Jefferson approves dredging channel

Published 3:24 pm Wednesday, April 18, 2007

By By MARCIA STEFFENS / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS – Most Wilson Channel residents in attendance at the Jefferson Township meeting last Thursday were excited that they might be reclaiming their channel.
Following a public hearing where all were encouraged to talk, the board voted to go ahead with the $560,000 project to dredge the channel off Diamond Lake.
A few, like Dean and Betty Argersinger, though, expressed concern what the 15-year assessment would mean for those on fixed incomes.
"Everyone isn't rich. It is a terrible hardship on us," she said.
Increased value of their property and a better quality of life were mentioned as pluses.
Assessmens are based on dividing the number of lots, 30 and also on the amount of frontage of each. An average of more than $26,000 could be expected to be paid by a homeowner. Assessment are usually transferred to the new owner in the case of the home being sold.
Marilyn Mahon was hoping her grandchild could once again swim in the channel, once the muck, found to have arsenic, would be removed. She was also impressed a figure of no more than 5 percent fixed interest was used.
"The township board didn't search for the project. They came to us," said board supervisor Jeff Carmen. Now the board would be "carrying it forward."
The board made the decision to make a special assessment district. The debris will be taken to the Dean Hass property where it will dry out before being taken to a landfill. Hass, who refrained from the vote on the project, will be compensated by $25,000 for the use of his land over a least a one-year period.
The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has been part of the initial process. Finding arsenic in the sediment made burying the matter on Hass' property not allowed and upped the original price estimate about $150,000.
The channel has not been dredged since its creation in 1951.
The dredging is expected to take about a month and will not be able to start until after spawning season.
After the channel is cleared, nature might still come into play and cause sand to block the channel entrance. Residents usually have the channel mouth pumped out each year, so their boats can get through.
There is no public access on the channel, which is located at the southeast end of the lake. The township attorney, John Lohrstorfer of Kalamazoo, nor Tom Deneau, an engineer from Wightman &Associates, knew of no grants which would be available for the project.