Macomb Township

Township to repair roads in subdivision

By Robert Guttersohn
C & G Staff Writer

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — The Board of Trustees approved the establishment of a special assessment district for Woodberry Estates subdivision at its Nov. 28 meeting.

The approval means the township will bring the privately owned roads inside the subdivision up to Macomb County Department of Roads standards. The county will then assume control of the roads, and the residents of the subdivision will reimburse the township within the next 10 years, said Larry Dloski, the township’s legal counsel.

Woodberry Estate residents in attendance at the meeting did not raise any objections during the public hearing, which was held just before the board’s vote.

Dloski said there will be another public hearing held Dec. 26, where the board will announce how much each homeowner will pay for the construction and vote on how long to give the more-than 300 households to reimburse the township for the construction.

“I think the assessment here will be $800 a unit, so the board may not want to spread that over 10 years,” Dloski said. “That’s what the public hearing is about the next time. The board is going to discuss this.”

Because the township will assess an 8-percent interest rate on the reimbursement, Woodberry Estates residents will likely want to pay the township quickly. “It’s in their best interest to pay if it off as soon as possible,” Township Clerk Michael Koehs said.

Koehs said the original owner of the subdivision, located between Card Road and North Avenue in the southern half of the township, went bankrupt before turning the roads he constructed over to the county.

“When the roads were put in, they met the county requirements, but they never turned it over to the county,” Koehs said.

When the streets began to deteriorate, the homeowners called the county Department of Roads asking why they weren’t maintaining them. The county then told the homeowners the streets were never made public.

Once the township’s repairs are done to the subdivision’s roads, the county will assume upkeep responsibility for them.

“This fixes a problem that really should have never happened,” Koehs said. “But when some of these developers went belly-up, the little i’s weren’t dotted and the t’s weren’t crossed,” Koehs said.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Robert Guttersohn at rguttersohn@candgnews.com or at (586)218-5006.