The St. Clair Shores City Council on Oct. 20 voted 6-0 to adopt a resolution creating a special-assessment district for the 2025 Benjamin-Statler Canal dredge and to set a second public hearing for Nov. 17 to review the assessment roll and hear individual objections.

The vote moves a petitioned project forward that petitioners say will remove roughly 2,500 cubic yards of material from the canal and replace about 150 feet of a jetty-style seawall. Petitioners told the council the total project cost is $255,000 and said each parcel in the benefit district would be billed about $5,000, with the district required to deposit 50 percent of its cost before work proceeds.

Why it matters: residents along the canal described shoaling that has left sections less than 2 feet deep, limiting boat access and threatening property use. Supporters said the work is needed to restore navigation and slow further infill.

Resident testimony during the public hearing presented competing views. Derek Skeppy Thomas, who identified himself as an underwater salvage diver, told the council he had not been consulted on the proposed scope and questioned whether the planned removal and seawall work matched predicted water levels. Mark Odarek, a petitioner who lives on Benjamin, said the canal is “filling in pretty quick now and it’s to the point where it’s less than 2 feet deep in most areas and we’re worried about the barge not even being able to get in to do the dredging.” Scott Flood, another Statler resident, said more than 70 percent of property owners had signed petitions supporting the work and that petitioners had raised roughly half the money required to start the project.

Council and staff described the legal and administrative limits of the council’s role. City staff said the council’s action verifies that the petitions met the ordinance threshold (two-thirds of affected owners) but does not determine the project scope, select contractors, or set engineering details; those decisions are made by the district’s organizing body or HOA. Staff also explained that the petition submitted in September and an updated petition in October reflected the same total cost though the allocation among line items changed; staff said they verified the signatures and confirmed the two-thirds requirement was met.

Councilmembers and the city attorney discussed how assessments may be allocated. The city attorney noted Michigan case law allows a variety of allocation methods (per parcel, lineal feet, etc.) so long as the method is fair and equitable; the city ordinance contemplates a per-parcel approach in this instance.

Next steps: the council set a Nov. 17 public hearing to accept formal objections to the assessment roll. If the council confirms the roll after that hearing, the assessments would proceed to the assessor for billing. The council record shows no contract award or construction authorization occurred at the Oct. 20 meeting.

Votes at the Oct. 20 meeting: the resolution to create the special-assessment district and to set the Nov. 17 public hearing passed 6-0.

Community members who spoke and the council’s public-record materials remain the primary sources for the project scope, estimated costs, and the signature counts.