Here's the back-story on the development of Harbor Shores. As abbreviated as possible.
Benton Harbor, where HS is located, is something of a twin-city to its neighbor, St. Joseph. St. Joe is the headquarters city for Whirlpool Corp. Relatively prosperous, upper-middle class. Benton Harbor, in contrast, is depression-era "rustbelt" by comparison. The two cities probably have opposite-percentage racial compositions. The developers wanted an anchor-type project; an ambitious game-changer for the city of Benton Harbor.
They settled on a mixed-use site; all was well, until they figured that they needed some prime dune-land for the Nicklaus Signature course. They were going to get that land, by taking over a portion of Jean Klock park, an old county park that features a lovely Lake Michigan beachfront, backed by some fantastic dunes.
The golf course design would not obliterate the beach; it would just reconfigure the parking lot, the park entrance and some of the inland areas of the park.
Local activists in Benton Harbor and other urban precincts exploded. There were charges of racism, etc. As the dispute festered for more than a year, the developers enhanced their plans; they would donate to the city, for additional new parks, more land than what was being taken for the golf course. And they would build new parking and amenities for the beachfront, which would of course remain open as a public beach. Of course, the entire development meant new income and opportunity for the struggling city. The local activists fought on, and went statewide with their protests. Complete with sneering at the game of golf, "Jack Nicklaus Signature" luxury connotations, etc.
The developers reamined steadfast. They had the near-unanimous support of the mayor and the city council of Benton Harbor; the county officials and even Michigan's Democratic Governor supported the project. The local paper supported the project. The developers even had to get the feds involved in the apporval, since in years past, the old beach park had fallen into such disrepair and disrepute (it was a great place to score drugs, I am told) that the county had ceded control to the federal government.
In the end, the golf course developers won a hard fight. The much disputed area is the teeing ground you see in the last photo above; it is just steps away from the crest of the dune that leads down to the Lake Michigan beachfront.
[Edit. - Somebody above suggested that they had to move a mountain of toxic waste or soemthing like that. My understanding is that there was some waste removal done, but that was all without controversy, and was in fact more related to the housing projects that have accompanied the golf course, and not so much the course itself. I'm not aware of any "mountain," and if there was that kind of removal, it only occurred because somebody did this project; otherwise it would all no doubt still be rotting in place. This was as closely-monitored as anthing like this I've ever seen in Michigan.]