Lisa Myers is tired of all the disruptions to her quiet life in Van Buren Township. These disruptions have been going on for more than three years now and, apparently, won’t be stopping any time soon.
She came to the VBT Board of Trustees to beg for help.
At its July 20 meeting, Myers gave an impassioned report on what it’s like to live on Tyler Road, a few doors down from Haggerty Road – and kitty-corner across from the I-275 batch plant on the NE corner approved by the township and operating this summer.
Myers explained how first the construction to enlarge the bank center across the street disrupted the neighborhood.
Then the reconstruction of Tyler Road turned into a three-year nightmare, which included a dust problem so bad they couldn’t use their pool, their driveway was closed, there was flooding in their yard twice (once up to the foundation), and a ditch that was not done right.
She said she talked to Wayne County Commissioner Kevin McNamara about it and she said McNamara told her there had been more than 200 complaints on the project and the road failed all its inspections. Some upgrading to Tyler is taking place this summer, she said.
Now, she said, after 23 years of living in her home, there is a guardrail placed in front of her house – only her house and she is not on a corner. She was told there was a pipe that needed protection there.
She said road workers hit a gas line (which closed Tyler Elementary School for the day), spilled diesel fuel on her drive, and more.
Now that the road is supposedly done, there is the noise and dust from construction vehicles on the corner. The site is used as a base of operations for construction on I-275.
She said she was told at the end of May that the work would be done in 4-6 weeks, which means it should be done by now.
But, she said, the township had granted them permission to work at night, with the sound so invasive that it was hard to sleep.
She said she called VBT Police because of the noise one night and Officer Ryan McCormack and Sgt. Charles Bazzy shut the operation down for the night.
She said the owner of the construction site has been putting her family up at a motel room, which would end July 22.
She said he has a deadline of Aug. 3 to be done with the current work, but he plans to come back in September.
She pleaded with the township board not to grant permission for that kind of project to continue in a residential area.
Myers said the township building department granted them the approval to set up shop there.
Dan Swallow, director of planning and economic development, said it is a temporary batch plant and, “We granted temporary land use.”
He said they were to work during the day, but then they had to work dusk to dawn because the concrete would not cure in high temperatures and MDOT shut them down.
“We – the board – didn’t issue the permit,” said Trustee Jeff Jahr to Myers. “The supervisor needs to talk with the director to see what can be done. We can change an ordinance, if necessary. This was something done administratively.”
Myers said she understands that Haggerty Road from the North I-94 Service Drive to Ecorse is going to be redone and, “We’ve done our time. This construction site can go somewhere else.”
Myers said the contractor “has been a peach” with trying to alleviate some of the problems, such as putting a liner in the bottom of the dump trucks to deaden the noise when the gravel being loaded hits the metal beds.
“I get on the ground and ask you to please make this stop,” Myers said to the board.
Supervisor Paul White directed Swallow to set up a meeting with the contractor and Myers to discuss the problem.
“We shouldn’t allow a nuisance put up next to a residential area,” Jahr said.
Myers said she was told by the building department that the township would have to let them back in if they did everything required.
“That’s why I’m here,” Myers said. “I could see it going on and on…”
Supervisor White said he hoped to do something for her.
“I feel for that woman,” said resident Charles Tackett, adding that other well-known freeway contractors, such as John Carlo, put their batch plants in the freeway interchanges or otherwise near the freeway, not in residential neighborhoods a distance from the freeway.