FeedsSewers may be issue in plan for annexation
It may be several years before anything is constructed on the former Northville Psychiatric Hospital site, after all.
There were concerns about water and sewer capacity at the site when Real Estate Interests, Inc. and Schostack Bros. Construction (REIS) wanted to develop it in Northville Township, according to Don Weaver, director of Northville Township Public Works.
Should the land become annexed to Livonia, it becomes a completely different issue. Livonia is not part of the Western Townships Utility Authority (WTUA), which holds a lease on the water and sewer infrastructure until 2011. After that, the Wayne-County owned system reverts to WTUA control.
“The whole concept has been that these pipes would be used by WTUA communities,” said Weaver. “Livonia is not a WTUA community. There’s a good chance that service would be denied to the property.”
Northville Township, Plymouth Township and Canton Township formed WTUA more than a decade ago as a way to wean themselves off the Wayne County sewer system—or at least find additional capacity for their growing communities. The organization owns the rights to the flow interceptor that connects the pipes to the Wayne County system. There are water and sewer lines that service the site, but they had been leased from Wayne County by the state because of all the institutional property in Northville Township—the former psychiatric hospital, the old Wayne County Youth Home, the Detroit House of Corrections, Maybury State Park and the Robert Scott Correctional Facility. One by one, those uses have gone away; the Scott Correctional facility is scheduled to close next year.
Since Livonia won’t be allowed access to the WTUA system, new pipes will have to be installed to connect with the Livonia system.
“It’s doubtful that they have oversized their sewer pipes to allow for additional flows from a community beyond their borders,” Weaver said.
That could mean bringing in the infrastructure from the eastern side of I-275—a costly proposition that Weaver couldn’t provide an estimate on.
“It’s not a financially feasible option, I’d guess,” he said.
James Zoumbaris, assistant director of Livonia Public Works, did not return calls for comment on Tuesday. Mayor Jack Kirksey said Livonia engineers had looked into the issue, but not performed an in-depth analysis.
“We’re aware of the concept,” said Kirksey.
It’s likely that the water and sewer infrastructure would have to be expanded to accommodate a development like the one proposed, as well. There was capacity set aside in the Wayne County system for the hospital and all its structures, but that it an entirely different situation.
“When you’re talking about the needs of a community versus the needs of a particular piece of property, it gets a little complicated,” said Tim Faas, director of the Canton Township Municipal Services Department and former executive director of WTUA.
Kirksey said city resources wouldn’t be used to make any infrastructure improvements, whether they be water and swer lines or the work required to the roadway.
“We assumed the developer has looked at the infrastructure needs,” he said. “They wouldn’t have proceeded if there wasn’t a solution.
“We don’t see any need to use city resources or tax revenue to help out the developer,” he added.
