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Kalamazoo NFP board approves Pump Station 14 reconstruction at Spring Valley Park
Summary
The Natural Features Protection board approved the site plan for Pump Station 14 reconstruction at 2600 Mount Olivet Road; city engineers described PFAS, iron and manganese treatment upgrades, well relocations, erosion controls and tree protection measures. The motion passed on a 5-0 roll call.
The Natural Features Protection (NFP) Board of the City of Kalamazoo voted to approve the NFP site plan for the Pump Station 14 reconstruction at 2600 Mount Olivet Road in Spring Valley Park.
Eric Saiter, City of Kalamazoo senior civil engineer in the water resources division, told the board the project consolidates work between Stations 5 and 14 and will move water from Station 14 — "an existing, City Kalamazoo well field, been in service for since the 19 forties" — to a new Station 5 and 14 where the water will be treated to remove iron, manganese and PFAS before entering the distribution system. Saiter said the project has installed five new wells and that those new wells still need permits.
The project footprint includes demolition of five existing well sites and construction of five prefabricated concrete well housings ("condos"), each roughly 12 by 19 feet, a small chlorine-dosing building north of the road (about 10 by 12 feet), a generator under a canopy, a new transformer pad and a shallow retaining wall. Saiter said the city will run a duct bank under the road to carry electrical and communications lines, then set a vault and directionally drill laterals to minimize surface disturbance.
Saiter described steps taken to prevent drilling mud and cuttings from entering the lake during well installation earlier this year: double silt fence, erosion-control logs, placing cuttings and drilling mud directly into roll-off containers and using a vacuum truck. He said the drilling footprint for each well was about 20 by 20 feet. The existing wells sit close to the lake, and Saiter said EGLE (the state environmental regulator) required the new wells be sited as far from the lake as possible while meeting minimum offsets from sewers and surface water and staying on city property.
Board members and staff noted additional protections on the plans: tree protection fencing, horizontal directional drilling to avoid tree roots, and a proposed planting of two sugar maples near the former well condo locations to meet a zoning requirement of one tree (or fraction) per disturbed area. A staff member said the required Michigan Natural Features Inventory rare species review is on file and that the review did not identify anticipated impacts to threatened or endangered species.
The board asked whether the wells to be removed would be abandoned. Saiter said the old wells "are all gonna be properly abandoned ... filled with grout, cut off below grade, restored grass and topsoil." Project timing presented to the board calls for work to begin in October–November 2027 and finish by May 2028 to reduce impacts to park users.
A motion to approve the NFP site plan as presented was moved and seconded (mover and seconder not specified in the record). The board took a roll-call vote: Hollander — yes; Mercia — yes; Stempel — yes; Martin — yes; Bassett — yes. The motion passed 5-0.
No additional conditions beyond those in the staff report were recorded in the meeting minutes. Staff noted remaining items include final EGLE permitting for the new wells and the submission of required documentation already referenced in the staff report.
The board’s approval allows the city to proceed with the site-plan elements reviewed under the NFP overlay, while the city continues to secure state permits for well construction and drinking-water treatment.
