Public interest vs. private homes: Climate change and erosion fuel disputes along Lake Michigan’s shoreline

Steve Coombs’ lakefront home used to quake when waves crashed along Ogden Dunes’ receding shoreline.

“At one point, my wife said, ‘Should we just move out? Should we just go to a hotel?’ I mean, it’s very unnerving,” he recalled.

But fleeing the “biggest asset that we own” wasn’t an option for Coombs, who said he enjoyed 60 yards of sand between his home and the lake when he bought it a decade ago.

“There are some people who say, ‘Well, you folks built houses where they shouldn’t have been built,’ but that’s not the case,” Coombs said.