LONG BEACH COMMUNITY ALLIANCE

P.O. BOX 167 MICHIGAN CITY, IN 46361

September 6, 2012 To all concerned: We are sending this letter to inform you of our new organization and the history of the issue of access and use of the Lake Michigan beach that has emerged recently in the Town of Long Beach. In addition we are asking for your support of our advocacy for a principled and correct outcome for the issue of beach access for all Long Beach Citizens. By way of explanation, our group was formed as a reaction to recent events in our Town relating to access to the beach for all of our citizens and the attempt by a small minority of property owners along the lakefront to block or restrict access and use by residents of the beach. Some property owners on the lake side of Lakeshore Drive hired an attorney and presented a resolution to the Town at a meeting of the Town Board a few months ago. The first meeting that their attorney had with the Town Board was later ruled to be an illegal meeting under the Open Door Law. At a later meeting of the Town Board, they presented their position and the proposed resolution during the public comment portion of a properly scheduled meeting. The resolution that was proposed by the lakefront property owners group through their attorney would have the Town restricting access to our historically public beach to a 10 foot right of way that would only allow passage by any one along the beach at the waters edge between the Stops in the Town of Long Beach. No stopping, standing, sitting or other activities would have been allowed under the resolution as proposed. This proposal would restrict many of the activities that we have all enjoyed over many, many years, and would undoubtedly negatively affect not only the quality of life for the majority of Long Beach residents and their families, but also negatively affect most of our property values as well. The proposed resolution is available at the Town Center if you would like to read it, or you may contact one of our steering committee members by email if you would like to receive a copy. But the lakefront property owners didnt stop at the Town Board to block or restrict public access and use. Through their attorney, lakefront property owners also made a presentation to the Natural Resources Commission, the rule making body for the Indiana Department of

Natural Resources, to change the present rule that defines the Ordinary High Water Mark as the boundary between private property and the State of Indianas property along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. This rule, currently in effect, allows unlimited public access to the land below the ordinary high water mark as established by the law of Indiana. Most of the members of our organization were present at the Town Board meeting, and some of us presented and spoke in favor of the view (which remains our view) that beach access and use should remain as it has for generations: the beach should be available to all for their responsible and legal access, use, and enjoyment provided by the law of Indiana and the Town of Long Beach. Our group, consisting of a sizable and growing number of members of our community, has formed the Long Beach Community Alliance. The LBCA is legally incorporated as a nonprofit corporation with a vision to organize like-minded individuals in the effort to advocate for our common interests on the issue of beach access, use, and preservation of the heart of our Towns character. To this end our organization has chosen a Steering Committee to guide us through the initial stages of our incorporation. We also have collected funds from our founding members and have hired James Olson, an exceptionally well-qualified attorney with great depth of knowledge and prior experience in the field of public advocacy on a range of similar issues in States adjoining the Great Lakes. He has already done considerable work for our group and continues to work for our interests at the State and local level. He has advised us about the legal framework surrounding our efforts and has been in contact with the State Department of Natural Resources repeatedly to argue for our position and keep the Commission from relenting to the pressure from the lakefront property owners attorneys efforts to invade on and change the present code and rule of law for public shoreline ownership, control, and use along Lake Michigan. Our attorney will be attending a public hearing on our behalf to refute the lakefront owners groundless proposal to the Natural Resources Commission to defeat public use of our lakeshore on Lake Michigan. The hearing is set for a meeting of the Commission to be held on September 18th in Potato Creek State Park, just outside of South Bend at 6:00 PM Central Time. This meeting is open to the public, and we encourage all of our citizens to attend. Our attorney also will be attending our Long Beach Town Council meeting on September 10th at 7:00PM to inform our Town Council Members of our position on this issue. We also encourage you to attend this Town meeting. We ask that you help us in this effort by informing yourselves of the issue and supporting our organization with a contribution to defray the legal costs incurred to make sure our position is fully represented. Our initial investment has brought us to the point where we stand today. As we are sure you are aware the cost of having such a well-qualified attorney is expensive. We feel confident in our position, but we need to keep our attorney working on our behalf and hope that you will help us in this effort. Please send your tax-deductible contribution to our post office box shown below; checks should be made payable to The Long Beach Community Alliance. We need these funds now to be able to continue our efforts to defend the long-established public ownership and our use of our beach. We have a certified public accountant on our steering committee to assist with accounting for all

contributions and expenditures as well as assure compliance with relevant not for profit statutes. We also ask that you provide us with your email address along with your contribution, so we can keep you informed and posted about our efforts. You can also visit our website at www.lbcall.org for updated information. There you will also find information on how to join our chain of information sharing on Facebook. We hope to host a meeting soon to answer any questions you have about the issues and the anticipated costs in moving forward. In the meantime, feel free to contact any one of our members listed below for additional information or to become actively involved with our efforts. Thank you in advance for your support. Sincerely, The Long Beach Community Alliance Steering Committee Post Office Box 167 Michigan City, Indiana 46361 Patrick Cannon Erin Geraghty Tom King Jim Neulieb John Wall Stop 20 Stop 23 Stop 23 Stop 22 Stop 20 pjcannon@gmail.com erin.geraghty@comcast.net kingtom1967@yahoo.com neuliebj@comcast.net wall11@comcast.net 219-877-8496 630-846-1636 312-209-1114 219-874-8575 219-874-7974