Commissioners advised: Do not eat the fish from Belleville Lake

Members of the Van Buren Township Environmental Commission talked about the fish in Belleville Lake during their May 17 regular meeting.
Commissioner Jill Yob reported seeing people carrying fish from the lake and hoped they weren’t going to eat the fish.
Ron Akers, director of municipal services, said the current advisory on the Huron River is not to eat the fish.
“Last I heard, you can eat some fish in moderation,” said Larry Luckett, director of public services.
Director Akers read from the advisory he had pulled up on his laptop: “The do not eat advisory includes Belleville Lake.” He said some fish can be eaten from the Huron River after it passes under I-275 to the east and then to Lake Erie, where the advisory is lifted.
Commissioners shared stories of seeing people fishing and taking the fish home.
Commissioner Benjamin Ross said a couple of meetings ago, the commission talked about putting up signs with the fish warning, but he hasn’t seen any up.
Akers said he would follow up with the Huron River Watershed Council which can tell him where to buy the signs.
Akers turned his laptop towards each member of the commission in turn so they could read the Do Not Eat Advisory for Belleville Lake.
Smell in the air brings concern
Commissioner Ross said that a smell had been in the air that his wife and others had smelled coming from the area of the toxic landfill on the North I-94 Service Drive.
Akers said when he was advised, he went out to the area and did not notice any odor. If there are strong odors emanating from a facility in the township, he advised commissioners to call the Department of Community Services at (734) 699-8926 during business hours or the Department of Public Safety at (734) 699-8930 outside of business hours. He said township staff will forward that information to the MDEQ or another agency for follow up.
He said sometimes the asphalt plant next door to the landfill has odors.
“Next time, send out a woman,” said chairman Norm DeBuck, adding he is convinced women can see cobwebs better and have a better sense of smell.
Seeking erosion sites
Akers said that the upcoming watershed management plan will have an erosion unit and the Huron River Watershed Council is looking for erosion sites to put in the plan. They need the locations to support their grant applications, he said.
Akers said he knows of the eroded site on Quirk Road west of Belleville Road.
Commissioner Tony Gibson said another location is at Van Buren Park on the west slope of the beach.
Akers asked commissioners to let them know about other locations, so he can pass them on to the HRWC.
Discussion on seawalls
Chairman DeBuck said he had a question about the specifications for seawalls. He said he had to put in a steel seawall and while he wanted it straight, he had to go along the shape of the shore.
DeBuck said he believes that the baskets with stones inside do a better job of absorbing the energy of the waves. Akers said the state used to encourage the use of rocks and now they don’t and he doesn’t know why.
DeBuck said steel seawalls echo the energy back out into the lake with waves. He said he has investigated this while boating and can see the action on both kinds of seawalls.
Akers said you can break up the energy of waves with big rocks. He said he will reach out to the state to see what their recommendation is now.
Township Trustee Donald Boynton, board liaison to the commission, asked what the speed was on the lake and Ross said it was 40 mph. Trustee Boynton suggested lowering the speed limit.
DeBuck said the faster a boat goes, the less wave there is.
Boynton asked if a house boat would create more waves and Ross said pontoon boats float on top of the water and have less displacement.
Ross said bassboats go 70 mph on the lake and there is no enforcement.
Hazardous Waste Forum
Akers said he was glad some of the commissioners were able to attend the May 4 Hazardous Waste Forum at Wayne County Community College hosted by U.S. Representatives Debbie Dingell, Rasida Tlaib, and Shri Thanedar, along with Wayne County Executive Warren Evans.
Representatives were there from the EPA, EGLE, Norfolk Southern railroad, and Republic Services, which now owns the hazardous waste landfill in Van Buren Township.
DeBuck, who attended the forum, said he was concerned about the tipping fees to Michigan landfills which was said to be much cheaper than those fees in surrounding states and Canada.
Trustee Boynton said the tipping fees were discussed by Rep. Dingell and she said other places the tipping fees are from $11 to $13 a ton and in Michigan it is 39 cents a ton and that needs to be changed. Dingell said she and others were working on that.
Paying for trash pickup
Akers reported that Van Buren Township is making the transition to having a solid waste contractor and township officials had a meeting that morning with Waste Management, who was chosen as the contractor.
He said they are finalizing the contract, which will be coming back to the township board for action. The trash pickup, which will be paid by residents instead of being free as in the past, will begin July 1.
Commissioners asked about the details and Akers said the charges for residents would be less than $14 a month and would be put on the property tax bill in two parts, half on the summer tax and half on the winter tax.
There would be one bulk item per month and residents would have to call and schedule that pickup.
Denton Road Bridge
The commissioners asked for an update on the Denton Road Bridge construction and Akers said the township board approved a contract with Fishbeck
Engineers to design the bridge. He said the kickoff meeting was to be on May 18.
Proposed elimination of wells
Akers said on May 18 the township was hosting a public meeting to discuss RACER Trust’s proposal to eliminate wells in a certain area in the northwest corner of the township. RACER’s site is near the corner of Ecorse Road and Michigan Avenue. The proposal is for the township to pass an ordinance banning wells in this area to address site-related contaminated groundwater there.
There are no wells in that area and everyone is on the township water system, Akers said. He said the EPA wants the site to be brought up to development status.
Denton/Mott roads fixed
Commissioner Ronald Merritt said he had asked the township about the bad road conditions in the Denton/Mott road area and it is now fixed up. He said the potholes are filled, it’s graded, and sprayed for dust. “It looks great,” he said. He thanked Akers and Luckett who talked to those at Wayne County Roads to get it attended to. They had to make a lot of calls, they agreed.
Camping World
Commissioner Yob said her family uses Camping World a lot and she wanted to know if the Van Buren Township site would ever reopen. Akers said Camping World finally decided the original design with all the approvals would be built and the newer layout was abandoned.