A decision on a proposal to build a private road on a 118-acre parcel located at 3921 Barber Rd. in northern Oxford Township was postponed in a 4-2 vote by planning commissioners after the specter of potential lead contamination was raised during the June 22 meeting.

“I don’t need to tell you about lead. Normally, I would as a doctor, but all I need to say is Flint and I think you get the idea,” said Oxford resident Dr. Bruce Meyers, a podiatrist based in Rochester and husband of Planning Commissioner Kallie Roesner-Meyers.

House of Providence, a nonprofit organization founded by Jason and Maggie Dunn, submitted plans to construct a private gravel road, approximately 605 feet long and 20 feet wide with two 5-foot wide gravel shoulders. The road would only be accessible from E. Davison Lake Rd. and it would end in a cul-de-sac.

Purchased last year for $800,000, House of Providence wants to use the property, which was formerly the Hunters Ridge Hunt Club, to house foster youth who have been either abused and neglected or unable to find a permanent family. Last year, the Dunns told this reporter they wish to construct three ranch-style residential houses, each capable of accommodating up to 10 foster kids.

When it comes to private roads, the township requires stormwater runoff from them to be retained on-site.

House of Providence has requested this be waived as the Lapeer County Road Commission (LCRC), which has jurisdiction over E. Davison Lake Rd., has agreed to accept the additional stormwater runoff.

House of Providence has agreed to dedicate a 27-foot drainage easement along the E. Davison Lake Rd. to the LCRC.

“Stormwater runoff from the proposed (private) gravel roadway will be contained within roadside ditches that will ultimately drain to the Davison Lake Road right-of-way,” wrote township Planner Matthew Lonnerstater, of the Ann-Arbor-based Carlisle/Wortman Associates, Inc., in his May 4 review of the project.

This aspect of the proposal is what led Meyers, who lives at 3100 Delano Rd., to raise the issue of potential lead contamination.

During the years the 118-acre property was utilized as Hunters Ridge Hunt Club, sporting enthusiasts came there to hunt birds and engage in target shooting. This history has some concerned about the levels of lead in the soil.

“There are literally tons of lead scattered throughout that property,” Meyers said.

He’s concerned construction on the site will disturb the lead he claims is there and the stormwater runoff onto E. Davison Lake Rd. will potentially contaminate surrounding properties and their wells.

“I have a well not that far from there,” Meyers said. “If you start letting the water go down the road and start soaking into the ground wherever it happens to soak in, be it a half-mile (to) a mile away or whatever, you’re now spreading that lead contamination.”

Meyers believes House of Providence should be required to construct a retention pond and have the stormwater runoff that would flow into it “tested on a somewhat regular basis to see what’s in that water.”

Testing wouldn’t be possible if the water was allowed to drain off the property.

“Once it gets onto the roadway and disappears, you’re not really going to be able to do the testing that’s required or it should be required,” Meyers said.

He was quite adamant about keeping the stormwater runoff on the site.

“I demand that the water be retained on that property in (a) retention pond,” Meyers said. “It’s not something to be shared with the neighbors. Keep it there.”

From the dais, Commissioner Roesner-Meyers continued what her husband started from the audience.

She told her fellow commissioners she was provided a copy of an environmental study conducted on the site in 2004. “The surface lead contamination on this property is hundreds of times in magnitude higher than the . . . allowable level,” Roesner-Meyers said.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) does not have a copy of this report, according to her.

“This report was not filed with the state – the one I have,” she said. “That one wasn’t filed with the state is what I was told . . . The information I was told is the state doesn’t recognize that report because it was never filed. It was a private report done by an individual (and) not filed with the state.”

When it comes to closing shooting ranges, Roesner-Meyers said the state and federal governments have “best practices.”

“When you close a shooting range, certain things are supposed to be done to make sure that the lead contamination and these items are dealt with,” Roesner-Meyers said. “I don’t know that this was done (at 3921 Barber Rd.). I looked for another environmental study. I don’t see that (one) was done when I checked with the state.”

Roesner-Meyers, who ultimately made the motion to postpone a decision on the private road and stormwater retention waiver, indicated she wanted more time to look at remediation requirements to see what needs to be done, if anything.

She wants to take a “cautious approach to this” and “make sure we’re not disturbing and moving soils and causing a problem for the surrounding neighborhood, especially the groundwater, with what’s known to be in the soil.”

“I would not be in favor of letting any of that (stormwater) off the site. I would not be in favor of granting a waiver,” Roesner-Meyers said.

She agreed with her husband about having House of Providence install a retention pond, giving the owner a chance to test the water for lead.

“I have some concerns about disturbing the soil and (storm)water runoff,” Roesner-Meyers said.

In response to all this, Jason Dunn stated the Farmington Hills-based ECI Environmental Consultants and Engineers conducted environmental testing on the site and issued a report, which has been filed with the state. He said this is the same company that wrote the 2004 report brought up by Roesner-Meyers.

“That report is closing right now,” he said. “We’ve turned everything into the DEQ. The property came back very clean. The lead levels were almost nonexistent on the property.”

“Everything came back safe. Our water came back clean, safe. We tested everything . . . to make sure that everything would be good for what we do,” Dunn noted.

He told commissioners he should be receiving a letter regarding the report from the state “very quickly.”

“We should have that next week,” Dunn said.

Dunn criticized Roesner-Meyers for citing an environmental report that was never filed with the state and reviewed by it.

“We shouldn’t even be talking about it, if we can’t use it,” he said. “We’re saying that report is insufficient and not really trustworthy. That should just be off the table then.”

Roesner-Meyers called the 2004 environmental report “credible” and said the fact that it stated lead contamination is “on the property at high levels” is “concerning” to her.

“If (the property’s) good now, that’s great, but I want to see the data,” she said, referring to the latest report filed with the state.

“I believe I can’t really make that decision (on the private road and stormwater retention waiver) until I have that information,” Roesner-Meyers said.

Dunn called it “inappropriate” for Roesner-Meyers to, on the one hand, say the report credible, but on the other hand, admit it was never filed with or reviewed by the state. He said either the 2004 report is legitimate or it’s not, but he accused Roesner-Meyers of wanting to have it both ways to suit her.

“I want to use it sometimes, but I don’t want to use it all the time. I just want to use it to favor myself,” he said, referring to her.

Metamora resident William Sterner, who lives at 5950 Conner Court, which is about a mile from the House of Providence site, told commissioners he has his home’s water tested “with regularity” for heavy metals, such as lead, along with nitrates and nitrites. He said it’s done by an Environmental Protection Agency-certified lab.

He’s “never had (these contaminants) come back at a high level” in his aquifer, which he said, “I probably share with the (House of Providence) property.”

“I just wanted to make that clear,” Sterner said.

“I think the lead issue’s a bunch of gobbledygook,” he noted.

Acting Planning Commission Chairman Michael Young expressed his concern that postponing a decision on a private road over a potential environmental issue will set a precedent.

“In a way, we’re setting ourselves up to require a report (on a property’s environmental status) every time someone wants to put in a private road,” he said.