U.S. Fish and Wildlife announces grant of nearly $1 million.

The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians is slated to receive a grant of nearly $1 million from the federal government to build a 100- to 120-slip marina in Peshawbestown.

Tribal officials announced plans to build the marina in October 2007 and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced Feb. 13 that the grant would be made available to the tribe through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) program.

Also on Feb. 13, the Suttons Bay Township Board heard from tribal attorney John Petoskey and architect Steve Feringa, who asked that the board adopt a resolution in support of the tribe’s application for a “bottomland lease” from the state through the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The tribe hopes to lease 11.62 acres of state owned bottomland in Lake Michigan for the marina, which will be located just north of the tribe’s Eagletown Market gas station and convenience store on M-22 in Peshawbestown.

The township board voted 4-0, with trustee Ron Send absent, to adopt the resolution of support for the tribe’s project.

Petoskey noted that members of the general public had been provided opportunities to comment on the marina plan by the MDEQ and the Army Corps of Engineers, and would likely have additional opportunities for comment as a Notice of Construction is posted in the near future. He said that 117 or more slips are currently planned for the marina, although plans might yet be modified.

Feringa added that plans called for the construction project to start in June.

During last week’s meeting with tribal officials, Suttons Bay Township supervisor Rich Bahle noted that the waiting list for slips at the Village of Suttons Bay’s municipal marina is extremely long, and that a market for more boat slips clearly exists. Bahle said he believed the tribal marina would enhance the local economic base.

Tribal officials have acknowledged that their plans to construct the marina are part of an effort to diversify revenue sources for the tribe. Revenues from the tribe’s casinos as reflected in the most recent “2-percent” payments from the tribe are down more than seven percent from the same time last year.

Preliminary estimates put the marina project’s overall pricetag at somewhere between $5 million and $6 million.

Located within walking distance of a new tribal cultural museum now under construction in Peshawbestown – and within a stone’s throw of the Leelanau Sands Casino – the new marina could increase gaming revenue at the casino by $1.4 million annually according to a preliminary estimate prepared for the Tribal Council. If occupancy at the marina averages 60 percent, the marina could add $1.2 million to GTB coffers every year through slip rentals – transient, seasonal and long term.

Current plans call for the marina project to include fuel and sewage pumpout stations as well as restroom, shower and laundry facilities. Plans do not currently include construction of a boat ramp, with emphasis mostly on accommodations for larger, “non-trailerable” boats.

Funding for the federal BIG program comes from the Sport Fishing and Boating Trust Fund, formerly known as the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund, which is supported by excise taxes on certain fishing and boating equipment and boat fuels.