canada and the United States, only the Ambassador and the bridge connecting International Falls, Minn., and Fort Francis, Ontario, are private.

Supporters of a publicly owned span here say it is the only wise plan, the only one that offers needed public oversight and regulation. They have deep concerns, they say, about allowing a single man to continue his decades-long reign over such a vital connector of nations.

"This man is making billions of dollars on that bridge." said Raymond E. Basham, a Michigan state senator and a Democrat, who said that only a public bridge could ensure the structural inspections and domestic security needed. "When it comes to dollars and cents, there is every incentive for him not to tell us if something is wrong. We have an obligation for the safety of people."

But Mr. Moroun, who is known to most people here by his nickname, Matty, wants to build another bridge himself. Officials from his company say they would open a six-lane span to replace the Ambassador Bridge, which would also be fixed up and could be reopened if the new span ever ran into trouble. Already, the company has bought and boarded up dozens of houses to make way for the Ambassador’s privately owned twin.

In a way, Mr. Moroun’s offer seems tempting, particularly on this side of the border. The region’s automobile-centric manufacturing economy is in free fall, and lawmakers in Lansing, the capital, barely averted a shutdown of government services on Oct. 1, after a standoff over how to make up for the state’s expected $1.75 billion budget shortfall.

"It’s just lunacy for the taxpayers of Michigan and Canada to pick up the bill for this bridge," said Alan Cropsey, a Republican state senator who supports the private bridge. "Why do they feel they need to put a bridge up and compete with the private sector? Why now?"

Each plan — the public and the private — would cost about $1 billion. Each plan still requires many approvals from government agencies on both sides of the border. And each would ultimately be paid for, advocates for the public bridge say, by tolls from bridge users.

Some residents in Detroit and Windsor, particularly those who live near the foot of the Ambassador Bridge, dispute the need for any new crossing. In 2000, more than 12 million cars, trucks and buses crossed the bridge, Michigan transportation officials said. In 2006, vehicles numbered fewer than 10 million, though the number of trucks was nearly the same as before.

"Who needs another?" said Victor Abla, whose window in the Southwest Detroit neighborhood of Hubbard Farms looks out on the Ambassador Bridge. "With trucks backed up on the bridge that’s already here, the pollution is horrible in my neighborhood, and the asthma rates are sky high."

But some studies of traffic on the bridge suggest that it will reach its capacity as early as 2015, said Mark Butler, a spokesman for Transport Canada, a government agency. Others say it will take longer. For now, one question remains: Which bridge will be built?

Advocates for a public bridge complain that Mr. Moroun’s plans will receive special attention from leaders here because of his long history of political campaign contributions. Indeed, campaign contribution records reveal years of donations by him and his family to a wide array of politicians and committees from both parties.

In a request made through Dan Stamper, the president of the Detroit International Bridge Company, Mr. Moroun declined to be interviewed within the time frame of this article. Mr. Moroun might consider an interview "in a month or so," Mr. Stamper said.

For his part, Mr. Stamper defended plans for a new private bridge. He dismissed the matter of Mr. Moroun’s political allegiances and said security concerns were needless: the bridge company had hired private security guards to watch the bridge in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

Mr. Stamper also said that the Ambassador Bridge received structural inspections every year from private firms and that the results of those inspections were made available to Michigan and Canadian transportation authorities, though not to the public. Michigan transportation officials said they were for the first time allowed to see a full inspection report in 2005 as part of a road expansion agreement.

Mr. Stamper disputed that, saying the bridge company had earlier shared inspection reports with the state, as well as with Canadian officials.

"To the people who say that they’re uncomfortable with this being private, I say, 'We are a success story,"' Mr. Stamper said.

Leaders in the auto industry here, which depends on the bridge for carrying parts between assembly plants on both sides, have supported studying a government bridge.

Frederick W. Hoffman, the director of state relations for Chrysler, said, “Our particular concern is that there be multiple owners, and thus more competition in the costs.”

The current bridge charges $3.75 for cars; trucks (about 12,000 of which cross here each day during the busiest part of the week) pay by weight, averaging, Mr. Stamper said, $12.

In the end, no one is ruling out the possibility that both bridges may be built.

Developer of proposed Harsens Island Crossing toll-bridge purchasing land?

HarsensIslandBridge.info has published a portion of an email that it received from a Harsens Island property owner with a suggestion that the Detroit International Bridge Company, developer of the proposed Harsens Island Crossing (private toll-bridge), isn't detered by recent application denials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

e-mail ...
"I was called by a realtor today asking if I want to sell my property on North Channel. I am wondering if the bridge company is trying to buy more property on the North Channel to be able to build the bridge without building on other people's property. I understand that that was one of the reasons that the DEQ wouldn't give them a permit. From what I heard at the hearing the two pieces of property that they own on the two sides of the river are not in line with each other and that is a big problem. I'm not going to sell to them, no matter what they offer me. I couln't live with myself if I had anything to do with helping the bridge company ruin the peace and quite on Harsens Island."

HarsensIslandBridge.info believes "that this is the beginning of the Detroit International Bridge Company's effort to alleviate the riparian rights violations from their denied application to the MDEQ. If they can purchase properties directly across the North Channel from each other they can overcome their riparian rights problems. To get MDEQ approval they would still have to find solutions for other issues such as the lake sturgeon nursery area and possible wetlands disruption which were stated by the MDEQ as reasons for their denial."

other details at the blog Harsens Island News: Harsens Island Bridge
(http://harsensisland.blogspot.com/) or click on the "labels" below.

Negative finding for Harsens Island Bridge proposal; does that impact Malik's 450-acre residential development?

the Harsens Island news is reporting:

"The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ)has denied Permit Application Number 07‑74‑0023‑P, submitted by Detroit International Bridge Company, 12225 Stephens Road, Warren, Michigan.

The Detroit International Bridge Co., owned by Grosse Pointe billionaire Manuel "Matty" Moroun, also operates the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor.

The applicant proposed construction of a bascule bridge across the St. Clair River from Algonac to Harsen's Island, approximately 3.7 miles downstream from the confluence of the north and south channels of the St. Clair River, to provide an alternative means of transport between the mainland in Algonac and Harsens Island.

Denial by the MDEQ does not necessarily mean the project is "dead."

DIBC has 60 days to file an appeal of the MDEQ permit denial. Mr. Dortman did mention, however, that the appeal process can be a lengthy one. There are MDEQ appeals which have been on file for years.

According to Mr. Dortman at the MDEQ, The DIBC permit application was denied due to a number of criteria within each of the Acts mentioned above. Some of the denial criteria includes:

• Fisheries impact, including the state protected Lake Sturgeon
• Proposed bridge piers located on land not owned by DIBC
• Riparian rights - proposed bridge would cross adjacent land areas
• Public trust - State's ability to protect natural resources"

Moruon and casino syndicator Michael J. Malik, Sr. own homes next door to one another in Grosse Pointe Shores.

It is believed the construction of this private toll bridge linking Harsens Island to the mainland near Algonac is linked to plans by Michael Malik to develop a 450 acre residential development project, centered around a man made lagoon with canal access to the North Channel, on Harsens Island.

Ambassador Bridge is ...

6.13.07

Bridges Falling Down

The bridge is owned and operated by the minions of one man, a reclusive Grosse Pointe zillionaire


by Jack Lessenberry

Gregg Ward is a boyish-looking 46-year-old with an interesting and crucial job you've probably never heard of. He and his dad run the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry, which since 1990 has been the only approved system for taking trucks carrying hazardous materials across this part of the U.S.-Canada border.

That doesn't mean the Wards take all the hazmat across. They don't. Their one barge is only allowed to operate 10 hours a day. In that time they might transport, at most, 50 trucks.

Meanwhile, something like 9,000 trucks use the Ambassador Bridge daily. Naturally, since they aren't taking Gregg's barge, does that mean they are all hauling frozen spinach and motor mounts? Well, hardly.

Plenty of them carry hazmat too.

You see, the bridge, as noted here on March 7, is not, as you might expect, jointly owned by the two nations. They don't even have any say in running it. Instead, it is owned and operated by the minions of one man, a reclusive Grosse Pointe zillionaire named Manuel "Matty" Moroun.

He believes that he is a law unto himself, at least as far as the bridge is concerned. He doesn't allow either country to inspect it. He does what he wants. "He issues letters to those trucks he owns, and perhaps some others, saying they can take hazmat across," Ward said over lunch in Dearborn. Others have told me the same thing. "I get the leftovers — his competitors, maybe."

That may not be fair, but nobody in authority seems to be willing to challenge the man Forbes Magazine called "The troll under the bridge." (Full Story)

MAP - Moroun's Grosse Pointe Neighborhood

You may also want to review these posts:

• Design of "Harsens Island Crossing" presented
• Forbes profiled who's behind the Harsens Island Toll-Bridge proposal
• Promoter found unsuitable for gambling license is intimately involved in Homeland Security matters
• Proposed Harsens Island development much more than 'condos'
• Mike Malik's Lucky 7 could require special zoning for Harsens Island proposal
• Harsens Island developer has a history of fighting environmental concerns
• U.S. Attorney's inquiry leads to revelation Lucky 7 Development plans to drill sewer pipeline across St. Clair River
• Harsens Island developer is actually a lawyer with ties to environmentally challenged corporate interests & the Ilitch Family
• Harsens Island News - Key word "Harsens Island Bridge"

Design of "Harsens Island Crossing" presented

as posted by American Avalon at its corporate website acp-ny.com

Harsens Island Crossing,
Algonac, MI.

American provided the preliminary design of a bridge across the north channel of the St. Clair River from just west of Algonac to Harsens Island. The bridge will provide two traffic lanes with a raised sidewalk and bike lanes and crosses the channel at a slight skew to allow adequate connections to the existing roadway network.

The preliminary design of the bridge includes 12 fixed spans having span lengths of 146' and a 130' single leaf bascule span. ... The fixed span superstructure is supported on concrete hammerhead piers supported on four 84" diameter drilled shafts over 150' in length due to very poor soil conditions. ... The design of the substructure for all elements required structural capacity in challenging soil conditions to withstand the large ice forces in the river. Project also includes the design of a toll facility, approach roadway, preparation of an environmental assessment, permitting and coordination with the United States Coast Guard, Michigan Department of Transportation and other regulatory authorities. ... (Full Details)


American Consulting Professionals of Michigan, PLLC provides services to both the public and private sector. Our current list of clients includes:

• Ambassador Niagara Signature Bridge Group
• Detroit International Bridge Company

Featured Projects :

Detroit River Crossing | Harsen’s Island | Ambassador Niagara

You may also want to review these posts:

• Forbes profiled who's behind the Harsens Island Toll-Bridge proposal
• Grosse Pointe Neighbors have big plans for Harsens Island
• Proposed Harsens Island development much more than 'condos'
• Mike Malik's Lucky 7 could require special zoning for Harsens Island proposal
• Harsens Island developer has a history of fighting environmental concerns
• U.S. Attorney's inquiry leads to revelation Lucky 7 Development plans to drill sewer pipeline across St. Clair River
• Harsens Island developer is actually a lawyer with ties to environmentally challenged corporate interests & the Ilitch Family
• Harsens Island News

Forbes profiled who's behind the Harsens Island Toll-Bridge proposal

The Troll Under The Bridge

The Ambassador Bridge is Detroit's lifeline to Canada. Sept. 11 turned it into a choke point and a security risk. The story of why it hasn't been fixed revolves around one man.

The Ambassador Bridge isn't owned by the U.S. or Canada--it is owned by one recalcitrant man: Manuel (Matty) Moroun. He controls the best monopoly you never heard of.

The Ambassador Bridge is a small but critical piece of Matty Moroun's transportation empire, which includes trucking concerns, logistics companies and customs brokerages, as well as real estate, banking and insurance interests. They're all under one umbrella, called CenTra. Here are the largest pieces. (Forbes Full Story)

• Less-than-truckload shipping (Central Transport)
  Revenue: $400 million


• Full-truckload shipping (Mason-Dixon, Universal Am-Can, others)*
  Revenue: $300 million


• Freight coordination services (Logistics Insights)
  Revenue: $250 million


• Ambassador Bridge
  Revenue: $60 million


• Duty-free stores, gas station, other bridge-related income
  Revenue: $40 million


• Insurance, banking, customs brokerage
  Revenue: unknown

*Doesn't include 40% stake in publicly traded PAM Transportation Services, with 2003 revenue of $294 million. Sources: CenTra; Forbes estimates.

click for detailed lobbying reports

You may also want to review these posts:
--The Verifiable Truth:

• Grosse Pointe Neighbors have big plans for Harsens Island
• Proposed Harsens Island development much more than 'condos'
• Mike Malik's Lucky 7 could require special zoning for Harsens Island proposal
• Harsens Island developer has a history of fighting environmental concerns
• U.S. Attorney's inquiry leads to revelation Lucky 7 Development plans to drill sewer pipeline across St. Clair River
• Harsens Island developer is actually a lawyer with ties to environmentally challenged corporate interests & the Ilitch Family
• Harsens Island News

Grosse Pointe Neighbors have big plans for Harsens Island

click for larger view

Is it a coincidence that controversial figures Mike Malik and “Matty” Moroun own homes next door to one another in Grosse Pointe Shores (960 Lake Shore Road and 956 Lake Shore Road, respectively); and that both are actively pursuing significant complimentary development plans for Harsens Island at this particular time?


The Malik and Moroun properties sit across from Harsens Island on the shores of Lake St. Clair, 4-5 doors down from the home of William Clay Ford, Jr.

In April, the editor of the Harsens Island News learned that Grosse Pointe developer and casino syndicator Michael J. Malik, Sr. had plans to develop the 380-acres his Lucky 7 Development LLC (operating under the name Grande Pointe Development LLC) owns on Harsens Island. Malik proposes to build a residential community of 348 homes; focused around a man-made island and lagoon; with canal access to the North Channel of the St. Clair River. The canal feature would force a 1.5 mile reroute of North Channel Drive around and through the Lucky 7 Development project. Among other things, it is anticipated that Malik will need to drill and lay sewer lines across the floor of the St. Clair River’s North Channel for his new development. Malik had proposed a marina be built on the same site almost a decade ago.

Manuel J. “Matty” Moroun is a reclusive Grosse Pointe billionaire businessman whose empire extends to trucking companies (CenTra), duty-free shops, real estate firms and insurance suppliers. His holdings include the Detroit International Bridge Company and the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit with Windsor, Ontario in Canada. In April, the editor of the Harsens Island News uncovered activity by Detroit International Bridge Company that is intended to win approvals to privately construct a toll-bridge spanning the North Channel of the St. Clair River and linking Harsens Island with Algonac near the existing ferry route.

You may also want to review these posts:
--The Verifiable Truth:

• Proposed Harsens Island development much more than 'condos'
• Mike Malik's Lucky 7 could require special zoning for Harsens Island proposal
• Harsens Island developer has a history of fighting environmental concerns
• U.S. Attorney's inquiry leads to revelation Lucky 7 Development plans to drill sewer pipeline across St. Clair River
• Harsens Island developer is actually a lawyer with ties to environmentally challenged corporate interests & the Ilitch Family
• Harsens Island News - Key word "Harsens Island Bridge"