Ada Township reached a settlement with the Kent County Drain Commissioner's office Monday. The township filed a lawsuit against the commissioner's office last year, citing a lack of communication and notice regarding the county's proposed plans for the Knapps Corner Drain Project.
The project has been ongoing for over a decade now.
"This particular pond failed about 12 years ago, so there's no outlet. The overflow does not go anywhere, except for in the private homes, backyards, and then floods the basement. So we can't allow that to happen," said Kent County Drain Commissioner Ken Yonker Monday.
The county has been using a temporary solution.
"We're currently, and have been for the last three years, trucking the water to the river and to keep the pond down where it can manage the water that can't go on long term, because that's about $900,000 a year," Yonker said.
Initially, Yonker said they planned to run the overflow to the west, then connect into an existing county drain to let the water run into the Grand River.
"The biggest thing is, if we got into something that extensive, EPA would have stepped in and definitely did some hard regulation, which probably would have stopped us from even putting it in," said Yonker. "That was the big risk. So, we had a look at the other alternative that we had looked at earlier, and that was to pipe the water right directly to the river."
Part of that plan, however, would mean digging into Ada Township.
"We're a little bit frustrated because all of a sudden, after four or five years looking at the location of the west, they were pivoting to the right and heading, piping the water to Ada, without I feel the full review or consideration that was given to the other location," said Ada Township Manager, Julius Suchy.
Suchy said the commissioner's office did initially reach out to the township in April of last year but is frustrated with what he said is a lack of communication and notice.
"The drain commissioner came and spoke at our July 8 board meeting. At that board meeting, the township board expressed frustration concern and was not supportive of the plan, and so they authorized me to work with our engineer, work with legal counsel, and look at what options we had. What we didn't know at the time was the drain board had already met on June 20," said Suchy.
He said the commissioner's office didn't notify the township of the two drain commissioner's board meetings that happened on June 20 and June 25.
"Our legal counsel identified that these meetings had already happened, and under the drain code and the appeal process, you have 20 days to potentially respond or or you lose your rights to an appeal. So, we filed a lawsuit on August 14, basically preserving our rights ADA township as a whole and also its residents. We felt like Ada Township needed more information," Suchy said.
"They're not invited because the law says they don't have no word in this. They have no standing. So, when you're making a decision of this magnitude, you're going to bring together the people that are legally bound to this project and carry the cost for it, and that's the way our laws were. They had no grounds in this. It was not going to impact them at all," said Yonker.
Suchy said residents are also concerned with the changes this proposal could bring to the township.
"If you look at what is going on with the Knapps Corner Drain, there's residences on Dunnigan Avenue that have had their wells contaminated from high salt content. And so when we talk about that, you know, what's to say that's not going to happen in Ada Township? We don't have public water on Grand River where they're planning on pumping the water," Suchy said.
"There's no concern about that, because when you have water that's moving and it's in a pipe, it's not going to get into a well if it's in the pipe," said Yonker.
Per the settlement, a public meeting will be held on Thursday, May 29 at 1 p.m. in front of the drain board so that Ada residents can share their concerns. The location of the meeting is still up in the air.
"If you're piping all that water into Ada Township and into the Cook Drain, ultimately, the Grand River, don't you owe it to the residents to be able to provide that notice? If we had that notice, we wouldn't had to file a lawsuit. We would have come out and gone to the public meeting, expressed our concern and frustration, and then ultimately, the drain board could have made their decision," Suchy said.
"It's just one community has a different viewpoint, but they don't have any any skin in the game, so the law doesn't give them a voice, but we'll listen to them. I want to be good neighbors," said Yonker.
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