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The Glen Lake Woman's Club will hold its annual spring luncheon and fashion show Wednesday, June 4 at the Bluebird in Leland.
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Leland Township Notice to the Public
Board Meeting
May 12, 2008—7:30 p.m.
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Part-time posts for Leland Township and Empire set.
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Land contract at center of concern old courthouse property.
The pending sale of the old Leelanau County courthouse campus in Leland appears to be hitting another snag.
The county board's "Leland property subcommittee" met last week with county natives James Varley and Gene Kelly of Varley-Kelly Properties, who hope to purchase the 2.4-acre property in downtown Leland for $2.4 million and redevelop it into a 20-plus unit residential neighborhood.
On May 16, the subcommittee and developers heard from Leelanau County chief assistant prosecutor Doug Donaldson who recommended that the county board reverse the decision it made last month to enter into a land contract with developers as their earlier agreement with the county was set to expire. Donaldson opined that state law prohibits units of government from extending credit through land contracts.
The county board’s decision last month to offer a land contract to Varley-Kelly properties was precipitated by other snags encountered in the deal related primarily to water quality concerns on the former courthouse campus.
Proposed terms of the land contract would have delayed sale of the property by several months while the county Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA) authorized additional tests of groundwater in the area and explored alternative plans for a water system to serve the proposed neighborhood. Preliminary tests indicated high nitrate levels from unknown sources – higher than those allowed by state environmental laws for developments of that size. The snag would have necessitated the digging of a community well off the site – tentatively more than 2,000 yards away in the township-owned Hancock Park.
Although the BRA’s involvement in the project has imposed additional rules and requirements on the county and the would-be developers, the state grants, low interest loans, and special tax incentives available through the BRA were expected to offset much of the cost of cleaning up and redeveloping the now “obsolete and blighted” county-owned property. The county vacated the old courthouse and other buildings earlier this year; and the new county seat in rural Suttons Bay Township was formally dedicated on Sunday.
At the regular monthly meeting of the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night, the board heard from District No. 5 commissioner David “Chauncey” Shiflett, who chairs the “Leland property subcommittee.”
A licensed real estate agent, Shiflett said that – “with all due respect to Doug Donaldson” – he wasn’t convinced that the chief assistant prosecutor’s opinion on the legality of a county land contract with the developers was correct. Shiflett said he thought the county’s corporate counsel should also provide an opinion before the county considers reversing its decision on a land contract. Shiflett also said he believed it would be important for the BRA to move ahead with testing to see if a deeper well on the county property would provide water of sufficient quality for the proposed development.
Shiflett offered a motion to instruct the county administrator to seek an opinion on land contracts from the county’s corporate counsel. The motion carried 7-0.
District No. 2 commissioner Mark Walter, who serves as county board representative on the BRA board, offered a motion that the county board recommend to the BRA that it order a new aquifer analysis at the old courthouse site and take steps to demolish some of the old buildings in the property in the near term. That motion also carried unanimously.
The Leland property subcommittee was slated to meet with developers again this morning.
In other business at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday, the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners:
• Formally ratified a decision made last week by the board acting as its Executive Committtee to place a millage request on the Aug. 5 Primary Election ballot seeking a .275-mill levy for six years to support county Commission on Aging (CoA) operations. The vote was identical to last week’s: 6-1, with District No. 7 commissioner Melinda Lautner opposed.
• Decided to table a proposal to modify terms of a health insurance program for county employees that was recommended for approval in a 7-0 vote at the May 13 executive committee meeting following a briefing from an insurance company representative. Shiflett said he did not believe he had enough information about the proposal to make a decision and asked that more information be presented at the county board’s next executive committee meeting on June 10. The county board voted 6-1 in favor of Shiflett’s motion to table further discussion of the proposal until next month, with District No. 3 commissoner Will Bunek opposed.
Two Leland Public School students were treated and released for injuries they received during a single-vehicle rollover in Leland Township early Monday evening.
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News that Leland Public School will benefit from federal impact aid, an entitlement recently secured by the Glen Lake district, was delivered to the school board this week.
Superintendent Mike Hartigan told board members and the audience attending Monday’s monthly meeting that Leland has qualified for state impact aid through the U.S. Department of Education.
The amount and timing of the payment is not known, but news that the district could receive any additional income was welcomed. Glen Lake is expected to receive $1.7 million.
The Department of Education provides awards to school district that have lost property tax revenue as a result of military installations, Indian reservations, and other federal properties. To qualify, districts have to document that the assessed valuation of the (federal) property represents 10 percent or more of the total property in the district at the time (or times) of federal acquisition.
“We qualified by the skin of our teeth at 10.3 percent,” Hartigan said. “North Manitou was key … We’d be out-of-formula if that property was part of our tax base.”
With the help of the county Treasurer and Equalization departments and Leland Township assessor Julie Krombeen, staff members were able to demonstrate the lost tax base.
Though there are still “unknowns” with which to contend, board members agreed to reduce the amount of bonds to be sold to cover costs that do not lie within the uses allowed through the district sinking fund.
Earlier this month, district voters approved a 5-year, .25-mill levy to pay for $600,000 in bonds. As a result of the news about the impact aid, the district plans to sell only $200,000 in bonds this summer to finance the purchase of a new bus, science equipment and technological upgrades. The bonds will be repaid over three years, rather than five as first expected.
The millage levy for to repay the bond sale over three years will be .16 mills, business manager Sandra Potts said.
The millages collected by the district this summer will drop from those projected by Potts due to increases in the taxable property value in the district. The millage to repay the 2001 construction bond will drop from 1.65 mills to 1.47. That decrease, plus the .30 mills for the district’s sinking fund, will change the millage rate from an anticipated 2.02 mills to 1.93 mills.
More “good news” came to the district Monday in the form of a reduction in the anticipated increase in health insurance coverage through Michigan Education Special Services Association (MESSA).
Frank Musto and Rick Ringstrom of MESSA attended the meeting and explained how the group has responded to a new state law that required they provide school districts with claims history needed to secure competitive bids for health insurance. MESSA was sharply criticized for its initial interpretation of the state law and what school districts saw as a failure to comply with the measure, which local school administrators hoped could result in significant savings.
Health insurance costs for Leland, Suttons Bay and Northport — the three county districts that are insured through MESSA — was $1.86 million for the 2006-2007 school year.
Hartigan was initially told that his district would see an 8.79 increase in health insurance costs in 2008-09, but was informed in writing Monday night that the increase will instead be 4.18 percent. Suttons Bay, which was also bracing for a significant increase, will realize an increase of 3.29 percent. Three members of the Suttons Bay Board of Education were in attendance at the monthly meeting, interested in what the MESSA representatives had to say.
“This is great. I was concerned because based on our projections our fund equity ( at the end of the 2008-09 school year) would go below the 6 percent our board feels comfortable with,” Hartigan said.
The Leelanau Conservancy's 15th annual plant sale on the Village Green will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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When John and Nancy McNamara heard Leland Township had authorized a feasibility study on expanding sewer service along north Lake Leelanau's south shore, they were excited.
The McNamaras, like many families on Sunset Shores and Twin Pines Drive, have holding tanks to meet their septic needs. Their excitement turned to concern, however, when they later learned that the township sewer commission would only be studying the feasibility of extending sewer lines along M-204, from M-22 to edge of the village of Lake Leelanau.
The McNamaras and other Sunset Shores and Twin Pines property owners showed up en masse at the Leland Township Board meeting Monday to make sure their streets are included in any feasibility study.
“We’ve owned our property on Sunset Shores for 18 years. We’ve been on holding tanks for a while. Please include Sunset Shores and Twin Pines Drive in this study,” John McNamara implored the commission. He read letters from two neighbors who couldn’t attend the meeting supporting an expansion to include them.
Supervisor Harry Larkin said while it’s true the sewer commission was originally considering a $3,700 feasibility study to determine the cost of providing sewer service to property along the southwest shoreline area of north Lake Leelanau, the board rejected that request and asked that the commission instead conduct a survey to see what areas of the township are interested in having sewer service. Larkin said the Sunset Shores and Twin Pines areas are already being included in the interest survey, and any property owner in the township who wants their area included should contact the township office and let their wishes be known.
The board discussed moving forward with the interest survey, but will wait for the sewer commission to make a recommendation after its June 3 meeting. Lake Leelanau resident Dave Couturier said the board should consider using smaller treatment plants at different areas around the township rather than funneling sewer into the Popp Road treatment facility. He said he agreed with statements from other Sunset Shores and Twin Pines residents that sewer service is needed, but that other treatment facilities should be built.
“You can only put so much water in one spot. It’s either got to go up or down,” he said.
Larkin said the sewer commission has not come to conclusions about expanding the sewer system. The township does need to expand the number of drainfield beds by two to meet the needs of the existing sewer district. Beyond that, though, Larkin said no decisions have been made about how, or if, to expand.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has unofficially told township sewer administrator Steve Patmore the township could add up to six more drainfield beds, which would allow the township to bring 292 more residences into the system. Larkin said the township has not yet received official notification from the DEQ on moving forward with any expansion.
Lake Leelanau resident Stephen P. Mikowski said the township board should encourage people who want their properties to be added to the existing sewer district, or to establish a new sewer system, to follow the proper legal procedure.
“There is a beautiful system produced by Michigan law that allows people to petition for sewers. We didn’t use it 20 years ago with the first system, and we’re not using it today.
Before we spend one penny of the township’s money on a study, we should inform the people who want sewer about the property petition process,” he said.
Board trustees Nick Lederle and Steve Plamondon both said funds for this sewer interest survey should come from township revenues, not from fees generated by the current sewer district. Lederle said the township board should lead the way, not the sewer commission, since the commission is only an advisory board. While Plamondon agreed with Lederle on the payment issue, he also said he didn’t want unnecessary delays in getting the interest survey started. “People are telling us there is a need,” he said.
The Leland Dam Authority held what members expect will be its last meeting for a number of years.
Formed in 2004, the four-member authority board oversaw construction of a new dam to control water flowing out of Lake Leelanau and into Lake Michigan via the Leland River near Fishtown.
Construction of the dam was completed last year, and final adjustments to a computerized monitoring system that automatically regulates water flow over the dam was completed in March.
Leelanau County drain commissioner Steve Christensen, who serves as a member of the four-man Leland Dam Authority, noted that unusually heavy rainfall last week provided a natural test for water level sensors and the dam’s automatic control system.
“We’re very happy with the way the system works,” Christensen reported.
Leelanau County maintenance director Jerry Culman concurred.
“It did what it was supposed to do when we had all that rain, so I’m also very satisfied,” Culman said.
The Leelanau County Board of Commissioner established the Leland Dam Authority after it became clear that the historic dam on the Leland River required replacement. The three elected members of the Leelanau County Road Commission – Lee Bowen, Glen Noonan and John Popa – were appointed by county commissioners to serve on the Leland Dam Authority with Christensen. Bowen has served as the board’s chairman.
As part of their final meeting to “close out the books” on the Leland Dam project, Bowen noted that the project was completed on time and under budget.
Some $930,000 was budgeted for the project, with $923,000 actually expended. Most of the money, nearly $700,000, went to the downstate company that constructed the dam, Gerace Construction.
Roughly half of the dam was paid for with $465,086 that came from the Leelanau County General Fund. Slightly less than half, $457,383 was paid for through a special assessment levied on all owners of Lake Leelanau waterfront at a rate of $2.57 per foot of frontage, payable over a three-year period, 2005-2008.
Only a portion of a $121,000 “contingency fund” built into the project budget was actually expended, leaving a $68,134 fund balance for the authority.
Bowen explained that the fund balance will remain in a special account to pay for the continued operation and maintenance of the dam and any repairs that may be required.
County administrator David W. Gill said that he planned to prepare an annual budget for dam operations and maintenance that would require about $6,000 per year. About half of that amount will pay for electricity that powers water sensors, gate valves, and other automated systems. The rest of the annual budget will meet costs incurred by maintenance personnel who routinely monitor the automated systems and frequently visit the dam to make make manual adjustments.
At the conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting, Noonan moved “to recognize that the Leland Dam project has been completed, and to adjourn the meeting with future meetings subject to the call of the chairman should the need arise.”
The motion was seconded by Popa and carried in a 4-0 vote.
Zackary Gilmore Weber graduated from the University of Michigan April 26 with a bachelor of arts degree in English and history. He was the recipient of honors and a 2006 Avery Hopwood award winner for poetry.
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