Concerns continue over dredging

HARRISON TOWNSHIP — Discussions about a special assessment district for canal dredging continued at the Harrison Township Board of Trustees meeting on April 13.

At its meeting on Feb. 9, the board approved setting public hearing dates for the SAD. The board also confirmed that the residents received the required number of signatures — more than 51% of those affected — to move forward with the district’s creation.

The SAD would fund the removal of 2-3 feet of sediment and aquatic weeds from the Archer, Lakeshore and Pardee canals. According to the March 9 meeting agenda, the cost was estimated to be $1,333,547.03 or $10,179.75 per lot (spread across 131 lots) with an estimated annual payment of $1,318.32.

In a packed meeting room, residents voiced their concerns about the special assessment. Those concerns included worries about heavy metals in silt dumped at a park, tree and road destruction and other items.

In his announcements, Harrison Township Supervisor Kenneth Verkest set the rules for the public hearing, stating there are no interactions between the board and the residents during the open public hearing. He also explained the process of establishing the district.

Resident Al Provost said he spoke with a friend regarding road destruction. He said 40-yard dump trucks will take around 500 loads over the road.

“There will not be a road,” Provost said. “So as far as repairing the road, there’s not a repair for that.”

He also stated it would turn the nearby park into an industrial site and that many of the residents were not notified of it.

Resident Pete Skirpan said he is for the dredge.

“I think it’s a safety hazard with all that silt in the canal,” Skirpan said. “If a kid falls in there he might drown.”

He said he fell in the canal and if he didn’t have something to grab onto, he wouldn’t be able to get out.

“Sucks you down like quicksand,” Skirpan said.

Resident Nick Maluchnik has concerns about the spoils proposed to be placed in the park and said he collected 64 signatures in two months from residents opposed to the idea.

“Why don’t we table this for another 30, 60, 90 days and let us gather some more signatures,” Maluchnik said. “I’ll be more than happy to do so.”

He said he will receive more signatures opposed to dumping the silt in the park than the 69 signatures in favor of the dredging project.

“This is our park, a community park that members of Huron Pointe own,” Maluchnik said. “Not just the people that live on that canal, the members of Huron Pointe should have a say in what goes on in that park.”

Christopher Swift is one of the residents who worked on the plan for the district for the last three years. He said they worked with multiple government agencies and had the sediment tested by a third party. He stated the Department of Natural resources passed it.

“Also we absolutely exhausted every possible venue of where to put the spoils,” Swift said.

He said they’ve looked at empty lots, Metro Beach and more.

Other residents had concerns about their children and grandchildren being affected by the construction near the park in the short term and long term. One resident said she has a teenager and that he and his friends will have nowhere to go if the park is unavailable. She also said a lot of other kids from surrounding neighborhoods will have nowhere to go as well.

One resident claimed there are heavy metals in the deposits that will trash the park.

When the hearing closed, Verkest answered questions and comments. He said he recognizes there are people for and against the project.

“And I’m not calling out any one person, but there were definitely some things that were said at the podium as fact that are simply not fact,” Verkest said.

He said he wasn’t going to go through and call residents out individually and that he respects that this subject can understandably get emotional.

He went on to say that roads will be destroyed, and they couldn’t prevent this project from going forward based on that. Verkest said the Macomb County Department of Roads controls the roads and that they all have a proposed weight limit.

Verkest also said he is not in charge of sampling soils and that there are people at the state level smarter than he is who do it before and after. dredging. He said a similar SAD was completed over a decade ago.

“There is a process for testing. There is a process for examining those soils,” Verkest said.

He said he does understand that some people are concerned about it but that he is not empowered to stop the SAD because of that.

“What we do is we employ professionals who do that testing and all the data that we have says this project is not a hazardous project or will cause damage to the park,” Verkest said.

Harrison Township Clerk Adam Witt debunked claims that they received less than the required 51% of signatures from affected homeowners.

Verkest said creating the SAD was an effort launched by those who want to spend their money to improve their property and that he takes offense to comments stating the board is trying to push the SAD through.

“We’re doing this because those of you who are opposed to this, your neighbors want us to do this,” Verkest said.

He said those neighbors put in sufficient time, went through the process multiple times and worked with contractors.

“This isn’t Harrison Township saying, ‘Hey, you guys need to dredge this canal,’” Verkest said. “This is Harrison Township responding to the request of, those of you who are opposed, your neighbors saying, ‘Please move forward.’”