By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


Hartland Township officials are agreeing to a settlement with a developer on a lawsuit with roots dating back to the Great Recession.

Livingston County Courts had ordered facilitation between the township and the common owner of Hartland Glen Development and Clyde Land Investment for 2 separate cases, combined for this settlement.

Hartland Township manager Bob West said that following the Great Recession, a lot of developers found themselves in a negative equity position and this particular one at that point chose to challenge the township with what REUs were allocated to the parcels. West said the case has been ongoing for 10 years, and ultimately he thinks the catalyst for settling is that everybody wants to move on and the developer wants to develop the property. As part of the agreement, the township will forgo approximately 133 unpaid payments for REUs and purchase an additional 25 from Hartland Glen Development. They will pay the plaintiff $580,000 for these and any other claims the developer may have, such as attorney fees.

West said this won’t hurt current residents at all or affect the sewer rates. He told WHMI that, essentially, they purchase capacity from Livingston County and subsequently Genesee County because they treat the township’s sewage. What this does, West says, is increase the capacity they have in reserve and allows for additional developments down the road.

The township is also giving four parcels back to the developer, which will allow them to return onto the tax roll. The Board of Trustees voted 6-0 in favor of entering the settlement, which will be signed by the Supervisor and Clerk, before going back to the Court.