A closed beach sign is posted near the top of a washed out public access point near Lake Shore Drive along the southwest shoreline of Lake Michigan on Thursday in Long Beach. Staff photo by Robert Franklin
A closed beach sign is posted near the top of a washed out public access point near Lake Shore Drive along the southwest shoreline of Lake Michigan on Thursday in Long Beach. Staff photo by Robert Franklin
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MICHIGAN CITY — With wind gusts up to 28 mph creating waves up to 7 feet Thursday, a steady stream of people flowed through Washington Park to view the whitecaps from the warmth of their vehicles.

“Love them!” said Patricia Majot. “I like bad weather.”

“They’re what we would consider moderate,” said her husband, Joel Majot. “They were bigger yesterday. It’s beautiful, we love it. We’d like to see our beach come back though. It’s about as bad as we’ve seen it in many, many years.”

With more big waves forecast for Friday, Lake Michigan’s record-high water levels and a warm winter that has prevented ice from building up to protect beaches from the waves’ wrath are driving growing worries about erosion, in a region that relies heavily on tourism each summer.

In a recent email to constituents, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, said the issue has his full attention. Last week he visited harbors in St. Joseph, Benton Harbor and South Haven to gauge the effects on tourism, boating, fishing, homes and infrastructure.

Upton earlier this month signed on to a bill introduced by two New York state representatives, the Safer Harbors for Our Recreational Economy Act, that would require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Office of Management and Budget to account for recreation-based considerations in cost-benefit analyses for harbor maintenance projects.

Upton, local elected officials and lakefront homeowner groups want the corps to dredge harbors more and redistribute the sand to eroding beaches.

Michigan City Mayor Duane Parry said he is concerned about the city’s disappearing beach fronts, but he’s not worried they will impact the coming summer tourism season.
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