State wants barge moved-- again

Dec. 11—NORTHPORT — Turns out, everyone wants Donald Balcom to move his barge, Balcom included.

Bill Lanzit, who owns the home near Northport Point closest to where the vessel is beached, said it's been off his shore for 18 months. He wants it gone, and not just parked in front of someone else's home, either.

"That's kicking the can down the road," he said. "What we want to do is get this thing out of there."

State Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy officials told Balcom to move it in January, according to department spokesman Jeff Johnston.

The state Attorney General's office is reviewing the case, according to a statement from the office.

Balcom said he wants to move the barge, fix it and get it back to work, if he could — it's not making him any money sitting there, after all. Nature hasn't been cooperative, though, and it's still "hard on bottom."

"They don't want to see it as much as I do, I want to see it move more than they do," he said.

Balcom spoke to the Record-Eagle Friday, still in muck boots after visiting the barge and with pictures and documents to share. One was a printout of Lake Michigan-Huron water levels showing the precipitous drop after he first parked the barge in July 2021.

From August that year to February 2022, average lake levels dropped nearly 20 inches, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration measurements show.

Balcom said there's nothing to do but wait for water levels to rise enough to float the barge again. Nearby waters are too shallow for a tugboat to reach it, and pushing or dragging the barge from its current spot could damage it.

For now, the barge shouldn't be polluting or causing harm, Balcom said. He removed two jerry cans from it Friday and claimed there aren't any hydraulic fluids or other potential pollutants aboard — he said a sheen a Record-Eagle reporter spotted Friday looked like it's coming from the shoreline, and on Saturday he called the fire department check it out.

State officials' patience was already out before Balcom had the barge towed to its current spot, with EGLE officials threatening charges if the barge sank again.

That's right: This is the barge's second incident in just over two years.

Balcom said he built the barge himself around 40 years ago — he's been in the marine contracting business for even longer than that, and said he's done jobs along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Bad weather blew open a hatch, causing the barge to sink near Greilickville, Balcom said.

That was in November 2020, and EGLE gave Balcom until May 27, 2021, to get it off state bottomlands, as previously reported. Prior to that, the U.S. Coast Guard brought in a contractor to remove fuel, oil and other chemicals from the barge plus clean up those that had already spilled from it.

Then in early June, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians officials said Balcom didn't have permission to park the barge on the tribe's marina boat ramp.

They parked to patch a small hole, Balcom said. Afterward, he used it to repair a dock at a house on Northport Point, not far from its current spot. He set it there using the vessel's spuds — long pipes that hold it in place.

Lanzit said he first noticed the barge on July 18, 2021, when he heard two people yelling back and forth about where to stop it. He figured it was there to stage for a job and would be gone after a week or so.

"As far as I know, that barge hasn't moved since," he said.

When he came back for Labor Day 2021, it was still there and rocking so wildly in the wind, he thought it might capsize.

That's when Lanzit called EGLE, he said. But at the time, there wasn't anything they could do.

It wasn't until the barge sank that state investigators could take action to get it moved, Johnston said in an email. They did in January, and Balcom replied he would move it in July as water levels and temperatures allowed.

Balcom said the barge sunk after taking on water and one attempt to refloat it went nowhere — water levels were too low. Lake Michigan levels rose over the summer, but not enough to move the vessel.

Lanzit said the lake levels argument sounded like a red herring. He and wife Amy said waters were plenty high enough when Balcom left the barge there.

"We had our jet skis out, we were enjoying the lake," Amy Lanzit said. "There was water there. He dropped it and a year and a half later or whatever the water went down and so now it's on the bottom."

While Balcom said he might have moved the barge sooner had the Lanzits granted him permission to cross their property, Bill and Amy Lanzit rejected this — Bill called the assertion "infuriating."

For one, they never heard from Balcom until he asked a contractor working at the house to cross, Bill Lanzit said. A state investigator told Balcom the Lanzits didn't want him crossing their land prior to that.

For another, Balcom had access to the barge anyway, Amy Lanzit said — Balcom said he got permission from a different property owner but didn't want to say who.

While it looked to the Lanzits like Balcom originally left the barge where it is because he didn't want to pay to store it, Balcom insisted that's not so. He typically leaves it at marinas where he works, and they don't charge him to store it.

"If we could park it someplace else, it'd be no problem," Balcom said.

In November, a detective with EGLE and the Department of Natural Resources' Environmental Investigation Section left a letter on the crane atop Balcom's barge telling him he had 48 hours to move it, Bill Lanzit said.

The EIS at one point asked the Leelanau County Prosecutor to press charges against the owner but the prosecutor declined, according to a state Attorney General's office statement.

A message for county Chief Assistant Prosecutor Douglas Donaldson was left Friday.

Then the EIS consulted with the Attorney General's office, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to the statement.

Balcom, asked if he's concerned he may be charged, said he just wants to get the barge out. He said he's not getting any sympathy from state investigators who want it moved right away.

But Bill and Amy Lanzit said Balcom left his property there in the first place.

Meanwhile, EIS investigators continue to monitor the barge, as they have been since June 2021, according to the state Attorney General's office.