New restaurant coming to 51 North building

By Georgia Thelen
Review Writer
After a presentation from the Oakland County Water Resource Commission at the Jan. 23 Lake Orion Village Council meeting, the council passed a recommendation to repair a pump station and clean the sewage pipes that run under Lake Orion.
Among all of the water main replacements, it has been discovered that pump station #12, located at Central and Bridge Streets, has been failing.
The Oakland County Water Resource Commission quoted that in 2016 it cost $400 for their team to respond to emergency calls regarding that pump alone.
The majority of the 12 pumps within village limits were installed in the 1970’s, and pump station #12 still has all of its original mechanical parts, which has been blamed for the pump failure.
Both pumps within the station housing, the check valves, the controls and all of the electrical will be replaced.
“It’s more cost effective to do it while we’re out there rather than piece it all together,” said Oakland County Water Resource Commission engineer Drew Sandahl.
The village council also approved the cleaning of the sewage lines that run under Lake Orion.
There are two forced mains that run under the lake with pipes that should last anywhere from 50 to 100 years. Being installed in the early 1970’s, the pipes are coming up on the 50-year mark.
The mains will be cleaned out using a tactic called “ice pigging” which uses brine to ice and clean out the pipes. This technique has been used in sanitary systems in the United States for three years and has been performed in Waterford.
The cleaning will be performed in March ,with the hope that Lake Orion will be frozen.
“Hopefully this pipe is going to be okay, since we haven’t seen any indicators,” said Village Council President Ken Van Portfliet.
The total pump station replacement will cost $60,000, which will be paid for through water and sewage reserves that the Oakland County Water Resource Committee has on hand for Lake Orion.
The cleaning will cost $27,000, but the Oakland County Water Resource Committee will be applying for a SAW Grant through the state of Michigan, which will later reimburse 90 percent of the costs once the application is approved.

51 N. Broadway property is sold
Waterford based restaurant Fork and Pint has purchased the property at 51 N. Broadway Street.
Their application for a Redevelopment Liquor License was approved at the Jan. 23 council meeting.
Fork and Pint plans to bring an eclectic menu infused with a lot of variety and also revamp the seating inside and outside of the property.
There will also be craft beers on tap.
Fork and Pint included in their license application that “they look forward to being a job creator” in the community, and are hoping to generate 40-50 jobs with the new restaurant.