VBT board approves removal of soil for 2, 5-acre ponds

Excavation and removal of 192,800 cubic yards of soil for two, five-acre ponds to irrigate farmland on Hull Road was approved by the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees at its regular meeting by zoom on April 20.
Dennis Wilkin wants to expose the groundwater for irrigation of 247 acres to grow beans and corn on his property south of Hull Road between Sumpter and Martinsville roads.
Dan Power, director of planning and economic development, told the board ponds are permitted by the Right to Farm Act and is an accepted practice. He said the planning commission conditionally approved the request to build two ponds. The question of excavation is decided by the township board.
Director Power said the water depth will be 10 to 12’, the pond will be 14’ to 15’ from the top of the slope to the water.
Todd Waller and Denny Farmer were also at the zoom meeting with Wilkin to answer any questions by the board.
Supervisor Kevin McNamara asked if they have the truck route covered and Power said they were working on that.
Supervisor McNamara also asked about cleaning the trucks and he was told they will apply cleaners and if it gets too bad, they will shut the job down.
Memo of Understanding
The board also approved with six ayes, no nays, and one recusal the 2021 memorandums of understanding for participation in the Wayne County Local Road Initiative with the homeowners associations at Walden Woods, Charter Club Estates, Andover Farms, and Robinson River Park.
Clerk Leon Wright recused himself from the vote on this because he is president of Andover Farms HOA and signed one of the memos of understanding for his subdivision.
Trustee Kevin Martin asked if he should recuse himself from the vote because he lives in Charter Club subdivision and he was told since he was not an officer in the homeowners’ association that would not be necessary.
Matthew Best, director of public services, explained the project to the board. He said in the spring of 2020, Wayne County halted the Local Roads Initiative Funding Projects because of COVID.
He said four township subdivisions had been a part of that round of funding and work was one intergovernmental agreement away from proceeding. He said the supervisor’s office had worked hard to get that funding reinstated.
The township recently has been made aware that Wayne County has restored funding for the Wayne County Local Roads Initiative and the township has restarted the previous project to try to get the remaining repairs to the roads completed, Best said.
The township has obtained the signed memos of understanding from each subdivision participating. After approval by the board, the project will move forward with an intergovernmental agreement with the county, and then the township will get a contractor for construction.
The township expects to spend the entire $375,000 on this previously approved project with a 20% local match from the subdivisions, Best said. He said each HOA put in an amount based on the work.
Best said this was the same program used to pave McBride Avenue in front of the middle school.
In other business at the 53-minute, April 20 meeting, the board:
• Approved unanimously the second and final reading of Ordinance 04-06-21(1) amendments to lot coverage and outdoor industrial storage area related to unenclosed roofed structures;
• Heard McNamara announce a 7 p.m. April 27 zoom, town-hall meeting was set to discuss sidewalks for Haggerty subdivision. He said the Downtown Development Authority’s sidewalk replacement project in the DDA district was to start April 26; and
• Heard McNamara announce the Belleville Area Council for the Arts bought ten, four-foot-tall fish and wants the township to buy one of them to display. He said they are $1,300 each. Trustee Reggie Miller said the township can’t make donations to private groups and Treasurer Sharry Budd agreed, saying, “I don’t think we can spend township money that way.” McNamara said he hasn’t done anything about the request and, “If you have a problem, give me a call.”
The board met in closed-door session at 5 p.m. on April 20 via zoom “to consider the contents of an attorney-client communication.” The regular meeting, open to the public via zoom, started at 6 p.m.
Trustee Donald Boynton did not attend the closed-door session because of a perceived conflict of interest having to do with him living in Country Walk subdivision.