By Jessica Mathews/News@whmi.com


The Brighton Township board has given the go-ahead for an association to proceed with a special assessment district to fund repairs to the dam at Woodland Lake.

The Organization of Woodland Lake or Owl has been working for years to get the project going. The township received petitions representing 76.12% of property owners around the lake requesting the board set up a 15-year special assessment district for various lake management projects but most notably services related to the repair and maintenance of the dam. The board met virtually Monday night and voted 6-0 to adopt a resolution approving the Woodland Lake SAD and directed preparation of the assessment roll. A public hearing on the roll will be held August 17th.

Manager Brian Vick stated staff wasn’t opposed to the SAD and applauded residents for going through the effort to get signatures and gather feedback to tax themselves and improve infrastructure. He said staff is comfortable but wanted to make sure there weren’t any cash flow issues. Other concerns were related to liability and risk transfer and Vick said he just wanted to be cautious with a capital project such as this. He said staff questions have been addressed but wanted to make the board aware of potential risk. Vick acknowledged the effort has been going on for a long time - around 4 ½ years because the permit granted by state to OWL is good for 5 years.

Vick referenced the Edenville Dam that collapsed due to massive inflow from heavy rains in the area, prompting evacuations in nearby towns. He said everyone is particularly sensitive to making sure the repairs are done timely and that they don’t trigger additional expenditures down the road if the state changes the review process in light of the Edenville Dam. Vick said that’s impossible to know but felt it was important for people to understand that the SAD will be in place 15 years and that doesn’t necessarily eliminate a scenario where additional improvement to the causeway or dam would be necessitated because the state boosts engineering standards.

Among some of the conditions attached to the approval were written confirmation from the contractor hired by OWL, Myer Excavating, that the project will be constructed by the November 25th deadline – when the state permit expires. Performance bonds and other requirements are being requested that are typically in play for any township project. The township is not entering directly in to the contract but must be named a third party beneficiary in writing. Involvement of the township engineer is also being required for construction observation, but a different firm hired by Owl would remain the primary on the project.

Frank and Anita Grapentien are leading OWL’s efforts and the board thanked them for their hard work over the years, as well as a lot of time dedicated by township staff. They told the board time is of the essence due to the permit and there aren’t any more extensions so if the SAD process can’t get completed, they’ll have to start over from scratch. Anita commented that Myers Excavating is a licensed, bonded and insured company and are well versed in the type of work that has to be done – adding they’re not building or re-building the actual dam - just stabilizing the soil on the embankment to prevent erosion. She said “it’s not rocket science but when dealing with the state, everything is rocket science”.