Summary
The Leelanau Township Board received a written public comment from David Brigham (Leelanau Forum) regarding Northport Creek, submitted for the record ahead of the January 13, 2026 meeting. No board decisions or votes were recorded in this document; it consists solely of correspondence forwarded for inclusion in the public record.
Public Comments
David Brigham submitted a letter, dated January 8, 2026, addressed jointly to the Northport Village Council, Village Planning, the Leelanau Township Board, and Leelanau Township Planning. He requested that his correspondence be read into the record at the regular monthly meeting. Brigham's central point was that Northport Creek, like all Michigan streams and rivers, is protected under the state's Public Trust Doctrine, making the citizens of Michigan the legal stewards of these waters. He included a quote from Aldo Leopold: "One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone with the wounds of the world."
Brigham also forwarded an earlier message, dated December 28, 2025, sent to William Harper, referencing a prior exchange with John Foote regarding Northport Creek. In that note, Brigham remarked that Foote may not be familiar with the common white sucker, a fish species, and noted that a scanned PDF attachment (his original response letter to Foote, dated December 25, 2025) was included with the correspondence. No response from the Township Board, Village Council, or named recipients is documented in this material.
Action Items
- Northport Village Council, Village Planning, Leelanau Township Board, and Leelanau Township Planning to enter David Brigham's letter into the public record, as requested.
- Underlying correspondence between David Brigham and John Foote regarding Northport Creek and the Public Trust Doctrine may warrant continued attention, given the ongoing exchange of letters on this matter.