The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Bishop vs. Road Commission
By Sandi Kasha, The Dexter Leader
PUBLISHED: January 25, 2007
Paul Bishop of the Dexter Area Historical Society said that he's "fed up" with playing the waiting game with the Washtenaw County Road Commission.
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Bishop, the former village president, paid a visit to the Road Commission last week to address some concerns over the Road Commission's delay in reviewing the United Methodist Retirement Community's site plan for a retirement community.
UMRC submitted the site plan to the Road Commission in November, Bishop said.
"I think this is a conspiracy to thwart the UMRC project because the Road Commission wants a bypass to go through there," he said.
Bishop's accusation is refuted by Roy Townsend, director of engineering for the Road Commission.
"It's absolutely not true," Townsend said. "There isn't a conspiracy and we are following standard procedure for our review."
Townsend said that the Road Commission is looking at how UMRC's 61-unit project on 15 acres of the Gordon Hall property would impact the bypass and that there "isn't a plan to thwart the retirement community."
The Road Commission has currently expressed interest in bringing up the possibility of a bypass that would extend Parker Road north and west, connecting it to Dexter-Pinckney Road by cutting behind Gordon Hall.
The idea was proposed 10 years ago by the Road Commission as a way to alleviate traffic congestion by directing vehicles on an alternate route besides Main Street and would also allow another access to Interstate 94 without going through the village.
Village residents and merchants weren't partial to the plan and the idea was put on the back burner.
Bishop isn't the only one expressing concern over the Road Commission.
Scio Township Trustee Jean Led with King said that the Road Commission's new chairman Wesley Prater personally told her that he wouldn't care if the UMRC project came into fruition.
King, who is also a member of the Washtenaw County Historic District Commission, said that she feels the Road Commission is trying to punish the Historical Society for purchasing Gordon Hall and inviting the retirement community project.
"They (Road Commission) are doing everything in their power to drive UMRC off," she said. "When people realize what they're doing, they are going to be shocked to find that Gordon Hall may be in jeopardy."
The retirement community means plenty to Bishop and members of the Historical Society since UMRC would shell out $600,000 that would go toward Gordon Hall's $1.5 million price tag.
"Wes Prater doesn't understand that Gordon Hall needs UMRC in order to succeed," King said.
Bishop agrees.
"Fred Veigel has made it known he doesn't want the UMRC to succeed because of the bypass," Bishop said.
Veigel is the Road Commission's vice chairman.
Prater and Veigel couldn't be reached for comment.
"They have yet to approve the road entrance off Island Lake Road and they have actually used some of their (UMRC) permit money for attorney opinion about the annexation."
Village officials accepted UMRC's request for a conditional land transfer Dec. 11.
Webster Township and the village's 1997 Act 425 agreement afforded UMRC's conditional land transfer, which is an alternative to annexation and is intended for the purpose of an economic development project.
Village Development Manager Allison Bishop said that the Office of the Great Seal has received the request for the conditional transfer.
Steve Puuri, managing director for the Road Commission, said that the site plan has been reviewed and that UMRC should be receiving the letter sometime this week.
"They have issues to address like defining the traffic impact of mitigating traffic and how are they going to attach utilities," Puuri said. "So there are significant technical issues that haven't been addressed and it's premature for our staff to give them a permit when these issues haven't been addressed."
Puuri said that Bishop's claims aren't accurate and that the Road Commission doesn't have issues with UMRC besides their site plan.
He said that the bypass has been brought up again and it isn't a personal attack on the retirement community.
"The bypass is a reasonable alternative to relieve traffic and it's not just about Dexter Village," he said. "It's a regional traffic issue and if the community determines they aren't in favor of it then the Road Commission would honor that."
The explanation isn't good enough for Bishop who said that UMRC has been strung along long enough.
"The public should know this because the public has pledged more money than the municipalities to save Gordon Hall," Bishop said. "The public should be outraged that the Road Commission should be acting like this."
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