West of the bridge on Park Island Drive lies a small community of nice lakefront homes, many with attractive landscaping and lawns.
What the residents don’t have is a paved road leading to their houses that’s in good shape. A group of them came to the Lake Orion Village Council meeting on June 13 asking the road be repaved and turned over to the village as a public road.
According to Lake Orion Village Manager JoAnn Van Tassel, the road was platted as a private road in the 1970s.
Homeowner Howard Daenzer told council members the issue to make the road public has been talked about before, but it’s never been resolved.
Currently, the village does plow the road in the winter and does maintain the water line located in the area.
According to Daenzer, residents on Park Island, along with the rest of the village, have been paying for a road debt that started in 1999 and won’t end for another 14 years.
‘We’re paying an awful lot and not getting any road improvements ourselves. We’re paying a disproportionate share,? he added.
In information provided to the council, Daenzer says the average taxable value of a home on Park Island is $200,000. The rest of the village averages $76,000.
In the first six years of the road debt, a homeowner on Park Island has paid an average of $1,860. Other homeowners in the village average $708.
Daenzer’s information shows when the 20 year debt ends, island residents will have paid approximately $5,780, the rest of the village, $2,192.
Daenzer also thought upgrading the bridge to the island might be a good idea.
According to Van Tassel, the village’s engineers did a reconstruction study of the bridge in 2000. ‘I think it was too expensive,? she said.
Ron Zilka, an eight year resident of Park Island, told council members the road was smooth when he first moved there, but it isn’t now. There’s been a lot of cold patching since then, he said, and it was done poorly.
‘If it would have been patched properly, we wouldn’t be having these problems. It was poor maintenance,? he added.
‘My neighbor and I replaced a 20 foot section (of the road) and paid for it out of our own pocket,? resident Dan Kowalski. ‘We’re asking for a surface to where it was 10 years ago.?
Rick Rice, another resident, suggested the water mains have been breaking and work should be done on them also.
Council members were sympathetic to the residents? request, but admitted there was no money in the budget to repave the road at this time.
Van Tassel also suggested the village charter be researched to find out if the road needed to be brought up to village standards before it could be turned over to the village. ‘And we need to find out who pays what,? she added.
It was decided to have Hubbell, Roth and Clark engineers take a look at the road to see what needed to be done to improve it.