We need your support of Water for Edenville Township by signing the Petition!

Edenville Township has been working for ~10 years towards bringing municipal water from Midland to a portion of the township.  The "special assessment district" is the collection of properties that will have access to the public water.  The owner(s) of each parcel will pay the same assessment price per parcel for the installation of the municipal water lines.  The goal is to have this price be less than $10,000 per parcel.  The cost per parcel is not based on acreage; it is one price per parcel of property, whether there is a house on it or not.  This assessment can be paid up front or spread over 40 years at a low interest rate as a part of the property tax bill, and must be paid whether the home connects to the water system or not.

At the first Public Hearing held in January, 2007, regarding the creation of the special assessment district landowners of more than 20% of the acreage protested the creation of the special assessment district.  In order for this special assessment district to still be established, petitions in support of this project must now be signed for 51% of the acreage.

Additional Information:

• For this project, adjoining lots with only one home are considered as one parcel.

• If the property is sold before the special assessment fee is paid in full: In most cases is possible to transfer the special assessment fees to the purchaser. Sellers should check with their realtor and/or financial institutions for their individual requirements.

• Both public and private roads have been included in the special assessment district.  The Township can not run water lines without easements.  On public roads the water lines can be placed in the road right-of-ways.  On private roads each parcel owner on at least one side of the road must give an easement.  The water line stops when one owner refuses to give an easement.

• At the time a home is hooked up to the system, an additional hook-up fee must be paid to Water District #1 to connect each home to the water system.  This hook-up fee is expected to be approximately $2500 per home and covers the cost of a 3/4" meter and tapping the main. In addition to this hook-up fee, each home owner is responsible for laying the service line from the main line at the road to the home.

Information about the Petition Drive:

• All persons listed on the deed of a property must sign the petition for that acreage to be counted; they do not have to be residents of Edenville Township, just a landowner in the Special Assessment District (see Exhibit A on page 2 of the petition).  Please put the parcel address in the address.

• If persons on the deed are deceased, a copy of the death certificate is required.

• If a person owns multiple parcels, separate petition signatures must be obtained for each parcel.

• The parcel ID does not need to be entered.

The overall process is as follows:

1. A new transmission main is required between the City of Midland and the Water District #1 pump station prior to expansion into Edenville Township.  Water District #1 has made great progress on this project.  Edenville Township has agreed to contribute to this project.

2. The Special Assessment district must be established by the township board after petitions totaling 51% of the acreage have been signed

3. The final project costs must be determined, ending up with a cost per parcel.  If the cost per parcel is too high, the district will be modified until the cost per parcel is acceptable to the Edenville Township Board.

4. Detailed engineering completed.

5. The project is put out for bids.

6. Second Public Hearing to finalize the tax roll.

7. Installation of the water system.

8. Parcel owners can pay the special assessment fee in full or have yearly installments placed on their taxes.

Make sure the date of the circulator signature is on or after the latest date of the petition signatures. The circulator can be the person signing the petition or someone else; it is not a witness. If you are signing a petition that was mailed to you from WET, you may leave the circulator info at the bottom blank and simply return the signed petition to WET at the address below. Please return completed petitions to:

WET

P.O. Box 140

Edenville, MI 48620