Orion Township trustees plan to be prepared if they have to go to court to oppose a land swap deal between a private developer and the State of Michigan regarding Bald Mountain property on Lapeer Road.
They voted on Oct. 6 to forward a resolution stating that the township officially opposes the swap to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Commissioners, Governor Jennifer Granholm and K.L. Kool, director of the Michigan Natural Resources Commission, among others.
As reported last week in The Lake Orion Review, if the swap is approved, it would allow Orion Township Developer Mike Weger to trade 82.7 acres he owns on Indian Lake for 90.9 acres of state land included in the Bald Mountain State Recreation Area, located at the corner of southbound M-24 and Scripps Road.
Trustees are opposed to losing the open space on M-24 and is concerned what Weger might do with the property if he gains ownership of it. Michigan DNR would like to use Weger’s property on Indian Lake, which has corners of Oxford, Addison, Orion and Oakland Townships included in it, for inclusion as a northern access point to adjacent Bald Mountain land.
A hearing was scheduled by the DNR on the matter for Oct. 9-10, but has since been postponed, according to Orion Township Supervisor Jerry Dywasuk.
“No one is opposed personally to Oakland Township gathering that land. It’s the problem it poses to Orion Township,” he said.
Weger said he was asked to sell the property to Oakland Township as a park, but the township was unable to approve enough millage to purchase it. He said he had planned to develop the property on Indian Lake for homes, but would prefer to see it go undeveloped, if at all possible.
“We’ve always, in this township, encouraged cooperation with our neighboring communities and it was unfortunate that we were not included in these discussions,” said clerk Jill Bastian.
The township learned of the hearing scheduled on the land swap on Sept. 24 when Orion Township Treasurer Jim Marleau’s deputy Al Barnes, also a member of the Friends of Bald Mountain, brought it to his attention.
“Having more land in Bald Mountain can not come at the expense of Orion residents,” Bastian said.
“It’s disheartening to read in the paper, if that’s to be true, that Oakland tried to purchase the land, but the millage failed,” trustee Richard Tomczak said. “We’re like the second avenue to purchase that land.”
Tomczak said although the M-24 property is mostly farmland now, it might not be that way in the future.
The property has been sharecropped for years. Tomczak suggested that in the future, perhaps the township could purchase trees through a conservation program for the site.
“It’s not just fallow land,” he said.
Marleau said the land swap deal had been going on between Weger and the DNR, as boards in two of the other townships involved said they didn’t know this was going on either.
“I think the three of us townships need to have a joint meeting,” he said. “I strongly urge that we should maybe pressure to see if we can work out a grant application and be able to get this and lock that land up.
“The developer would not lose out,” Marleau said.
Trustee Will Wilsher said he was concerned Weger might try to change the zoning if he was to acquire the property on M-24.
“We could end up with another strip mall there,” he said.
Oxford resident Mac Deuparo asked how Weger could do that when the board controls the zoning.
“I feel the same way you do about not wanting to lose Bald Mountain land,” he said. “But I think when you put apples to apples, (the land swap) would be better for the animals.”
Marleau said a judge could change the property’s rezoning if the issue got to court.
“Home Depot was never supposed to be there,” Bastian said as an example. “That’s what our whole master plan was built on, open space…(the M-24 site) it’s not great open space, but it’s open space.”
Trustees also voted at the meeting to hire attorney John Staran, city attorney for Rochester Hills, to represent Orion Township in the land swap issue.
Township attorneys Secrest, Wardle, Lynch, Hampton, Truex and Morley excused themselves from representing the township in this matter, as they also represent another township involved in the land exchange issue.
The board hired Staran, at a rate of no more than $150 per hour (billed in 1/10 hour increments), not to exceed a total of $10,000 before being brought back to the board to be revoted on.
After meeting in executive session with Staran at the meeting, the board also agreed to hire an environmentalist, engineer, appraiser and planner to work for the township on the land exchange issue, at a cost not to exceed $25,000.