Harbor Shores Development

JeanKlock/Silver Beach changes get good reviews on their first Memorial Day weekend

By EVAN GOODENOW - H-P Staff Writer

Changes at Jean Klock Park andSilver Beach drew good reviews Monday on the first Memorial Day weekend sincethe changes.

“They’ve really fixed it upnice,” said Bob Frost of St. Joseph as he walked around the Benton Harbor park.“The beach looks in pretty good shape. There seems to be quite a few peopleusing it now.”

Cleanup and renovation at thepark and its beach were done last year by Harbor Shores developers in exchangefor leasing 21 acres of park land to build three holes of the 18-hole JackNicklaus Signature Golf Course. Harbor Shores – a $500 million, 530-acreresidential and retail development in Benton Harbor, Benton Township and St.Joseph – will further build a walking trail on 38 acres of contaminated land bythe Paw Paw River.

About $3 million was spent on the renovation, which included bathroom, parking and pavilion improvements, said Wendy Dant Chesser, president of Cornerstone Alliance, one of the nonprofit organizations developing Harbor Shores. She said a 20-yard trash container full of debris and trash was removed in April of last year.

Frost, 65, said he’s been coming to the park since he was 10 and thinks the exchange was worth it. “The park just wasn’t being used for a number of years,” he said.

Liz Lundy of St. Joseph, who came to the beach at Jean Klock Park for a cookout, said access is easier.

“Everything’s just more convenient and it’s so much cleaner,” said Adam Crain of Watervliet, who brought his wife, Tina, and daughters Trinity, 9, and Kiara, 7, to the Klock beach. Crain said it’s cleaner, though it’s harder to find a parking space than when they first began visiting about 10 years ago

“The only downfall is that it’s a tourist attraction,” Tina Crain said. “It used to be that just local people came down here.”

While several people who spoke with The Herald-Palladium favored the changes, Nicole Moon, a Benton Harbor resident and member of Protect Jean Klock Park, the group that sued Harbor Shores over the land swap, insisted it’s a bad deal"

Moon said dunes, dune access, trees and wildlife were destroyed in the 74-acre park in the renovations. Moon, reached by phone Monday evening, said it’s a matter of opinion whether renovations have improved the beach and park.

“In my opinion, they haven’t,” said Moon whose group is appealing a lawsuit defeat over the exchange. “The residents of the city of Benton Harbor have lost a great deal."

Beach gear is quickly gathered up and a boat speeds back to port Monday as storms approach Jean Klock Park in Benton Harbor.

While there are some critics of the Klock renovations, the new Silver Beach Center in St. Joseph, which opened Jan. 2, has avoided controversy. The center, which includes the carousel, Curious Kids’ Discovery Zone and the Shadowland Pavilion, drew about 1,300 people combined on Saturday and Sunday nights, according to Jonathan Fisk, a member of the Silver Beach Carousel Society Board of Directors.

Fisk said the carousel brings back good memories for those who recall the old one, which closed in 1971. “People are thrilled,” he said.

Among those visiting Monday were Roberta Johnson of South Bend, who brought her 3-year-old son Kevin Johnson.

“It’s very beautiful,” she said.