An amended resolution to establish a special assessment community sewer at Sunset Shores was tabled Monday night at Leland Township’s regular monthly meeting.
All other action items on the agenda concerning Sunset Shores, including approving the Sunset Shores special assessment district (SAD) roll, awarding bids for the project, and setting a date for public hearing on the sunset shores roll, were also all tabled.
The Munnecke room was packed for the public hearing with Sunset Shores residents and neighbors both concerned and supportive of the proposed ongoing project that’s been years in the making. Engineer Scott Jozwiak of Jozwiak Consulting spoke during the public hearing, explaining the updated project cost summary and taking questions from the audience about how the sewer would affect properties.
Leland Township initially approved creation of a Special Assessment District in 2017, but the project has struggled to move forward due to prices soaring and other factors since then. The sewer project is part of public improvements “in the best interests of the township” that the current and past boards have pursued for years to establish a local collection system, “including force mains to remove wastewater and effluent from individual septic tanks and pump chambers…” According to Jozwiak Consulting, the total projected cost in 2024 to establish the community sewer system is $1,202,532, which is an increase of 19% from the 2021 total cost estimate of $1,012,700. Construction costs make up the majority of the expenses at $746,560, along with property/ acquisition titles estimated at $161,013.88, and engineering, staking, and inspections at $138,769.
On the Sunset Shores SAD roll, there are approximately 33 parcels recorded, with the cost per parcel currently projected at $36,440. The maximum principal amount of debt expected to be issued for the project, which includes issuance costs, has yet to be determined by the board. The township expects to reimburse itself for capital expenditures with proceeds of bonds issued to pay all or a portion of the cost of the project.
Jozwiak Consulting also prepared a bid tabulation highlighting the highest and lowest sewer project bid estimates. The township is currently looking at going with the lowest bids, which include AJ’s Excavating to do the force main for $268,950 and Team Elmer’s bid to do the drain field for $318,795. The low bid for the secondary treatment would be with the company Pumping Service, LLC for a total of $158,814. Those three estimates add up to the total project construction costs of $746,560.
“From the township’s perspective, it’s something we’ve been working on for 10 plus years, long before I joined the board, and we have a quarter million dollars already invested in this,” trustee, now supervisor- elect Clint Mitchell said. “So we have an economic interest and an environmental interest in keeping this moving forward.”
Leland Township Clerk Lisa Brookfield said once they gather the final bits of information needed to complete the resolution, such as the project’s exact estimate for the principal amount of debt, then they can schedule a special meeting in the weeks ahead to address it once more.
“I don’t think it necessarily impacts our schedule, and we’ve certainly allowed ourselves a month or two of extra time…” Brookfield said at the meeting. “Those are the things that have to happen. We have to adopt this resolution saying we’re ready to go ahead. We have to direct the supervisor to establish the (SAD) roll, and we have to post notice and have that second hearing where folks can come and say they don’t agree with the assessment, how it was done, the formula, the language — not the amount necessarily.”
