With the help of an aerial photograph and a calculator, Springfield Township officials responded to some residents’ appeals and modified the proposed assessment for residents around Softwater Lake.
The proposal, asking for a special tax levy for weed harvesting to help clean up the lake, came to the township board in August via petitions signed by property owners of more than 50 percent of the lakefront property.
At the time, proponents predicted little opposition to the $35,000 special assessment. At a September hearing, however, a number of residents who live on either side of a “canal” at one end of the lake protested the assessment, saying they do not reap the benefits of “lakefront” residence.
At that time, trustees agreed to take that into consideration when computing the per-unit assessment, and a public hearing Monday, Oct. 6 was for the purpose of reviewing the tax roll and the specific assessments.
Supervisor Collin Walls had prepared an assessment plan that charged canal property owners one-half the amount as other lakefront owners.
“I attempted to address those concerns,” Walls said, estimating that canal residents would receive “half the benefit” as those on the lakefront.
That still didn’t satisfy some residents.
“I’ve never regarded Softwater Lake as a lake,” Charles Wallace said, calling the canal “a sludgehole for the lake” and disputing any benefit from the assessment.
“To pay for something I’ll never see any benefit from…it’s not fair,” he said. “The only way to really clear this up is to circulate water.”
“I have absolutely no view of the lake,” Joyce Gibbs said. “The lake has no benefit to me.”
“There’s just green scum to look at,” Karen Malendowski said, doubting the effect of weed harvesting. “They couldn’t even come to the end of it because there’s no water.”
Alexandra Maguire, another canal resident, suggested the compromise.
“Perhaps our value is more like a quarter,” she said.
Trustees went to work, examining an aerial photograph of the lake area and identifying the eastern-most six canal properties. With the help of a calculator, they developed the new plan.
The new numbers, approved by the township board, will collect $34,070 over three years from 68 property owners and apartment renters. Lakefront owners will pay $265.49 in the first year, with canal residents paying $132.75 the first year (except for the easternmost, which had that amount cut in half). Nearby apartment buildings, whose residents have access to the lake, will be assessed $1,194.45 in the first year.
Officials said there is a possibility of reducing the assessment in the third year if the engineering study and weed harvesting come in under budget.
Herman Schaller, president of the Softwater Lake Group (an alliance of property owners surrounding the lake located just northwest of the Dixie Highway/I-75 interchange), said everyone will benefit from the lake cleaning, so everyone should share in the cost.
“We’re coming here [with the proposal] to improve the lake. We would like to include everybody,” Schaller said, noting the lake level is down about two feet from normal. “This canal could swell again and we would like it to look good.”
“They will be included in the engineering study and review,” Walls said. Officials said any recommended action beyond weed harvesting would require additional assessments, which would require an additional hearing. “We are limited by the original proposal.”
The lakefront group recently conducted it’s own cleaning of aquatic weeds from the lake, but Schaller said the special assessment district would be more effective. The other option is for the property owners to form its own “lake board.”
One resident asked what would happen after the third year if residents wish to continue the cleanup program. Walls said, “We get to do this again. As long as there is interest in doing anything with the lake, this process will be followed.”
Maguire thanked the board for the assessment compromise.
“Thank you for listening to us,” she said. “It’s nice to see democracy in action.”
The weed harvesting action is only one concern to lakefront residents, and the issue of healthy lakes is a larger concern to some township officials. Although not part of the assessment hearing, some asked about how to encourage residents to reduce use of fertilizers near the waterfront and to avoid using lakewater for lawn watering.
“That is one of the biggest problems,” Clerk Nancy Strole said, citing research by state and federal agencies. “It just feeds the [lake] plants and creates a vicious cycle.”
Strole said township officials are very strict with new developers concerning natural vegetation buffers and other conservation provisions. She encouraged all lakefront residents to attend a Saturday, Oct. 25 seminar at Independence Oaks County Park on promoting healthy lakefronts.