See details of this and other ways to express your opinions on Township home page at link below.

https://www.oaklandtownship.org/index.php

Residents near the proposed tower sent all seven Board members a 2″ looseleaf notebook containing a 32 page “Memorandum in Oppostion” signed by 151 people, along with 29 detailed letters from nearby residents, 26 letters from users of the nearby equestrian center or community gardens on Stony Creek Rd., plus exhibits and photos. Compiled and written by a legal firm the memorandum showed in great detail how the application for Special Land Use did not meet all requirements of the Township Zoning Ordinance and cited case law decisions in support of many points. The Planning Commission had recommended, by a close 3-2 vote at their February 6th meeting, that the Board approve the tower. This was, of course before the memorandum. Residents attended all meetings where the tower was discussed. At the Board April 30 meeting there were about 100 residents in attendance with standing room only, a record in my 12 years of experience. At that meeting the decision was tabled for more information from the cell phone tower company. At the May 14th meeting there were about 80 residents and no cell phone company respresentatives. At this meeting the Board passed a lengthy resolution summarizing the points in the resident memorandum and voted 7-0 to reject the application for the tower. No new information was provided by the cell phone company. This decision was greeted with a standing ovation.

At the May 14th meeting, the Township Board voted 5-2 (Mabry and Mangiapane voted NO) to authorize the Water Resource Commission to issue bonds to cover the $15,000,000 cost at interest no greater than 7%. The Clerk will or already has posted a legal notice in Oakland Press stating how residents can petition for referundum on this matter. If you want to do this, consult with a lawyer very soon. If you don’t know a lawyer, I recommend Gregory Need, who has worked in our Township on other resident issues.r

This EPA mandated water tank will serve the Southwest Water District of 2066 homes. The Water Resource Commission estimates an annual payment of $350-$390 per year per user for 30 years if interest rates are 3 and a fraction%. At least on other location on property to be donated by Moceri on Adams across from Delta Kelly School was considered and apparently rejected, although I am not “up to speed” on the details of those decisions and have not found time to research the matter.

See candidates and info here. Meetings are at 6 PM. Our current director, Mindy Milos-Dale retires 5/31/24.

Click to access 753039075.pdf

Click to access 753039081.pdf

Below is an email I just sent to my neighbor, Phylis Andrus.

Phylis Andrus,

I just watched the video of last night’s Board Meeting where you spoke about your five-year effort on Collins Road speed limit. Two other residents spoke about their safety concerns regarding Collins Rd.

I suggest residents view this video clip – about 17 minutes, See Agenda 4 at this link – https://videoplayer.telvue.com/player/KGL-y_dHhCluQTy7c6YoVBzzQ5eHj7Lr/media/866953?key=KGL-y_dHhCluQTy7c6YoVBzzQ5eHj7Lr

Some comments –

1 – I can’t find anything in HB-4012 that gives Townships more power to set speed limits. In fact, I see HB-4012 as causing no change in the law, just different words that say the same thing. 

2 – The Oakland Township Board communicates to me that anything wrong at a State or County level is not their (part-time) job to actually try to influence. Somehow,  we citizens must take up the cause with the appropriate agency, in this case the Road Commission and Michigan State Police. At least that is what I got from comments by Supervisor Buxar and lack of comments from others.

3- Manager Merucci calling RCOC weekly, as Trustee Elder suggests,  will likely get some repairs done faster but won’t affect RCOC speed limit thinking.

4 – Later in the meeting during the topic  HDC appointments, Trustee Langlois said – “Running the Township depends on a lot of active volunteers”. I am volunteering to serve on the non-existent “Public Safety Committee” whose mission, in part would be to “bring more attention to public safety issues.”

Bob Yager

What follows is an anwer from Representative Schriver to my email below.

“I’m attaching a screenshot from my publicly available 2023 vote record/reason log on the specific vote you’re asking about”

(https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1aqDK3qeoeWhvlPFr2nrLyisLqxpT2nbSlIzZptnAP5Q/mobilebasic). Since Day 1, I’ve been one of 8 out of 110 reps that reports every single vote with a reason for each one.

This link above is found in an e-newsletter I send out weekly to over 21,000 constituents I have email addresses for. Would you like to receive my email updates with vote explanations moving forward?

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From: Robert Yager <yagerra@comcast.net>
Sent: Monday, April 8, 2024 12:00:28 PM
To: Rep. Josh Schriver (District 66) <JoshSchriver@house.mi.gov>
Subject: HB-4012

Josh Schriver,

Michigan House of Representatives – District 66

Can you enlighten your Oakland Township constituents on the reasons for your NO vote on HB-4012 (MCL 257.628 Speed limit setting) ? https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2023-2024/billconcurred/House/pdf/2023-HCB-4012.pdf

I will publish your reply in the Oakland Township Sentinel. https://oaklandsentinel.wordpress.com/

I sent this email to our Board:

To: Oakland Township Board of Trustees

Now that HB-4012 (Traffic control: speed restrictions; procedure for establishing speed limits; modify. Amends sec. 628) and has been signed by the Governor,  does the Board of Trustees plan to “dust-off” and make use of this old provision from MCL 257.628 for the Collins Road speed limit issue? An answer at “ Board Reports and Correspondence” April 30,  would be appreciated.

“A township board may petition the county road commission or the department of state police for a proposed change in the speed limit.”

The Governor signed HB-4012 on April 3, 2024.

The vote was 110/10 in House and 37/0 in Senate. Oakland Township Representatives to the Michigan House, Mark Tisdel, and Danielle Steele voted YES, Josh Schriver voted NO.  Our State Senator Mike Webber voted YES.

The bill’s exact wording concurred upon by Michigan House and Senate is here:

2023-HCB-4012.pdf (mi.gov)

I struggle to understand how this rewording changes anything to eliminate automatic 85^th  percentile speed limit setting,  but am hoping you understand it better than I do.

A news article when the bill was introduced in 2023 is here:

https://gophouse.org/posts/rep-slagh-introduces-first-bills-of-new-term

A news article on the current bill is here. It seems overly optimistic.

Bill giving local governments more control over speed limits receives bipartisan support | WKAR Public Media

Bob Yager