SUPERVISORS CORNER

SUPERVISORS CORNER
And this is why we love this state, the weather constantly keeps us on our toes and guessing just what is coming next. Just when we thought Spring had finally made an appearance and WHAM 3” of fresh snow on April 19. Gotta love it… Can’t change it, so we adapt, clean our car/truck/SUV and keep plowing on.
I have had a number of complaints on dirt roads this spring. Because of the low snow cover and the long periods of subzero temperatures we had a particularly deep frost. Add to that a fair amount of rain in the early spring, before the frost is completely out of the ground and you end up with a lot of muddy conditions that make for very bad dirt roads. When the frost finally does leave the ground the heaving and sometimes breaking causes even more damage to the road. Eventually this will all settle down and return to the original road surface. Until then we are left with muddy, rutted and at times impassable road conditions. Gravel, grading or any other type of treatments will not solve the issue until the frost is gone. With a cold winter, low snow cover and a wet spring we see a perfect storm for bad spring roads. This will pass and the road commission will get out and grade them as soon as it is practical, and the grading will actually result in helping the road more than hurting. Grading a wet, sloppy road will not result in a better road.
One of the other issues coming across my desk lately is the issue of lot lines, neighbor building encroachments and subdivision dedications. Every one of these issues could have been settled or avoided with a survey and corner monuments from those surveys. Stakes and a paper survey are only good if you can reference them from a permanent marker on your or neighboring property. Stakes can, and are frequently, moved. If an issue is uncovered from a survey and you and your neighbor cannot resolve it yourselves, the Township has no legal power nor jurisdiction to do so either. Only a court can interpret laws and provide rulings that are enforceable. We can offer guidance and opinions, but final details are usually worked out between parties with some legal advice or input. I get asked many times for a recommendation for a surveyor and I tell everyone; first, the Township can not recommend businesses and second that I have worked with every surveyor in the area over the last few decades and all are very professional and good at their job. I would recommend any of them. They all have experience in our community, especially Kokosing Sub., and we have received no complaints on any one firm. We are not trying to drum up surveying business, we are trying to avoid issues in the future. Many of these should have been surveyed years ago and we would have avoided some of the issues we are now dealing with. Also, I need to recommend strongly that if you get a survey, please register it with the county register of deeds. Doing so allows future generations the data necessary to avoid a lot of these issues. Also, there are many subdivisions that were planned long ago that were never fully developed as the sub drawing shows, and never will be. Therefore, many roads shown on the sub may be able to be abandoned and the property made useful. The process is not hard but requires some work on the part of one or a few of the residents. We have successfully abandoned two sections of roads this past year alone. If you are interested contact me and I can help you through this process.
Also, I must apologize to the TOWANDA group for not including them in the class and program offerings that I discussed in the last Corner. TOWANDA was the first and longest running program that we have offered at the Plaza and Linda, who leads the sessions, does a superb job. Call for a schedule as the times will be changing for spring and summer.
With spring comes the uncovering of all our winter junk. The waste site is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 AM through 4 PM and Sunday from 9 AM through 2 PM so everyone should have an opportunity to get rid of our winter debris
One more request is that anyone interested in assisting our Garden Club this Summer in tending the planters downtown, please contact Linda or Janet at the Hale Hardware. They are always looking for additional help.
As always if you ever have any questions, comments or concerns regarding our community please contact me. I am in the office Monday – Friday 7:30 – 4:00 at 989-728-2811 or my cell at 989-984-7073 or by email supervisor@plainfieldtwpmi.com.
Fred Lewis – Supervisor Plainfield Township