While the writers at the Enterprise don't pretend to be psychics or swamis, we're not afraid to gaze into the crystal ball and give our predictions for the kinds of news stories we think will shape Leelanau County in 2008.

Besides giving our predictions today, we’ll also take a look back at our prognosticating from a year ago.

Here’s what the Enterprise staff sees for the coming year, together with a little self-analysis on how our predictions for 2007 turned out:

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By Alan Campbell

A year ago I prophesied that there was little chance of gas prices going down, Iraqis embracing Americans or the Michigan economy outpacing China.

Actually, those were my cherry picks, which was quite appropriate considering present geography. More challenging was my prediction that 2007 would be the year Leelanau County confronted its illogical network of providing emergency services to residents.

To some extent, many of the problems inherent with splitting jurisdictions along township borders have been uncovered. Residents in the eastern side of Leelanau appear less inclined to approve millage increases. Two attempts were needed to approve a Suttons Bay-Bingham property tax; a tax increase failed twice in Elmwood.

And flareups have been reported within Cedar and Leland Township fire departments.

A county-wide group has been formed to study solutions, but appears a long way from consensus.

Here's another cherry pick: providing emergency services will become even more volatile in 2008 as townships grapple with how to create paid departments from a mostly volunteer base.

I wish I believed a better scenario was on the horizon, but I have no idea how this issue will play out.

So please allow me to borrow a trick from politicians, and switch the subject to the political side of Leelanau. After all, 2008 is an election year.

My crystal ball predicts four county commissioners will be re-elected, and sees a record fourth term for the county sheriff. Despite having to attend rancorous meetings and complaints about low pay, a record number of residents will seek township and county positions as a dismal economy proves a better recruiter than either political party.

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By Amy Hubbell

So, I was partially correct in my predictions for 2007.

The Department of Environmental Quality moved faster than what I believed was possible and approved permits needed for both the Northport/Leelanau Township sewer project, and Provemont Village. Both contentious projects, the state agency approved the permits for the sewer and the condominium waterfront development in spite of considerable protests and litigation by those opposed.

The DEQ issued a “finding of no significant impact” for the sewer in March. Bonds to finance the municipal project were sold this summer and construction on the treatment facility and collection system began this fall.

An opinion from a state administrative law judge gave the Provemont Village the “green light.” But a change in the layout of the proposed docks for the development is one reason for a lack of construction at the site, located on the Narrows of Lake Leelanau.

Predictions for 2008: Work will progress on the Northport/Leelanau Township sewer project with some homes and businesses hooked up by year’s end. The remaining lawsuits contesting the project as proposed will be dismissed and homeowners who have refused to sell right-of-way needed for the sewer as planned, will lose their property and receive what’s been offered by the Northport/Leelanau Township utility authority.

The first earth for the Provemont Village Project will be moved soon after the soil thaws.

Elsewhere in the county, there will be more fighting before all is said and done with the Cedar sewer, on which work won’t begin in 08. And in Glen Arbor, where a proposal for a public restroom on the site of the former fire station has surfaced, there will be no “relief” for visitors as plans get bogged down in the permit process and differences in opinion about how the facility will be financed and maintained.

Septage issues will continue to occupy the pages of the county newspaper in 2008 and beyond as communities on the Leelanau Peninsula continue to grow in population.

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By Eric Carlson

Last year I predicted “more of the same” for Sugar Loaf Resort through 2007 and, by golly, I was right. In retrospect, however, that prediction was too easy.

By “more of the same,” I meant that we would go through yet another winter of no skiing at the resort, and that the resort’s owner, Kate Wickstrom, would continue to flounder and make no progress toward reopening or redeveloping the resort. And all of that happened in 2007 – or, actually, didn’t happen as the case may be.

Wickstrom has not only been way out of her depth as a ski resort owner and would-be developer, she may also be in over her head with the people who hold the mortgage on the resort. It’s clear that the people holding the note have significant ties to Remo Polselli, the convicted felon who headed the corporation that formerly owned Sugar Loaf Resort.

I will go way out on a limb this year and predict that Wickstrom (or whoever really controls the purse-strings behind Sugar Loaf) will sell the resort in 2008 – probably to an Omena resident who doesn’t want to talk about it publicly until it’s a done deal. Brad Lutz has my best wishes – and my best hopes that he can reopen Sugar Loaf Resort for skiing during the 2008-2009 season.

In fact, I am making the prediction right here, right now, that Lutz will succeed. (But I’m estimating his actual chance of success at 50-50. How courageous is that?)

On another, unrelated topic, I predict that in 2008 the suit filed against me and the Leelanau Enterprise by BayView developer Marcus W. Yono will be thrown out of court for being the baseless bit of nonsense that it is. I also predict that the number of lawsuits filed against the BayView developer in 2007 – nine of them so far – will increase in 2008.

What will actually happen with the largest single planned residential development the Village of Suttons Bay has ever seen? Plenty, I hope.

Whatever happens to the current developer in terms of his ability to dig himself out of the hole he has dug for himself – and continues to dig even deeper – any truly positive changes at BayView will come as the result of Michigan’s real estate market and economy turning around in 2008. Sadly, I must predict that won’t happen.

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By Chris Olson

I should have gone 2-for-2. I came pretty close, with only half of my Timber Shores prediction coming true. I prophesied that the 496-unit planned unit development would get final approval and construction would start. NM Investments did receive final approval for work on Phase I, but as of today, nothing has been built on the property.

However, my Leland tree prediction was very close. I gazed into my crystal ball and saw that the landmark tree, which had been labeled a potential safety problem, would still be standing as of Christmas 2007 – with fewer limbs. That indeed did happen. I predicted the outcome would take a year, but it all came together rather quickly.

So, I’m feeling pretty good about 2008, at least as far as prognostication skills are concerned, after all I’m batting .500.

So here are my “big” predictions for 2008:

• There will be progress for Lake Leelanau resident Wayne Tyge and his Provemont Village development. He will get the final MDEQ permit needed to begin construction, but will have to stop as an already filed lawsuit by Lake Leelanau Lake Association keeps the dirt unshoveled on the shores of the Lake Leelanau Narrows. By year’s end, the Narrows will look much like it does now.

• By the end of December 2008 there will be an organized effort to bring sewer service to the Village of Empire. No actual sewer pipe will laid, and there will be an equally organized effort to fight bringing sewer service to the only incorporated village in the county without a centralized sewer system.

• And for all those sports heads out there, my Super Bowl prediction: New England 45, Dallas 20.

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By John Tune

Exactly one year ago, I commented on the 2006 closing of the McDonald’s restaurant in Greilickville. Fast-food, drive-through restaurants make no sense in Leelanau County, I claimed, and I didn’t expect any new chain to fill the spot once occupied by McDonald’s by the time 2007 came to an end.

Sure enough, the former location on M-22 remains quiet. The only two things you’ll notice on the site right now are a shallow blanket of snow, and a For Lease sign. Perhaps some day, as Greilickville continues to evolve and waterfront development plans move forward, another business will open at the old McDonald’s site. But with plenty of restaurants already nearby, we simply don’t need another fast-food option.

I count at least 11 McDonald’s, Burger Kings, and Taco Bells in the Traverse City area, and that’s plenty for people who have a hankering for a Big Mac, Whopper or Chalupa.

Speaking of plenty, a lot of people – including myself – are hoping for a bountiful winter of snowfall this season. Sadly, I don’t see it happening.

We need a big winter snowfall total to help replenish wetlands in the county that are drying up at a somewhat alarming rate, and to boost Lake Michigan water levels that are nearing historic lows. Snowmobilers, who help the local economy in several ways when the trails are packed with snow, are also hoping for plenty of snow.

I’m a data and statistics guy, however, and in looking at both the current month and recent years, I can’t help but think snowfall totals will maintain their trend of being below average. In seven of the last 10 Decembers, we’ve had less than 40 inches of snow. It looks like we’re on pace for another December of under 40. If we’re lucky, we might go past the 40-inch mark – barely.

Meanwhile, we haven’t cracked the 150-inch total for snowfall in a winter since 1996-97. Winters of 175 inches or more used to be commonplace in Leelanau. In the last 10 years, however, we’ve only averaged 125 inches for the winter. Look for more of the same.