Lake Leelanau Lake Association 2008 Member Survey (July 12 Update)
Are you a member of the
LLLA? 232 YES 27 NO
How long have you been a
LLLA member?
- Less then 5 years 46
- 5-10 years 33
- 10-20 years 60
- 20 years or more 39
If you have withdrawn your LLLA membership, please tell us
why
- because you people are
socialist in your views. For example, Wayne Tyge (no, I'm not him)..his
plan (initial plan to open up a marina area) was beautiful! It would have
been the best way to utilize that frontage with that land-use.
- No longer lake front owners,
but will contribute in the future
- Didn't remember to renew in
time, I guess
- Price went from $10 to $45
- I was, but I have reconsidered because
of the $45 membership fee. I know there has been additional costs because
of the legal expenses...after this issue (Narrows) resolves, will the
membership be decreased? Please respond. I fully support your
endeavors...keep up the great work
- I need to withdraw my
membership due to current financial circumstances
- I don't like the things you do
in court or do for selected members
- We've hesitated to join because
of lawsuits. We're ambivalent about them
- Activities not applicable to
our situation.
- Too expensive
- Lack of funds
- I feel most people are not
happy with the increase in dues
- Mom died (she
lived on Lake Leelanau).
- We ... had been members of the Association for many years but let our membership lapse in 2007 with the increase of dues. We were in support of the Association's efforts on the Narrows situation, but have parted company with the lawsuit. We believe that all that could be done with decisions at the local level and that the lawsuit is a colossal waste of money.
Are you satisfied with current activities of the LLLA? 218YES 12 NO
- Postitive Comments:
- Good balance of water protection, safety, fishing and legal
protection
- Currently covers all issues well
- I just wish that the narrows development and marine project would
have been nixed by the DEQ
- Keep up the good work
- Generally, we like what you are doing.
- When we hear about them. Please the LLLA is more active.
- Negative Comments:
- Membership fees are excessive; involvement of LLLA in litigation goes
beyond charter
- No....significant money spent on the Narrows project
- Don't need to spend so much money to know process of ducks and
swimmers itch - if you watch the lake mergansers are gone early; mallards rest
of the year...and the swimmers itch continues each year with the mallards
- The Narrows suit is totally ridiculous
- Munneke Room, Nedows Bay, Township Park? Do not even know where these places are!
- Walleye population is low on S. Lake and unhappy with
swimmer's itch.
- Narrows lawsuit is a complete waste of money. Also,
not much seems to be done to remedy the lack of fish in the lake.
- Concerns expressed:
- Very concerned re keyholing on North Lake
- I am concerned about the itch and zebra mussels and do not know
what, if anything, is being done about them
- Lake Leelanau continues to be a
mediocre fishing lake
- Any group could do more - keep dues reasonable, keep us informed
- Are there activities you
would like LLLA to place more emphasis on?
- Development & Lake Use
- Stop building in wetlands, as in the Narrows,
if you can
- Working with boaters and local media to make boating safer with less enviro
damange. Just say NO to condos. Keep fighting! Don't give
up! Bad precedent!
- Zoning and water quality
- Discriminatory taxation of non resident
- Keyholing problem
- Less government, more real issues
- Beware the road end issues. Road end hurts riparians. The
law supports riparians (Jacob v. Lyon Twp.) Don't promote
road access beyond the specific language of the original dedication
- Safe boating
- N & S Lake Leelanau township zoning effecting lake
health
- Over development
- Continue monitoring growth and development
- Control jet skis - eliminating them would be nice!
- More LLLA member participation in zoning as tool to protect the
lake
- Development of better zoning - but it is underway
- Yes - noise SCREAMING of jet skiers
- Lake access - how about pay-to-use access arms at all
ramps? They have these at Higgin's Lake/Houghton Lk
- No, but would like more information on cow farming on Lake shore
- I think the narrow's dock project is the greatest threat to the lake,
but I don't know if LLLA can do more
- Homeowner's rights
- Controlling private residence rental
- Public sewer
- Good focus on narrows development issue
- A sewer line around the lake
- Water Quality
- Continue focus on water quality
- Water quality | Water quality
- Solve the itch
- Water quality is by far the biggest issue for us. Much more
important than the Narrows fight
- Cleaning up the itch, maintaining ecological balance of lake,
recycling
- Swimmer's itch | Swimmer's itch | Swimmer's itch | Swimmer's itch | Swimmer's itch
- Eliminating merganser ducks
- Health of the lake
- Geese - major problem!
- Controlling foam
- Swimmer's itch still a problem
- Conservation
- Removal of Zebra Mussels
- Fishing
- Fish improvement
- Fishing habitat - south lake
- … stunted walleye
- Bass and bluegrass populations - less walleye
- Plant more perch
- Fishing
- Fishing is a great interest - many locals say fishing has
recently changed on Lake Leelanau - walleyes way
down.
- Communications & Member Services
- Just keep it up - wish I could help more!
- Do you still give out the LL Homeowner's Handbook Guide? It was
very informative and helpful to us and I now see so many new properties that go
against those suggested guidelines
- The annual meeting should be partially an opportunity to get to know
each other
- More interactive website
- Without the internet, we don't know what the tribal members say
about the ____. Your letter did not say
- Mixed or Generic
- Merganzers and zebra mussels; keyholing
- You're doing fine!!
- Youth fishing and swimmer's itch
- Zoning and water quality
- Halting development of Narrows, fishing & water
quality, and swimmer's itch!
- Just keep it up - wish I could help more!
- Swimmer's itch, fishing quality
- Generally, we like what you are doing
- Currently cover lake issues well
- Fishing and what more can be done re swimmer's itch
Do you favor zoning in the Narrows to
preserve as much of the remaining natural area as possible? 242 YES 7 NO
- Comment: Yes for safety
reasons
Do you favor compulsory
septic system inspections upon the sale or transfer of lakefront property? 182 YES
42 NO 1 MAYBE
- Positive Comments
- Yes, within 100 feet of lake
- Overflow / low liquids from old septic tanks coming from the older
cottages directly draining into the lake. There should be a complete
inspection of all these old systems (similar as to what they did on Crystal
Lake) with mandatory updates to protect the water.
- Was recently in Massachusetts & discovered
state law that all sellers of real estate must bring septic tanks up to code
before transfer of property. Where was the LLLA on this?
- Negative Comments
- Comments: I favor education on the matter and the ability of the
private sector to care for our wonderful environment
- Not when alternatives are not available
- Septic systems should require inspections or scrutiny when problems
become apparent, i.e. neighbor complaints, odor, etc.
- Buyers should do this.
- Mixed or Uncertain
- Concerned about septic systems that are grand-fathered or exist
between a house and the lake
- We believe in septic system inspections, but everyone should be
inspected - using realistic standards, not eutopian criteria. Doing on
sale of property is arbitrary and causes undue hardship for a small number of
people with very little overall effect
Should hours of operation
and noise levels of jet skis be regulated? 175YES 63NO
- Positive Comments
- Keep them well out from shoreline and docks
- Noise levels, yes, and polluting restrictions
- Noise levels should be regulated - how is a real problem. The
good thing is that the newer ones seem to be much better than the old ones The
worse noise we have on the South Lake is from several inboards, V/8 that run
Dry Exhaust. Also some of these high speed bass boats are very
noisy. Since jet skis have no running lights, DNR rules regulate their
hours of operation.
- [Regarding hours of operation] Michigan law does this!
- Especially early a.m. & dusk when people are fishing
- Negative Comments
- Comments: I do not own a jet ski, but I am NOT in favor of limited
hours
- Too hard to regulate
- Unrealistic
- No...in spite of the fact that I hate those things
- Haven't seen it as a problem
- I believe state law already restricts them to daylight hours.
Further restrictions would be difficult to pass and enforce
- No, the State of Michigan already limits the hours of jet ski use
- Mixed or Uncertain
- How will it be policed and who will pay for it?
- I don't like jet skis...but I also don't like regulation
- They already are...1 hour after sunrise to 1 hour before sunset
- They already are
- I thought they were
- Daylight only: 9am to dark.
Should road ends be used
for the placement of private multiple docks? 8 YES 217 NO
- This is crazy and should be prohibited legally
- If local zoning allows it, yes
- See Jacob: What does original dedication say? Public Use?
Public highway?
- Isn't this keyholing?
- Leland township has docks at most road ends
- Don't know much about this but probably no.
- Higgins Lake????? No No No No No No
- ??
- Do not understand this quest.? Just limit private multiple
docks!
- Depends on where they are
If LLLA used its web page
for questionnaires and reporting results, would you use the web page? 167 YES 47 NO 7 MAYBE
Zone A: North Lake Leelanau
Zone B: Lake Leelanau Narrow
Zone C: Lake Leelanau Narrows to Mebert Creek
Zone D: Mebert Creek to
south end of South Lake Leelanau
Did you experience any swimmers itch summer in 2007?
- Zone A: 48 YES
36 NO
9 SEVERE 14 AVERAGE 17 MILD/LESS
- Always an issue
- We did not get in the water because we did not want to get the itch -
we took our family/friends to Lake Michigan
- Always a big problem for children
- Zone B: 4 YES 5 NO
0 SEVERE 1 AVERAGE 1 MILD
- Happened frequently to family members.
- Zone C: 16 YES 26 NO
3 SEVERE 7 AVERAGE 6 MILD
- Average - it is always there every summer
- Severe, all over the body
- No, and we use the lake nearly every day in several locations
- Was mild, as long as brisk drying of legs/doesn't affect everybody
- Severe for some of our family, average or mild for most
- We swim in a variety of sandy areas in the north and south lakes and
have never been bothered by swimmer's itch
- We have it every year.
- Zone D: 30 YES 43 NO
6 SEVERE 12 AVERAGE 6 MILD
- Instead I experienced a red rash all over me after my first swim
- Severe for many years
- Severe, first time in six years
- Severe after picking up wood debris from sand bottom
- No, but a guest had mild swimmer's itch
- Average - friends no longer want to come out and swim
- Severe, south of Bingham
- Severe for several grandchildren - very unusual
- No, we don't swim near shore
- No, however the neighbors two doors down had some
- Great infestation of snails & mergansers very present in
season
Do you have infestations of zebra mussels at your
site?
- Zone A: 60 YES 22 NO
8 WORSE 27 SAME 13 LESS
- Zone B: 4 YES 4 NO
2 WORSE 0 SAME 1 LESS
- Zone C: 39 YES 12 NO
2 WORSE 22 SAME 7 LESS
- About the same, we have tried to remove all driftwood; several people
have been cut bad
- Zone D: 59 YES 22 NO
6 WORSE 31 SAME 12 LESS
- Zebra mussels are making our shoreline hazardous...what can be done
about them?
- Seems milder than previous years.
Have you noticed a change
in weed beds or algae growth
- Zone A: 19 YES 60 NO
- o Along shore in shallow water
- o Yes, water color has changed to murky and the lake bottom has a
coating on it. Not just clean sand any more
- o Algae on sand bottom - some increase in deeper water weeds
- o More algae We think there is noticeable change in the lake.
Clearer water. Lots of zebra mussels, foam on the surface and algae on rocks
- o Weed beds smaller.
- o Yes - cleaner ... but we're told zebra mussels are the cause.
- o Slightly muckier bottom. Weed growth in shade areas.
- Zone B: 2 YES 6 NO
- Zone C: 15 YES 33 NO
- I believe weed growth has increased in just the past few years
- Expansion of weed areas in adjacent, undeveloped lot
- Moved to deeper water
- Over last ten years beds have come closer to shore
- I have a sandy hard bottom frontage south lake over 14 years - it is
slightly more muddy looking at times
- Less algae More foam, less weed beds. Need more emphasis on
eliminating foam
- Weed beds have gotten bigger, lilly pads expanding
- Weed beds have disappeared.
- Zone D: 18 YES 59 NO
- Much more washing ashore - don't know where it is coming from
- As long as the cattle do not grange in the wetlands, the algae is
much better
- More weeds in last ten years
- Much white foam in last few years!
- More weeds
- More broken weeds on shore each morning
- Not as prevalent
- Surface suds problem continues on occasional days, particularly when
winds from N-NE. Who is discharging?
- Cedar River is much more overgrown than it use to be decades
ago.
- Early spring orange algae - late summer lake greener than past
- Bull rushes are really expanding.
Additional Comments
- Positive
Feedback
- Keep up the excellent work!
- Thank you for your work
- Thanks for this important work
- Thank you for all your hard work
- Great organization with dedicated board
- I think the LLLA is doing a great job. Thanks for the
efforts on Narrows Development. They are MOST
appreciated! We need to do more to protect water quality
- I fully support your endeavors. Keep up the great work
- Good Job!
- Great work! Need more volunteers to help with all the work that
needs to be done. Also, enforce how many docks per lot. Enforce
swimming areas closer to shore. Enforce boats no cruising close to shore
- Good job!
- Thank you for your continued efforts!!
- We feel board members have done a very good job over the years.
It's appreciated!
- We join because we like the effort you do to keep Lake Leelanau in good hands
- We do not live on Lake Leelanau but
support your efforts
- We live on Lake Michigan but care about Lake Leelanau and boat via public ramps
- Thank you for your efforts!
- Thanks for all those who participate.
- You are doing a great job and we appreciate all your work.
- Negative Feedback
- I am disgusted wit the LLLA attempt to control my liberty. Go
ahead throw my true american sentiments in the trash can, as you have done so
well. Please address my concerns in your next issue as I struggle with
the sad direction the LLLA has turned towards
- We don't need water quality police.
- Let's get off the narrows controversy. There is no problem with
a few docks there. I don't want my dues money used for this frivolous
lawsuit!
- Fish Related
Concerns & Remarks
- Overall quantity and size of perch, small mouth bass seem to be
improving on N. Lake after 5+ years of noticeable decline.
Still, few rock bass.
- Like to see more family fishing develop - blue gill or habitat for
smaller fish
- What about more volunteer opportunities? I enjoy fishing and am
always interested in more information. What about sign-up lists for those
looking for fishing companions?
- The walleye have been 13 inches for five years. One of the
reasons we love LL is that it is not crowded, it would be a big loss if that
were to change
- Other Concerns
& Remarks
- It would be helpful if each summer you sent out a flyer
telling/reminding residents how and where to recycle and what activities that
we might observe that could have a negative impact on water quality / per your
letter
- I love our sea planes
- If riparians have to pay (their portion) to maintain the lake via the
Leland Dam, then public ramps should be removed
- Conduct a study of the ecosystem of the Narrows and of
the interdependence of species found there. Could be a 5 year effort
requiring professional help. Map macrophytes in Lake Leelanau.
Could use help of DEQ, Tribe, and volunteers (WN)
- Fountain Point has the Fountain - we have the point. Love the
place
- More information on use of fertilizers and emphasis on natural
shoreline and foliages instead of lawns with regular grass
- Can you get an answer (via e-mail) on the access arms at all access
ramps?
- I am concerned about boat and cow pollution. Also the
disappointing results of the narrows development. Keep trying and thank
you!
- Will be selling house when market improves. LL becoming a
boating nuthouse Jul-Aug. No longer a nice place to live/retire
- We have talked with the township about replacing our existing
very old septic system with a new system, but the new rules are almost
impossible to have anything except a holding tank or a huge mound. Any
chance we will get waste lines? Our cottage is one mile down from St.
Mary's Church on South Lake Leelanau
- The Cedar River area should be no wake - no jet
skis fishing only, with (no wake)
- Adopt same policy as TC and great lakes regarding people
feeding the ducks and birds. They bring all the mess to the shore
line. Fish line works great on docks and keeps them out. People
around the lake feed them all the time
- I feel that the entire project at the narrows should have been
contested instead of just the dockage; the condos do not enhance the area
- The 100' setback from the waters edge seems draconian
- We need to control merganser populations in early spring
- Would someday like to have a lot on the last lot
- Our summer home is at the mouth of the Carp River.
- Should we address the influx of cormorants feeding on the lake?
- LLLA newsletters should be sent to every landowner/resident on Lake Leelanau, to NON members to promote awareness and issues
involved with the area. Non members are the best opportunity for new
membership.
- Keep up the Excellent work!
- You've done a great job fighting development at the Narrows.
- Very concerned with the Narrows & law suit & have not gotten any updates. We know the hearing by Judge Rogers was postponed
by DEQ. Now what?
- We live on Lake Michigan -- Houdek Dunes.