CASS LAKE VILLAGE, Mich. (WXYZ) — A big vote in a small town has created Oakland County's first new community in decades. With nearly 90 percent of the vote, a small section of West Bloomfield Township is now Cass Lake Village, a move residents have been pushing for for years.
Cass Lake Village is less than a third of a square mile, filled with five miles of canals, 15 bridges and just a few hundred people. In many ways, it's already it's own unique community. But after this primary election, it officially is.
Watch Brett Kast's report below
After decades of living in West Bloomfield Township, these men now have a new hometown, one they created after legally turning their community HOA into it's own village.
“These infrastructures are failing and there’s no solution for it, this is a solution," said Brik Pardo
The problem lies in the creation of their neighborhood more than 100 years ago. Houses line miles of canals along Cass Lake, requiring 15 bridges, their own roads and their own community water system that their HOA, not the township, was responsible to maintain.
“I'm sure that seemed like a good idea at the time but 108 years later we have now accumulated a 25 million dollar infrastructure deficit," said Chris Laduke. “An average MDOT bridge lasts 80 years, this one is over 100."
These small bridges are expensive, and issues came to a head recently, when the township had concerns about the bridge safety.
“This bridge we were going to have to close top vehicular traffic because it was rated so low and even though we posted it lower there was a fear a fire truck would go over the bridge, it would collapse and end up in the canal," said Joshua Barstow.
The residents went in search of funding and found infrastructure grants prefect for the job. But the state can only give it to municipalities, not an HOA. So then came the question: why not turn the HOA into a village?
“I was not for it really until we exhausted every other option," said Ken Russell. "Its overwhelming with the population you have trying to take care of this infrastructure it is the only way forward that made any sense."
Residents would have to pay both village taxes and taxes to West Bloomfield Township for fire and police services but there's no longer HOA dues and a massive looming special assessment.
“This hopefully will help us getting infrastructure grants and things like that because the cost is over a million dollars a bridge and that's a large cost for 230 some homes," Barstow said.
And on Tuesday at the ballot box, residents approved a charter for Cass Lake Village, with over 80 percent in support. These men were also elected to the new Village Council, and despite the ongoing maintenance and years of work, there's nowhere else, they'd rather call home.
“You would think, Brett, people would go running from this place right but its probably one of the most beautiful places to live," Pardo said. "And that's why people still live here."
