Novi residents outraged over city’s response to concerns on Garfield Lake

NOVI, Mich - Residents living off of Garfield Lake in Novi, are concerned over the city’s handling of the lowering lake levels, the lake turning brown, and the negative effects on nearby wetlands and canals. 

Remko Atteveld and Jim Bullock are neighbors living on the lake, which is across from Maybury State Park. They have lived there for several years, and notice that the lake levels do their natural rise every spring. 

But in the spring of 2020, Atteveld said that they noticed the lake wasn’t rising as it had every other year. So they began looking around their neighborhood, trying to find answers. That's when they began looking into the 9 Mile sewer project, happening less than a mile down the road. This project required a lot of water to be removed from the ground. So Atteveld and Bullock reached out to the city.

"The permit they pulled allowed for up to eight million gallons a day of dewatering to put in a new sewer system," Atteveld said.

The project, which began in February 2019, had an 18-month estimated completion date. Over three years later, it is not yet complete. 

"It would make sense that the work that you’re doing, pulling eight million gallons a day out of the ground, is impacting our lake levels," said Atteveld.

According to a statement on the city of Novi's website regarding this project, "Staff identified the project in 2013 as high priority … Engineering for the project was approved in 2016 and work started in 2019."

Atteveld and Bullock said that they did not get a response from the city, and felt like nobody was listening to them. So they decided to attend a few city council meetings, to voice their concerns again. They said they received no response.

According to the Sheryl Walsh, the Director of Communications for the City of Novi, the city has been in contact with residents regarding the 9 Mile Sanitary Sewer project, and Garfield Lake, since 2019, and was first made aware of concerns by residents in the spring of 2020. 

"Since then, City staff continued engagement with residents in the field addressing individual concerns, at public information meetings and through a bi-monthly newsletter regarding obstacles encountered throughout the Michigan’s Department of Environmental Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) permitted project," added Walsh.

Then, more residents around the lake became vocal, and in the summer of 2020, the city agreed to divert some of the water they were taking out of the ground, into the lake.

"That had a pretty immediate impact on the lake levels, however, the water they were pumping was incredibly heavy with iron oxide water and sediments," described Atteveld.

"We couldn’t tell what it was, the city is claiming to us that it is high in iron oxide. Allegedly…when you pump water out of the ground that deep, it was about 30 – 40 feet deep. When that water comes in contact with oxygen, that water oxidizes, it causes that brown water you see," said Atteveld.

But he and Bullock said that this had never been in the lake before, and was never seen on the docks or banks; nothing had ever turned brown before. The banks have also started to erode. So they asked the city to turn the water off until they can confirm what is causing the color change. Concerned it may be dangerous, they were asking for testing to be done.

Atteveld said that the city would not respond the first few times. So, since the pipe ran on his property, he said he revoked his permission to have it there. Then the city came and turned it off. But according to Atteveld, many other residents started complaining because the water began dropping rapidly. Thus, the city came and moved the pipe about six inches over, onto his neighbor’s yard. And at 11 o’clock at night, when Atteveld said they were all sleeping, the city turned the pipe back on. But this time, turned the pump back on as well, Atteveld assumed it was so that they couldn’t see the brown water coming out.

"There is a canal behind our house that we used to be able to jump across, it was about six to seven feet wide. It’s easily now 25 feet wide because it’s just collapsed and collapsed, there is stuff growing in it now, you can’t navigate it now, it’s totally been destroyed," Atteveld added. 

"All they're giving us is lip service," said Atteveld. "They are telling us that, ‘if we identify, and anything is a byproduct of the work that we did, we’ll talk about fixing it.’ That’s the most noncommittal quote I’ve ever heard in my life."

So in the spring of 2021, they decided to take to social media, documenting what is happening, and creating a timeline.

"The city didn’t like it, they told us, ‘going on social media isn’t doing your cause any good, don’t even worry about suing us, because you’ll never win.’ We had a couple of city council members come out, and for us, it felt very threatened," described Atteveld.

Bullock and Atteveld say that all they want is for the lake levels to be where they should be, and with ‘normal’ water. They want the lake bays and canal restored, making sure that there was no damage done to the wetlands. They also want to make sure that this does not happen to anyone else, as there is another dewater project down the street.

They are also concerned about the state regulation regarding the amount of chemicals allowed in the water. Specifically for Garfield Lake, the chemical of concern is PFAS. Michigan allows a maximum of 12 parts per million (PPM). Garfield lake was recently tested at four PPM. 

"Four parts per million is still below the state-regulated maximum of 12, that’s absolutely ridiculous. I will pour you a four parts per million glass of water and tell you it’s safe, to still drink it, and no one will," Atteveld said. 

Atteveld and Bullock also hired a geologist. Though they became concerned once they learned that this was the only geologist hired for this project. 

"I can say with 100% certainty, because I asked the City Engineer Ben Croy, and the City Manager Peter Auger, if they had consulted with a geologist prior to the project, and they had not," said Bullock. "They said that the cost was estimated to be about $100,000 for a geological consultant, and they didn’t feel that was a good use of the money because they didn’t expect to run into the glacial till, that ultimately caused the delays."

Allegedly, the plan for the 9 Mile sewer project had to be changed due to trees, and the alternate solution was to bore through the ground, approximately 30 – 40 feet deep, to meet up with another pipe. Though there were large boulders in the way. The geologist the neighbors hired, described to them that had they done the geological survey, they would have known they would run into that.

"With them not wanting to spend the extra $100,000, has actually probably costed them upwards of a couple of million because of all the delays, and extra other equipment they needed to bring in to try to divert the water to Garfield Lake," described Bullock.

"Although we understand and sympathize with our residents during the unfortunate extended length of this permitted project and the temporary impact construct had, no one could have foreseen the obstacles encountered," said Walsh. 

According to the city's statement, "A combination of factors led to the issues impacting Garfield Lake. We are not denying the dewatering efforts for the Nine Mile Sewer project played a role, but we also must acknowledge the state of Michigan is in a moderate drought. This was not something we could have predicted as the lake is roughly a mile away from the project, while a pond next to the project hasn't gone down."

"We have a canal behind our house, that has been here for 40 years, and in 18 months is totally destroyed," said Atteveld.

They say that they have been sending in requests for reimbursement for damages, but have been ignored. 

"We’re not asking for millions of dollars," Atteveld said. "The city said we are not putting in anything that wasn’t there … I’m not asking for money, we’re not asking for anything, I don’t need to walk away with more money in my pocket than I had before, we just need things fixed. The city can come out … do what they need to do, and we’d be happy."

What they are asking for; a retaining wall to protect the sea wall, as well as reimbursements to fix property that has been damaged, as they feel, from a result of the 9 mile sewer project.

Additionally, Bullock and Atteveld say that this has created some animosity between the group of residents fighting this project, and the rest of the residents on the lake. 

"When we told them [the city] to stop pumping because the water was brown, they turned the water off, all the other residents were complaining because the water levels were so low. They didn’t care about the type of water, they just wanted to have water in the lake," said Atteveld. "Even to this day, there is a lot of anxiety, stress, and pressure, between us and the rest of the residents."

Since the project is still ongoing, Atteveld and Bullock say that they will continue this cause, because they feel the city needs to be held accountable. Specifically, they want the city to follow through with the words they have said publicly. They want them to make things right, for them to figure out what the problems are, and go out and fix them.

"Mayor Gatt and City Council have provided clear direction to right any wrongdoings incurred by residents as a result of this project," the city said in their statement.

"We’ll continue to hold the city accountable for the words they have publicly said, where if there is any impact from the project to our lake or our wetlands, or anything, if that link has been established, that they will make us whole. We will continue to stay vocal on social media," concluded Atteveld.