Township Board Intends to Create SAD for Emergency Repair

The White Lake Township Board of Trustees approved a resolution Wednesday night to declare its intent to establish a special assessment district (SAD) in order to address an emergency issue with a standpipe in Lake Neva.

The resolution was necessary to get Oakland County's approval for $150,000 in bonds to cover the cost of the project up front.

Township Clerk Terry Lilley said a standpipe, owned by the Lakewood Village Improvement Association, is in need of emergency repair. A standpipe is a vertical pipe that is, in this case, located near the dam on Lake Neva.

Lake Neva is located near Biscayne off Bogie Lake Road.

According to Supervisor Greg Baroni, the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) inspected the standpipe and concurred with the assessment that the pipe cannot go through another winter freeze and thaw.

"If we are to wait on this issue, there could be serious ramifications for homeowners along Lake Neva," Lilley said. The declaration sites that failure to repair the pipe could result in health and safety issues.

The special assessment district, when formed, will be use to pay back the bonds from the county.

Other items approved at the meeting include:

• A proposal from engineering firm Johnson and Anderson for the Bogie Lake Sanitary Sewer Extension that will run from Lakeland High School down to Commerce Road.
• A $9,000 bid for cemetery clean-up.
• A budget amendment to move funds from an equipment line item to the cemetery line item to pay for the clean-up.
• A rate study for the Bogie Lake sanitary sewer extension to calculate the residential equivalent unit (REU) used to bill the proposed sewer users.