This past Friday we received an approved permit from the U.S. Army Corps. This along with the one already obtained from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality a few months ago, will allow Camp to begin work on the beach project soon. It definitely took longer than we had hoped to receive the permit, but we were confident that our plans were within the guidelines set forth by the Army Corps, and are excited to move ahead with the beach project.
With the snow melting and the ice lessening on the shoreline, it is good timing to be able to start work. Elmer’s, our contractor, will be able to access the shoreline more easily. Fortunately, over the past two months Camp has been stockpiling rocks for the beach revetment in our parking lot in advance of the frost laws going into effect. (Frost laws, which went on last week, limit the truck load that can be on smaller roads like Oak St. until the ground is fully thawed.) We have around 1,000 tons of rocks onsite, close to half of the total needed. Please know that as we begin construction we will be giving periodic updates on the progress.
Over the past few months we have been working with our engineers and landscape architects, SmithGroup JJR, to further design the upland improvements – all of the aspects of the shoreline project that are not related to rocks, sheet-pile or pocket beaches. This includes the walkway along the shoreline and to the pocket beach, a new fire pit area, and the patio improvements. We will be updating you on these developments soon.
Finally, we are ramping up for the public phase of the Spirit of Arcadia Campaign. We plan to start the public phase in April. Look for more information about how to support the Spirit of Arcadia Campaign soon.
Thank you to the entire Arcadia family for their thoughts and prayers as we continue to work together to secure Camp Arcadia’s future.
