Efforts being made to address New Buffalo Beach Erosion

NEW BUFFALO, Mich.--- Beach erosion along the shoreline in New Buffalo Michigan continues to impact homeowners and beach goers.

Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist paid a visit to the area to talk about potential solutions.

Ted Grzywacz, who’s a homeowner along the shore and President of the New Buffalo Shoreline Alliance said it’s tough watching the property being destroyed.

“It’s never good when you have to fight to reclaim what should be there and it’s never good when you watch property when you watch property be destroyed,” said Grzywacz.

Grzywacz has lived on the shore since 1989 and says when he moved to the area there was a 30-foot beach and now there’s no beach at all.

“But there’s something about being able to come to the beach and walk on it and sit on it and drop an anchor in the lake and come back up to it. You can’t do that anymore,” said Grzywacz.

The homeowner said he hasn’t lost any of his home to the water like some people have in the past, but he does pay a price.

“We just keep spending money on what’s left of the bluff,” said Grzywacz. Every time you do one of these reinvestments it’s about $50,000 to $150,000.”

With people’s homes being damaged, property values going down, and a water pump at stake, community leaders said they want the state to look into the problem.

At a round table Lt. Gov.Gilchrist listened to their concerns.

Lt. Gov.Gilchrist told ABC57, the state is still in the beginning stages of finding a solution and he hopes to include funds in the upcoming budget.

One solution community members mentioned was to take the sand that went into the lake and bring in back out to the shoreline. They admit it would be a short-term fix, while they await long-term funding.