By IRVIN L. JACKSON
BRIGHTON TOWNSHIP, Nov 29, 2000 (The Detroit News) -- Township officials call it a consent agreement, but Ken Bogos calls it being out of options.
Brighton Township attorneys and the property owners of 11 private roads have reached a consent agreement that would allow Brighton to install sewer lines under the roads.
Township attorneys filed suit in Livingston County Circuit Court earlier this fall to get the easements to the subdivision roads to install the lines under 1,028 parcels of land.
John Harris, the township's attorney, said the consent agreement reached this month allows the township access to the roads, with the township paying a total of $5,000 to be divided among the property owners.
But Bogos, one of the property owners, said it wasn't money those fighting the easements wanted.
"I feel that if I had more funding to continue the suit we would have won this battle. A major injustice has been done to the public, and dirty politics is involved," Bogos said. "We don't want (the sewers), period."
Bogos accuses the township of pushing the $27.8-million sewer project down residents' throats.
Residents will be charged $12,400 each as part of a special assessment to pay for the sewer project. That does not include the fees to hook home owners into the system or the removal of septic tanks.
"Most people are not happy with this," Bogos said. "They wish the sewer would never come through."
But Harris said the township was able to obtain the consent agreement because a judgment in the township's favor was inevitable.
"I believe that it was almost a foregone conclusion that the relief we were requesting was going to be granted," Harris said. "I think they recognized that we were probably going to prevail."
Harris said the township now has negotiated access to all but 15 private properties throughout the township where it needs to lay the infrastructure for the new system.
"It is an ongoing process," Harris said. "We are working with people on a daily basis."
The lack of access to the easements has not slowed the system's construction, Brighton Township Manager Darrell Fecho said. The system is expected to be completed by October 2001.
But Bogos said he hopes to continue fighting the project, which he said is geared to encourage development that residents don't want.
He said he is hoping to get people together to continue the suit.
"The more people find out about it, the more they are not for sewers," Bogos said. "A lot of people feel like they are being ripped off."
Sewer project
What: A project to install underground sewers for 1,085 parcels in Brighton Township, with capacity for another 850 connections.
Cost: A $27.8-million bond has been secured by the Livingston County Drain Commission. Residents would be charged about $12,400 for the cost of the system, not including individual sewer hook-up fees or septic tank removal and disposal. The $12,400 assessment is payable over 20 years.
Management: System will be built and controlled by Brighton Township.
Construction: The entire project is expected to be completed by October 2001.
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