If at first you don’t succeed…Township meeting about sewage
Feb. 21, 2025 PLYMOUTH VOICE.
Plymouth Michigan News
As the old proverb goes- If at first you don’t succeed, keep on sucking till you do succeed.
It appears that’s what happening with the failed Salem Township – Salem Springs sewer development fiasco in the yet to be developed area known as the Urban Service District (USD).
The hot topic involves a Livonia developer, Schostek Brothers, and his alternative plan to build a sewer line in lieu of a wastewater treatment plant through Plymouth Township, a topic that has been a waiting-to-happen nightmare for area residents.
The controversial item is at the top of the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees Meeting agenda this Tues., Feb. 25, involving a serious conflict about public right-of-way that seems to continue without end.
The agenda reads:
“Consent to Salem Township to study feasible alternative routes to construct and maintain a sewer line within the public right-of way thorough Plymouth Township to connect to the treatment plant of the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority.”
Last spring State Representatives Jason Morgan, (D) 23rd District and Matt Koleszar, (D) 22nd District sent a strong message and urged Department of Natural Resources Director Daniel Eichinger to oppose Salem’s plan for the construction of the wastewater plant, deny the permit at the proposed location – sighting a significant environmental threat to the health and well-being of the Plymouth Township community.
The complex battle continues over the developer’s need for sewer lines crucial to a proposed Salem planned community (dubbed Salem Springs) – a sewer project fearful Plymouth Township officials and enraged residents have for years expressed their opposition.
Notwithstanding $20 million in earmarked state grant money pushed to the developer with Republican lobbying and persuading political efforts, with help from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to foster the development, the imagined threat of harmful pollutants, foul smells and declining property values looms large.
In 2019, after a feasibility study, Salem Township made application for a permit to construct a 10.5-mile-long sewer line on Godfredson Road from M-14 to Geddes Road, then east on Geddes to Ridge Road, then south on Ridge to the Ypsilanti treatment plant in Superior Township.
Salem Township-engaged engineers, Hubbell, Roth & Clark who found numerous factors would prevent sewage going to Plymouth Township and WTUA. According to findings, Salem Township engineers found no alternative source proved to be available or feasible for sewer service to the Salem USD (where the Schostek Bros. property is located) except the direct connection to YCUA, Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority using the Superior Township right-of way.
Kurt Heise, then Plymouth Township Supervisor at the time-siting the dire impact to the area homes and residents if the super sewer was allowed, said, “Salem has no DPW, a volunteer fire department…this project is ill-conceived and not well thought out. I’m not going to sit back and see taxpayer dollars being wasted.”
Heise, a staunch objector to the project lost the last election after serving two terms and Charles “Chuck” Curmi is the newly elected Township Supervisor as of January first who will present the above outlined request for board action at Tuesday’s meeting at Township Hall at 6:30 p.m.
EGLE (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy) has reportedly supported the construction of a direct sewer line to connect the Salem Township project to the YCUA wastewater plant in Ypsilanti, as part of a regional sewer system instead of new construction of a local wastewater treatment facility and agrees it’s a better alternative when it comes to the impact on state water and streams.
In April 2024 representatives from EGLE held an open public hearing at Plymouth Township’s Northridge Church.
Residents from Plymouth, Plymouth Township, Northville and Canton had an opportunity to voice their opinion regarding the impact of a proposed wastewater plant planned by Salem Township that will discharge 840,000 gallons each day of treated sewage into Fellows Creek, a sensitive Rouge River tributary. The plant was slated to be built at M-14 and Napier Road.
The majority of those in attendance claimed the impact of this calamity, if permitted, would affect thousands of homes and residents and raise the risk of continued flooding, unknown contamination, pollution and decreased property values.
Environmental authority Friends of the Rouge, champions of the Clean Water Act, one that regulates discharges of pollution into U.S. waters and controls pollution by means such as wastewater standards, has in the past expressed strong opposition to the sewage project.
“Due to the Fellows Creek’s unique importance as an ecological resource and the negative impact that the Wastewater Treatment Facility development and associated infrastructure will have on the health of Fellows Creek and the Rouge River watershed, FOTR recommends denial of this permit.”
Plymouth Voice.
