The plan for a new sewer plant at M-14 and Napier Road stinks, according to Plymouth Township trustees.
The plan for construction of a new wastewater treatment plant has been proposed by Salem Township officials on property very close to the Plymouth Township border.
Salem Township applied for a permit for the wastewater plant with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). Salem has requested authorization to discharge 840,000 gallons of treated municipal wastewater into Fellows Creek on a daily basis. A new 558 home development planned by Schostak Brothers developers requires water and sewer connections to the 1,400 acres of property along M-14 where the homes are proposed.
According to reported figures, Salem Township has received three state grants totaling $35 million to bring water and sewer lines to the site of the proposed Salem Springs development. Schostak Brothers chairman Bobby Schostak is former chair of the state GOP.
Plymouth Township officials, however, have repeatedly opposed the development, approving resolutions in opposition in 2017 and again in 2020.
In a first effort to bring water and sewer services to the site, Salem Township officials requested permission to connect to wastewater services in neighboring communities, including Plymouth Township. The municipality also requested services from the Western Townships Utility Authority. Plymouth trustees denied that request and the utility authority management said the facility does not have capacity to serve the proposed wastewater discharge. Salem officials did subsequently strike an agreement with the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority (YCUA).
That agreement foundered, however, when officials from Superior Township denied permission to construct a sanitary sewer in a public-right-of-way in that community.
That issue is now before the Michigan State Court of Appeals.
