Township battle with DNR over lakes continues

By Dana Casadei

Bloomfield Township’s battle with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will continue after the board of trustees on Monday, September 23, voted in favor of drafting language that would support an amendment to the DNR’s environmental protection act and provide for significant local control concerning watercraft on private lakes, as well as authorize elected officials to advocate for said lakes on their behalf, while also seeking support from other local municipalities. 

“I’d like to thank clerk [Martin] Brook for all his work on this; he knows the lakes are a passion of mine,” said trustee Valerie Murray, who made the motion in support.

The board of trustees, along with residents, has been working on this since this past April, when the DNR gave the township their local watercraft control findings and resolutions surrounding 10 lakes within Bloomfield Township.

The township board did appeal the original DNR decision, which was denied, ultimately putting the statute authorizing local watercraft control fully in the hands of the DNR, not the residents and local government. 

At the trustees meeting on Wednesday, April 24, a unanimous decision was reached to appeal the DNR’s finding on local watercraft control, where it was determined that the township's 10 lakes can have slow no-wake lake ordinances, but not no motorboats, as has been followed by the lakes since 1970. Brook said it was determined they would not appeal to the DNR for Chalmers, Meadow, Orange, Sodon or Wabeek lakes, as they are all smaller than 40 acres in size with no launch or natural launch, meaning it was very unlikely a motorized boat could be launched on one of the lakes. The focus of the township's appeal will be on the five larger lakes in the township – Wing, Gilbert, Lower Long, Island and Forest lakes.

Even though some aspects of the spring ruling went the way the board wanted – having each lake be a slow no-wake waterway, for instance – others did not, including the omission of the agency implementing an ordinance that required no internal combustion engines and limited-sized electric boats on the lakes.

The ironic part about the DNR’s findings this spring was that there were already adopted ordinances in place within the township that had allowed waterways to be no motorboat environments since 1970, but it turns out that approval has never been obtained from the DNR, causing a variety of steps to be taken over the last few years.

The DNR provided an initial investigation in the spring of 2023, during which time the DNR implied that a local watercraft control was not warranted.

Those adopted ordinances from the 1970s have been diligently followed for decades, with Brook noting at the board of trustees meeting in early April that they have been adhered to because it’s the desire of the local residents, who have been very vocal about the DNR’s recent decision. 

“Our local residents want us to continue to work on this,” Brook said.

Brook, supervisor Dani Walsh and treasurer Michael Schostak have continued work on the issue, contacting Bloomfield Township legislative representatives to advocate for an amendment to the DNR’s rules, which would allow for greater local control over watercraft rules and operations in essentially private lakes – lakes with no public access.

If this amendment were to go into effect it would have an outcome that could potentially affect those outside of Bloomfield Township as well. 

During the week prior to their Monday night board meeting, Brook said he had recently spoken with two state representatives, who told him they’re eagerly looking forward to the language and want to move forward with it.

So, why put something like this to a vote before the board? To show that they are unified in this, that it isn’t just one person pushing this forward for the local lakes.

“The time might be right to make this effort,” Brook said.