To the editor:
The Sunset Shores Community Sewer Project, initially praised as a model of community initiative, has become a costly and contentious issue. In 2017, the Leland Board approved the project with the Enterprise highlighting the efforts of my husband, Pete Taylor and two others, who worked for years with a civil engineer to develop a state-of-the-art system. However, before the original design could be implemented, property owners on Twin Pines thwarted the effort with threatened legal action, leading to years of redesigns, and escalating costs.
Fast forward to 2025, when our Township Board communicated that the project budget had gone from $628,000 ($19,000 per parcel) in 2017 to $1,202,532 ($36,440 per parcel), with unknown future operating and HOA costs. Despite a “cease and desist” order from the law firm representing Sunset Shores, our elected officials continue to push the project and related bond sale forward, disregarding the huge increases in costs to property owners and unanswered questions about liabilities.
Why aren’t our elected officials listening to their constituents? Why are they determined to plow ahead, other than the fact they don’t have to pay these costs? Today, there are far more negatives than positives in moving forward with a SAD, yet our officials are not listening. There has been little transparency from them, and one must wonder why they are determined to plow ahead other than the reality that they have made expenditures toward this project that were not requested or approved by those who must pay the costs.
Mary Taylor Lake Leelanau
