Saturday, October 31, 2026Antrim County, MichiganLocal reporting · from the record
The Torch Lake Observer
What the public record shows — from the Clam River to the Narrows
Public hearing Dockside Village · Wed., Nov. 4 · 7 p.m. · Township Hall, 321 N. Bridge St., Bellaire 4 days · Send a comment →
Investigation · Forest Home Township

A 71-foot tower, a 305-seat restaurant — and a septic plant with no state permit

The Dockside Village filing tells the Planning Commission its sewage plant is “separately permitted and approved.” The state’s own public file shows an application still in process, a construction permit on hold — and zero gallons budgeted for the five condos.

By Observer Staff · Published Oct. 31, 2026

Developer’s rendering of Dockside Village seen from the water: a three-story building with a rooftop deck and a tall lighthouse-style tower.
The developer’s own rendering of Dockside Village from the water. PUD submission, filed Sept. 18, 2026.
  1. 1No permit, 178 days in. State groundwater application HQN-8FKV-VNJY4 has been “in process” since May 6, 2026; the public notice that must come before any permit has never posted (as of Oct. 31).
  2. 298.5% already spoken for. The applicant’s own sewage design allocates nearly all of the plant’s 15,000 gallons a day — and none to the five condos, the bakery or the retail.
  3. 3One plan, two phases. The ownership statement omits “BaseCamp at Torch Lake,” 18 homes marketed from the mid-$800,000s — though the same filing credits “The BaseCamp Team.”
Read the full investigation →
What changes for the public

The Clam River mouth today, and under the proposal

Dockside has long been a public-facing place: a restaurant and boat rentals beside a sand beach at the mouth of the river. Here is what the developer’s own filing keeps, adds and changes.

TodayUnder the proposal
Restaurant & rentalsThe Dockside restaurant and boat & watercraft rentals, open to everyone.An expanded restaurant (305 seats on the site plan), new watersports facilities, and a new coffee/ice-cream shop and retail space.
The beach & road-endA sand beach on the site (Lot 15, the applicant’s parcel). The filing also describes public access at the end of Old Torch Lake Drive.The filing says the sand beach “will remain” and the public access “will be maintained,” with a new pedestrian plaza at the road’s end.A promise in the narrative, not yet a condition of approval.
The buildingThe existing restaurant and watersports buildings.Both torn down for a three-story, 29,177-sq-ft building with a 71-foot “lighthouse” tower, lit amber at night.
HousingApartments above the restaurant, which predate the zoning and are allowed to continue as “non-conforming.” The filing doesn’t say how many there are or how they’re used.Five condominiums sold as second homes, rented by the week only through the developer’s management company. The filing says this “corrects” the non-conforming apartments.The ordinance lets grandfathered uses continue but says they “shall not be enlarged, expanded or extended” (§ 2100).
Shoreline & setbacksThe township’s setbacks and its 50-foot native-vegetation shoreline strip (§ 323) govern any new building.Setbacks cut to zero on the road, the deck’s edge on the river, and 20 feet on the lake.§ 323 applies only if the permit says so.
ParkingParking along Old Torch Lake Drive in the public road right-of-way, plus the lot on Lot 18.The same areas, restriped: 110 spaces, 75 of them in the road right-of-way. The plan’s own calculation requires 184; it counts 23 “boat parking spaces” at the docks and off-site parking agreements toward the rest.
WastewaterThe site’s own drain field.A private plant shared with BaseCamp’s 18 homes, discharging to groundwater.No state permit yet; the township declined responsibility for it.
Construction—Demolition in fall 2027; the restaurant reopens May 2028.

The part the public can secure on Nov. 4: inside a Planned Unit Development, the township’s usual protections — and the developer’s own promises — bind only if they are written into the permit (§ 1641.C). Keeping the beach, the road-end access and the shoreline strip can be made conditions of approval. The conditions the Commission can require →

Sources: Dockside Village PUD submission, 9/18/2026 (project narrative, staging, lighting; site plans A2.0–A2.1: setbacks, parking calculation, property block); Spicer Group flow narrative (existing drain field); FHT Zoning Ordinance §§ 323, 1641.C, 2100; township letter of 6/5/2026; 2026 parcel roll (Lot 18).

Inside this investigation

2026 aerial photo of the Dockside rental marina at the Clam River mouthThe marina

The rental marina grew first, then got its permit

Aerials show the dock and hoist footprint roughly doubling between 2021 and 2023–26.

 Engineering drawing of the proposed sewage treatment and discharge layoutWastewater

Where 15,000 gallons a day would go

The design, the discharge field, and the water it returns to.

 Marketing rendering of BaseCamp at Torch Lake homesOne plan

BaseCamp: phase two is already for sale

Recorded documents tie both sites and the sewer association together.

 2026 wide aerial of the backland borrow pit where the sewage plant would goThe pit

“Currently being constructed”?

The latest aerial shows the borrow pit growing back, not being built on.