Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use And Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Drain commissioner asks board to correct Pine Lake roll; commissioners authorize legal action for Pine and Podunk assessment districts
Summary
Drain Commissioner Jim Dull told commissioners the county has spent about $320,000 on studies related to Pine Lake and recommended amending the special-assessment roll so all benefiting properties share cost; the board adopted resolutions under Part 307 to amend the Pine Lake assessment district boundary and to establish a Podunk Lake assessment district.
Barry County’s Drain Commissioner, Jim Dull, asked the Board of Commissioners on March 10 to authorize legal steps to correct longstanding problems with special-assessment rolls for certain lake-level districts and to allow the county to spread earlier study and permitting costs more equitably.
Dull recounted a decades-long history: Pine Lake’s legal lake level was established in 1969; court actions in subsequent decades changed the approach to lake-level administration and created complexities in who is assessed. He said engineers and counsel have already spent roughly $320,000 on studies and a 2023 DEQ/EGLE permit that is valid through 2028. Dull recommended the county seek a resolution authorizing the drain commissioner to file the statutory actions under Part 307 of the Michigan Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to amend the Pine Lake special-assessment district boundary and correct the assessment roll so all benefiting parcels are included.
County counsel outlined the procedural steps: publishing notices, mailing court-hearing notices to landowners within the proposed district, holding an initial court hearing to set the district, preparing a cost computation and holding a subsequent drain-commissioner hearing that specifies the assessment amounts followed by a county-commissioner confirmation that can itself be appealed. The board’s action would not authorize physical work on the ground or approve any lake-level change; it would start the legal process to redraw district boundaries and ensure the assessment roll reflects current property configurations.
Commissioners asked about cost exposure, possible appeals, and whether Allegan County (where portions of the lake lie) would need to pass a matching resolution. Dull acknowledged appeals could increase legal costs, but said those costs are typically recoverable through the special assessment if the process succeeds; he gave the board the option to wait for more public input but recommended starting the statutory process to preserve permit timelines and to avoid inequitable assessments.
After discussion the board adopted Resolution 26-10 directing the drain commissioner to take legal action to amend the Pine Lake special-assessment district. The board later approved Resolution 26-11 authorizing legal action to establish a Podunk Lake special-assessment district to allow future maintenance and inspection costs for the Podunk Lake dam to be assessed to benefiting property owners.
The county attorney and Dull said they will attempt to keep initial costs modest, notify affected property owners at each statutory step, and return to the board with cost computations and hearing schedules. Commissioners emphasized the need to minimize county taxpayer exposure while correcting inequities in who has been paying for lake maintenance.
Ending — The board approved both resolutions to initiate the Part 307 legal processes; staff will mail notices and prepare the required engineering computations and public-hearing materials.
