KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo County has been technically in violation in how it oversees some local lake levels but they plan to remedy that.
The county board is set to approve lake levels on Austin, Long and West lakes in Portage, which are connected by streams. The levels are controlled by the Austin Lake Dam.
The county also plans to establish a special tax assessment district in case work is needed on that water control structure.
Consulting Attorney Stacy Hissong says a 1996 change in state regulations requires the updates.
“We don’t want to be in violation of court orders or in violation of NREPA statutes with EGLE so we want to make sure those are in there.”
She says their current order also lacks clear language on use of the Austin Lake Dam.
“This is another part we have to clean up. We are removing boards, we are operating it as the seasonal lake level, but that is not in our order.”
Hissong says without the changes, the cost of any future repairs at the dam would have to come out of the county’s general fund.
“We have quite a bit of cleanup to do we would like to update the lake level orders.”
Hissong says the next step will be to identify which homeowners are within the special assessment boundaries and then take all the updates to a district judge to have it approved.
The Kalamazoo County Drain Commissioner is overseeing the process.
Also on the county board agenda is a plan to establish a formal lake level and special assessment district for Sunset Lake in Vicksburg.
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