Property owners around Springfield Lake have proposed a special assessment district to allow Springfield Township to handle annual cleanup of Softwater Lake.
A public hearing will be conducted at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11.
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), presented petitions from more than 50 percent of the involved property owners.
“You will not hear a lot of opposition,” Schaller said.
The group recently conducted it’s own cleaning of aquatic weeds from the lake, but Schaller said the special assessment district would be more effective.
“It would be better to have it more structured and organized with the help of the township,” he said.
Supervisor Collin Walls said the township attorney has reviewed the proposed special assessment district resolution, and it meets all statutory requirements.
“It’s a little different because the people who signed this are reqesting only the waterfront owners pay the assessment,” he said. “The back lot owners would not be assessed. With very rare exceptions, the back lot owners do not utlilize the lake.”
While the original proposal was for only one year, Walls suggested a second and third year be added. The estimated assessment (to be divided among 68 property owners and apartment renters) is $15,000 for the first year and $10,000 for the second and third years.
If everyone is pleased with the system after three years, another hearing will be conducted to determine whether to continue the program. Walls said the citizen petition will not be necessary at that point.