Deer Lake property owners were reimbursed by Independence Township for police services they did not use.
The reimbursement will be $134.64, for 4.25 unused hours at the contract rate of $31.68 per hour.
Residents in the Deer Lake Property Owners Association (DLPOA), who live on the lake, cited safety studies that the 72-acre Deer Lake public lake can only safely handle four boats at a time.
Th reimbursement was approved by the Township Board, Feb. 17.
The Deer Lake Property Owners Association contracted through the Township with Oakland County’s Marine Division for boat patrol services on Deer Lake in 2014. The contract included 80 hours of patrol services, but they received 75.75 hours.
DLPOA represents 73 riparian, residents with homes directly on the lake, who paid for police coverage.
Disagreements have arisen over time that DLPOA have send time and money, such as keeping the lake clean the lake and paying for police coverage.
A subdivision of 27 homes, Deer Lake Knolls homeowners jointly own five acres along Deer Lake and has been keeping boats in the water since 1966 by installing seasonal docks.
In one dispute, DLPOA homeowners disputed a subdivisions accesss to homeoeners ina subdivision who don’t live on the lake themselves, so this creates a situation known as “keyholing,” which Independence Township addressed with an ordinance in 2007.
The Keyhole Ordinance requires a special land use for each new dock. Knolls residents put in a new dock in 2013, so the township cited them under the ordinance.
DLPOA have often cited a study that the small lake can only safely accompany four boats at a time, but the lake also has a public access site, accessible to everyone.
-Andrea Beaudoin