Residents and business owners on Sashabaw Road received some good news last week.
At a special meeting on Sept. 11, the Independence Township Board chose to abandon thoughts of a Special Assessment District for the improvements to Sashabaw Road with a 6-0 vote.
The Trustees chose to pay the full share not covered by the federal government and the Oakland County Road Commission. The board estimates this will be no more than $600,000. The final number depends on whether the township receives any more donations of property for the expanded right-of-way in addition to whether the construction bids come in near their estimations.
“It is still possible that we won’t spend the full $600,000,” Township Supervisor Dale Stuart said.
One of the main reasons the board decided to abandon the idea of a SAD was to make sure the project continued to proceed.
“If we did not get going the project could have been delayed another year and would have been in danger of not happening at all. We did not want to lose our federal dollars,” Independence Township Clerk Joan McCrary said.
Originally, the township believed the local cost of the project would be $1.2 million of the estimated $12 million road project. The township planned to pay 10 percent ($120,000) with the rest of the money coming from the SAD.
However, the $1.2 million estimation decreased as 25 businesses donated land to the project. The value of the donated land is split 50-50 between the township and the Road Commission.
The federal government is paying for 80 percent of the project (an estimated $9.6 million), while the Road Commission is contributing 10 percent (an estimated $1.2 million.)
“If we wait this adds to the potential cost,” Stuart said. “I believe the economy is getting better but at this point contractors are still happy to get work.”
The other reason for the board’s decision was some businesses were said to be hesitant about donating land without the SAD issue being resolved.
“I have my suspicions that maybe the SAD does not make as big a difference as they have insinuated but now that argument is gone,” Stuart said.
Stuart hopes the elimination of the SAD option gets more businesses to donate.
“They have to decide whether they want to step-up and help the community with their donation. All those involved will receive a significant increase in their property value when the construction is completed,” Stuart said.
At least one board member, Trustee Dave Wagner was dismayed with the way the special meeting was sprung on the board at the last minute.
“I really felt up against the wall. I really wish there was more communication between the board,” Wagner said. “He (Stuart) called the meeting at the last moment and didn’t give us one piece of paper. I think this was all political on his part. There is an election coming up so I guess that might be a good reason why this happened so fast.”
Wagner, who voted yes, believes in the project and did not want to see it delayed any longer.
“It has taken so long to get this project going. Whenever we thought we had it something would come up. This is affecting a lot of businesses on Sashabaw in the pocketbook,” Wagner said. “I mean, we knew who wouldn’t give us land a year ago. Why this all had to be decided quickly at a special meeting is beyond me.”
Stuart said the issue did not need to be voted on at the special meeting if the board was not comfortable.
“I thought the matter was enough of an issue that we should have a meeting dedicated to it specifically,” Stuart said. “I wanted to discuss the issue and if the board felt comfortable voting they would. There was nothing special about the day itself that this needed to get done other than the faster it got resolved the quicker we could begin.”