On the Agenda: Water Rates, Northwestern Connector Project, Public Safety Millage

The West Bloomfield Township Board at to discuss issues ranging from the Northwestern Connector project to water rates and more.

Consideration of public safety millage renewal and increase (agenda item No. 12)

The board will consider the rate and increase of a proposed public safety millage voted to go on the Nov. 8 ballot at the . The board is expected to decide between five-year rates of 2.95, 2.85 or 2.75 additional mills. The board is also expected to ask for a renewal of the current 3.17 millage rate, which expires with the 2011 levy for the 2012 budget.

The increase is due in response to what Supervisor Michele Economou Ureste reported in a memo as the minimum staffing levels needed to operate five fire stations and one contracted fire station with 22 fire personnel at all times and to adhere to the FBI-recommended guidelines of 1.1 uniformed police officers per 1,000 residents.

Water and sewer rates to increase (agenda item No. 9)

A public hearing will be held on an increase in water and sewerage rates, as forecasted by township accountants at Plante & Moran, to go in to effect Friday. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), which supplies water to 45 out of 61 communities in Oakland County, in January announced plans to raise the price of water.

The hearing is being held to discuss the township’s proposed increase from $36.37 per thousand cubic feet (abbreviated MCF, about 7,500 gallons of water) to $38.54, including the rate required to capture costs charged by DWSD (increased to $26.93 per MCF) as well as other DWSD costs, local costs and capital costs.

According to DWSD, the rates are going up because fewer people are using water, which means fixed costs are not getting covered.

The sewerage rate changed by the Oakland County Water Resources Commission (WRC) increased from $16.03 per MCF to $16.49 (blended rate), and the township will ask for an increase on its end from $24.43 per MCF to $26.82 for sewer customers with water meters.

The township will also consider a recommendation (agenda item No. 18) from Water and Sewer Department Director Ed Haapala to pay the WRC a total of $883,393 — spread out over 20 years at a 2.5 percent interest rate — as part of the $125 million project encompassing all Oakland County communities in the Clinton-Oakland Sanitary Sewer Disposal System Improvement Project referred to as the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor, a 21-mile length of sanitary sewer that the WRC purchased from the DWSD in 2009.

Consideration of Northwestern Connector project (agenda item No. 16)

The board will of the intersection at Maple Road and Orchard Lake Road. The board unanimously pending discussion between legal representation of the township and the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) in response to what the board described as an “ultimatum” issued May 3 by RCOC to the township to accept one of three options to move forward with plans originally laid out as the Northwestern Connector (NWC) project in 2003.

Provided that the RCOC's offer will remain on the table after last week’s vote to table the discussion, the board will vote on how to spend $27 million in remaining funds from the Michigan Department of Transportation, as well as funds from other federal, state and local entities that could be used at Maple and Orchard Lake.

Special land-use permit public hearing (agenda item No. 10)

The board also will hold a public hearing on an application for a special land-use permit on the northwest corner of Maple and Orchard Lake. The application, , calls for a two-story, 25,099-square-foot, mixed-use building with a first-floor coffee shop, including a drive-through window and a second-floor medical office on a 1.8-acre site.

The Planning Commission had a number of concerns before granting approval, including those of traffic caused by the presence of a drive-through window at what police refer to as one of the busiest intersections in the township. The existing site has three driveways on Orchard Lake Road and four driveways on Maple Road, all of varying widths. The proposed plan would reduce the access to only the northernmost driveway on Orchard Lake Road and off of an easement to the west of the site that accesses Maple Road.

The commission also was concerned about water management as the applicant, Mark Drane, owner of Rogvoy Architects, had asked to provide a water detention system for a “10-year storm” instead of “100-year-storm,” as currently regulated, to allow for less piping. The commission voted to allow for a “25-year storm,” utilizing perforated pipe wrapped in geotextile fabric installed in a stone bed; however, documents presented to the township board indicate that this will not be possible due to environmental contamination at the site.