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Let me be the first to say "I doubt it," but in anticipation of a new burst of energy here, I'm rolling out a fresh post to replace the Turning the Page on Sugar Loaf post with its nearly 400 comments.

This week's Leelanau Enterprise reports that Sugar Loaf owner Kate Wickstrom met with Glen Dempsey, head of the Leelanau County Construction Authority. Dempsey intends to work with Wickstrom towards bringing the long-shuttered resort into compliance with county building codes.

Probably the highlight of the article - other than confirmation that Wickstrom now intends to sell the property - is Cleveland Township supervisor Rick Stein's statement to the township board that Sugar Loaf stands a "pretty good chance of being condemned if things don't happen there pretty quickly."

Thoughts? Comments? Post them below!

The photo is by Karl Kitchen and was posted to the Friends of Sugar Loaf Facebook group.

While I think the headline New Hope for Sugar Loaf? has been used two or twenty times before, this story from last week's Ticker has some positive news. They report:

The Leelanau County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (LCBRA) recently made a small but meaningful move in the hiring of AKT Peerless. The Saginaw-based consulting firm’s mission: to market and make use of a $1 million dollar revolving loan fund granted to LCBRA by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Roughly 80 percent of the fund would be available to developers to help with up-front and long-term environmental clean-up costs in the county, a tantalizing incentive LCBRA hopes will make redeveloping the resort more attractive to potential developers.

But what exactly needs to be cleaned up? And how much will it cost?

Leelanau County Planning Director Trudy Galla tells The Ticker that the project wouldn’t be easy – or cheap: “The buildings are falling into disrepair … There are issues with mold, water intrusion and a bit of asbestos. There was also a septic backup in one of the buildings. It looks like the Tennis Barn will need to come down, and there are old underground storage tanks that need to be removed.”

Photo by Karl Kitchen from the Friends of Sugar Loaf group on Facebook - see more of the condition of the resort in his Sugar Loaf - April 2010 Album on Facebook!

April 1, 2011, Maple City, MI - Today financial magnate, reality TV star and Presidential aspirant Donald Trump unveiled "Trump Leelanau", a combined hotel, office park and high-end pet spa in Maple City. At 1723 feet, the soaring structure easily surpasses the Willis Tower in Chicago as the tallest building in the United States.

"Those who know me know that I like to dream big, and go big," The Donald explained. "Michigan has really been hurting and I wanted to make a statement that it's time for Michigan to go big or go home. I chose Maple City because everyone knows that you can't beat the jerky at Gabe's and also because I found out that Maple City residents spend an average of $67 per year more on pet recreation than the national average."

Long-time Maple City resident Lois Flaska expressed a common sentiment, telling us "Well like everyone else, it's taking some getting used to for me when I take Mr. Fluffles for a walk and all of the sudden bam! there's this giant building up there and I think I'm in New York or something.

It's really nice that Mr. Trump is offering a 50% discount to all Maple City residents on pet grooming - Mr. Fluffles really loves his new 'do!"

If you enjoyed this...

Tim Allen declares for Governor!

Foretold Pole Switch a Boon for Leelanau - a rare bonus for those "left behind" on Spring Break

Great Lakes Submarine Photo Validated - what lurks under Lake Michigan?

Sheriff's Department Announces New "Sky Eye" Program - via the Leland Report.

Stunning Cherry Discovery - Researchers find startling new health benefit for cherries.

Sleeping Bear Awakes tells the story of what happened when the legendary Mishe-Mokwa, the sleeping bear of Sleeping Bear Dunes, woke up.

Fishtown Theme Park - Michigan's newest theme park opens in Leland!

Pyramids Unearthed tells of a dramatic discovery made by a kindergarten class at Pyramid Point.

Strange Tourist is a dramatic account of a "tourist" who came from a looong way!

Leelanau County isn't the only part of Michigan to experience odd events. Click for Jeff Daniels to star in Chrysler Emigrated from Escanaba commercials, Bank bailout "tweak" to spur auto industry and Canadian Freeze Ray Wreaks Havok on Michigan!

The public is invited to a community conversation about Natural Resources and the Economy on February 23rd asking the question: Is a View of the Bay Worth More Than Half the Pay?

How important do you think natural resources are to the future of our economy? Join business leaders and the Grand Vision Natural Resources Network for a panel presentation and community conversation on Wednesday, February 23rd from 6:00 – 9:00 pm to discuss how these resources help to drive our region’s prosperity. The event will be held at the Oleson Center in Traverse City, located on the main campus of Northwestern Michigan College. It is being hosted by the Natural Resources Network of the Grand Vision, which includes businesses, civic , and environmental organizations.

The event will feature opening remarks by Derek Bailey, Tribal Chairman of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; a panel discussion with Jim MacInnis, President and CEO of Crystal Mountain Resort, Matt Myers, Co-Owner of M-22, Deborah Wyatt Fellows - Publisher of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine, Kim Pontius, Executive Vice President of the Traverse Area Association of Realtors and Gene LaFave, Developer.

Panelists will share their perspectives on the importance of natural resources to the success of business in our region and then participants in the event will be invited to join break out groups to discuss the following questions as they relate to different topics such as recreation and access to nature, regulatory frameworks, education, energy, food, transportation, and housing.

Snacks will be served and door prizes, including several wildlife prints, will be awarded. There is no fee to participate, but pre-registration is encouraged due to limited space. You may register by contacting The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, 231-935-1514 Ex. 4 or by e-mail todbaker@gtbay.org. On-site registration on the day of the event begins at 5:30pm.

Photo Credit: Pyramid Point from Van's Beach in Leland by Trish P. - K1000 Gal

Jeff Smith of Traverse Magazine asks Can Sugar Loaf Mountain Come Back? After presenting a really excellent history of the resort from its founding in 1964 and through its sad demise (we're almost at the 10 year anniversary of its closing), Smith takes a look at what's going on right now. Some highlights:

Rumors are circulating that some kind of Sugar Loaf deal is in the wind involving an investment group headed by David Skjaerlund, from Owosso. Skjaerlund spent the past several months getting options on several Sugar Loaf town houses and nearby properties, according to Tony Mattar, who co-manages the town house association.

(County Commissioner Dave "Chauncey" Shifflet) has worked with county planner Trudy Galla to establish a brownfield development authority in large part to address any contamination issues at Sugar Loaf—subsequent studies of the buildings and underground storage tanks have found very little contamination. He and Galla have also laid the groundwork for a tax increment finance zone that could help the developer pay for demolition and cleanup costs.

...Shifflet has been beating the drum for a business center there for years now—high tech info-based businesses that just need a fat data pipeline to do their work. “We have an aging population. We have to figure how to attract young working families that doesn’t revolve around recreation. We need employment opportunities, like intellectual arts, multimedia content creation, maybe a film production studio. People working day in and day out, not just on the weekends,” he says.

Click to read much more at MyNorth.com, and if you have comments, please post them to our Sugar Loaf blog!

Photo credit:Sugar Loaf Mountain from Ski Michigan (see a couple more photos right here and get more Michigan skiing info at skimichigan.com!)

The wine industry is booming on the Leelanau Peninsula and the Leelanau Enterprise has a report on work at one of these, the new Boathouse Vineyards located just north of the bridge on the Narrows in Lake Leelanau.

The owners of Boathouse Vineyards and “Treeridge, L.L.C.,” which owns the one-acre waterfront property, plan to build a new boathouse on the old piers for their personal use, then construct a 2,000 square-foot wine tasting room with a parking lot off St. Mary’s Street north of M-204.

Owners Dave and Jane Albert of Leland left downstate Ionia and their automotive supply business six years ago to adopt the “up north” lifestyle and go into the wine business...

“The vineyard is now producing grapes, and French Road Cellars has been making most of our wine,” Albert said, “We hope to start offering our wine to customers at our new tasting room in the spring.”

The boathouse will be used for the Alberts’ own pontoon boat – which they may use to deliver wine to customers residing on the Lake Leelanau waterfront. In fact, the boathouse will be completed before the tasting room, and will include a commercial dock parallel to the shore where customers may tie up their boats long enough to visit the tasting room.

Photo credit: The Narrows by Bean in Sylvan Lake

courtesy The Grand Vision

The Ticker from the Traverse City Business News has a feature on the Leelanau Hills development that explains how contractor Bob Mitchell of Bob Mitchell & Associates of Kingsley became the new owner of Leelanau Hills in the the BayView development in Suttons Bay. He wasn't getting paid:

So Mitchell took legal recourse and sued developer Marcus Yono of Brighton for the $82,000 due to him. Imagine his surprise when no one bothered to show at the sheriff’s sale, leaving him the owner of the 45-acre development.

...According to Kit Wilson, the Suttons Bay Township Assessor, the property’s SEV is $3,196,970, resulting in a true value of $6,393,940. Quite a buy for that $82,000 lien.

Mitchell intends to have units at the development available for sale by next June or sooner.

Photo: Near Perfect... by KT of Lake Orion

Discussion closed here and continues at Turning the page on Sugar Loaf.

The headline reads Smith pulls Sugar Loaf bid: Sugar Loaf owner calls would-be developer 'a joke', and in it, Bill O'Brien of the Traverse City Record-Eagle reports that Liko Smith has withdrawn his bid for the long-shuttered Leelanau ski resort.

"I wanted to believe this was going to happen," Wickstrom said. "But he's obviously without the means to do anything."

Smith's website stated, "Unfortunately, at some point it is not healthy to (pursue) a deal," and he was pulling out of the project.

"I'm like the sixth buyer here, and I've got the farthest," he said.

Really? I wasn't aware that there were varying degrees of "nowhere" you could get to. Now we're left at the point where we were when Liko crashed into the scene this spring with one very important difference: a bunch of people are paying attention to Sugar Loaf.

We've decided to close our massive Sugar Loaf thread to new posts, add a link to the hibernating Friends of Sugar Loaf group on Facebook and start anew here with the simple question, What now for Sugar Loaf?

From The Grand Vision:

ACTION FOR TOMORROW!

The Grand Vision Citizen Action Expo takes place on Monday, May 10th at Northwest Michigan College's Hagerty Center in Traverse City from 5:30 - 7:30 PM.

Grand Vision WorkshopsOver the past three years, nearly 15,000 residents from Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau and Wexford counties participated in the Grand Vision: attending workshops, filling out scorecards and generating an unprecedented level of community support in selecting a preferred growth scenario for the next 50 years.

Now the time for action has come. On May 10, 2010 the Grand Vision Citizen Action Expo will kick off a six-county wide action campaign to implement the Grand Vision.

This event will kick off our citizen action campaign and offer folks in the region a chance to learn how to get personally involved with implementing the Grand Vision. Participants will engage in a hands-on session that will guide them through specific action opportunities to implement the Grand Vision. Opportunities range from personal action, to volunteer partnerships with local organizations and non-profits, and community leadership roles. In true Grand Vision fashion, the whole process will be citizen led.

Dozens of local organizations, non-profits and businesses who are building the Grand Vision will be on-hand to offer information and support. Plus, there will be a fresh update on the progress of the Grand Vision working groups and the Grand Vision Transportation study.

The Grand Vision Citizen Action Expo will launch a series of expos that will take place in Antrim, Benzie, Kalkaska, Leelanau and Wexford counties. More information on those events will be coming soon.

What: Grand Vision Citizen Action Expo

Help us promote the Grand Vision Expo!

Download and print the 2010 Grand Vision Expo Poster!

Promote the Grand Vision Citizen Action Expo by joining our cause on Facebook!