Canton sewer resolution prompts heated response
The sewer line is necessary to service development of 1,400 acres of property near Godfredson and Napier roads. A development of about 550 residential units along with condominiums, and mixed-use commercial buildings is planned for the area. To provide sewer service to the development, Salem Township officials initially proposed constructing the sewer line through neighboring Superior Township. Following a three-year court battle, the refusal of Superior Township to allow the sewer line was upheld by the Washtenaw County Circuit Court.
The proposal to construct the sewer line through Canton, Plymouth and Van Buren to send sewer treatment to the Ypsilanti Community Utility Authority (YCUA) was then devised as an alternate following the court decision. Plymouth Township trustees reluctantly agreed to allow the line through that municipality after long negotiations and repeated refusals. Members of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees have reportedly indicated their willingness to consider approval of the line.
In the Canton resolution, however, approval of the plan is contingent on Salem Township connecting Canton residents currently using septic systems along the proposed route of the sewer line to the new system. The connections, according to the formal Canton resolution, would be funded by Salem Township.
Canton Township Supervisor Anne Marie Graham-Hudak was adamant regarding the conditions of approval.
"For us to say to our residents, 'We know you are on septic, and we are allowing sewage from another community coming through, but you have to stay on septic,' isn't right," Graham-Hudak said.
Salem Township Supervisor Gary Whittaker responded to the Canton resolution with a letter expressing his displeasure.
"To say we are offended and disappointed would be an understatement," Whittaker stated in his response. Whittaker reportedly characterized the Canton stipulation as “extortion” and called the condition “absurd.” Whittaker claims he told Canton officials that the connection requirement stipulation in the approval resolution “will not and cannot be accepted by Salem Township."
Graham-Hudak defended the stipulations in the Canton resolution noting there is nothing unusual about communities paying fees to another municipality when construction is within their borders. She was adamant, too, that state taxpayers are already funding the planned development. She said the Salem project has received three state Legislature-approved economic development and workforce grants totaling $35 million for water and wastewater needs − $10 million approved in 2017, another $10 million in 2018 and $15 million in 2022.
"They got $35 million from all of us, from all of the residents of Michigan, to pay for this development," Graham-Hudak said.
The grants have been questioned by some critics as the main developer of the Salem project is Schostak Brothers & Co. Inc. Robert Schostak, a director with the family firm, was chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from 2011 to 2015. The Schostak family is a generous contributor to the Republican Party and Republican political candidates, according to campaign records.
Whittaker said Salem Township will now pursue the construction of a wastewater treatment plant within township borders, something he said the township “never wanted.” That plant would reportedly dump 850,000 gallons of effluent daily into Fellows Creek in Canton, a plan Canton offiicals strongly oppose. Whittaker said Salem Township can't wait any longer. "I've got a developer breathing down my neck," he said.
"If this alternative is not supported, I just want everyone to know we are prepared to issue a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the wastewater treatment plant," Phil Argiroff from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), told Canton officials during the meeting when the conditional resolution was approved. "But our preference certainly is − on environmental reasons, on compliance reasons, and on water quality reasons − is to use the sewer (line) alternative, to take that flow with capacity to the Ypsilanti Community Utility Authority." He reiterated that statement in a July 3 letter to Graham-Hudak noting that he had hoped the alternative solution to a new wastewater plant could have been negotiated.
Graham-Hudak said she believes EGLE is applying pressure to Canton Township, essentially taking sides with Salem. She said Canton Township will "absolutely" pursue legal action should Salem Township attempt to proceed with a new wastewater treatment plant.
