Lincoln Township beach closes indefinitely

LINCOLN TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Shoreline erosion on Lake Michigan has closed down the Lincoln Township beach indefinitely.

Glen Lord beach closed a few years ago and this new closure means now the township has no beach going into the summer season.

Park officials tell ABC57 erosion has cut off 50 to 60 feet of this shoreline. There was a parking lot, boardwalk and beach area but now all of that is gone. And due to safety concerns, the beach is closing until further notice.

“Over the years, we could just see the hills falling in,” Doris Florian, a resident who lives near the shoreline said.

“We’ve lost a third of our stairs and probably ten feet of our dune within the last 5 weeks or so,” Tim Howard, a resident who lives on the shoreline said.

Erosion isn’t new for lakeside residents.

“We’ve had a lot of beach and then we’ve had no beach over the time,” Howard said.

And weren’t surprised to hear that with Lake Michigan’s high-water levels, Lincoln Township beach, just steps away, is closing indefinitely.

“It is closed because we are losing the beach itself,” Terrie Smith, the treasurer for the city who also works with the parks department said. “Until the water recedes it’s going to be closed because it’s just too dangerous right now.

The beach is mostly gone, and the parking lot is caving in.

“It’s very sad, we look at it all the time, we look at things on Facebook, people sending drones up and down the shoreline and it’s all gone,” Sue Privula, another resident said.

“Lincoln Township beach really got decimated,” Howard said. “That’s really scary too.”

Tim Howard and Doris Florian have their own private beach and over the years, that too has washed away.

“The beach just south of here that we own together really got torn up the last couple storms. They’re doing some work now just to hold what’s still left but it really got hit hard,” Howard said.

“We’ve been here about 62 years probably,” Florian said. “Way back then we had several hundred more feet of beach that you’d have to wear shoes, or you’d burn your feet it so far out. Over the years it’s right up there, so we have no beach.”

But the big question is will it come back?

“I’m hoping someday we will be able to use it again, not safe right now,” Florian said.

“We’re hoping some year it will recede,” Smith said. “We’re going to have to, once it recedes, bring in more sand to build it back up. It’s going to be a long process.”

Park officials tell ABC57 they don’t see the park reopening anytime soon but do hope that years down the road the beach can be rebuilt.

For more information on erosion and high lake levels, check out our previous story here.