Pleasant Lake Highlands

Contributed by Gina Gregory
Dana Calhoun, the West Bloomfield Township Engineer, will present three Donahue Drain Options to the Water, Sewer and Drains Department of WB Township next Tuesday, Sep 20 at 6:30 PM in the Employee Lunch Room. We are 9th on the agenda. The meeting agenda is attached.

As I understand it, she is looking for guidance from them as to what direction to pursue before she goes to the township board. (The Water and Sewer has 3 township board members)

1. Option: proceed with the Chapter 20 designation, through Oakland Co. This is a costly way to go, and the OC Drain Commission is feeling like this is not a good use of their money. The County would cover the costs – I think.
2. Option: Handle this through the OC Road Commission. Dana met with them in early August. They would deal only with water going across Walnut Lake Road at various points. The Road Commission and township would share the costs.
3. Option: Special Assessment District designation through West Bloomfield. Who would be included in the assessment district is to be determined. Local residents would share the costs.

Other points:

1. The Drain Commission has said that they will come out and measure the topography of the outflow stream that goes by the Asmar Property, so that hard facts can be used to see about the outflow issues for the Pleasant Lake.
2. Road right of ways would be needed to access the Murray and Asmar property.
3. I let her know that the local citizens want to be a part of this decision making process.
4. As I see it, the action taken by the board Jan 10, 2005, can’t be acted upon because who would do this work was not spelled out clearly.
5. I’ve been told that the water that backs up in the two backyards west of Waterview Drive and on the north side of Walnut Lake Road has two responsible parties. The homeowners need to keep the silt out of the opening of the culvert and the OCRC needs to keep the culvert clean.

I occasionally find snail shells floating in the lake. They are pretty large as you can tell from this picture. The first time I found one I thought somebody had been tossing their empty escargot shells into the lake.

I’ve got a jar full of shells. I soak the shells overnight in bleach and they look really good after that.

Information about local turtles can be found at http://critterguy.museum.msu.edu/FieldGuide/Turtles.html.

This turtle showed up in my yard on June 4. I’m guessing this is a painted turtle. It was moving away from the lake.

This turtle was in my yard today — I put the yardstick on the ground next to the turtle before taking the picture. It was about 10 feet from the lake and moving very slowly towards the lake. I’m guessing this is a snapping turtle.

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