Three variances, town hall projects and a pig issue were a few of the items discussed during Tuesday’s Clear Lake Twp. meeting.

 

Chairman Gary Gray said he heard from a resident who was complaining about a neighbor who had three full-grown pigs on their property. According to the resident, the smell coming from their neighbor’s property was awful.

 

Gray said he talked with several people including someone at the solid waste commission and there really is nothing the township can do. 

 

“The homeowner has the right to have pigs on their property, which is news to me,” Gray said. “We really can’t do anything about it.”

 

Residents Quintin and Tanja Burthwick are looking to put an addition on their home at Elk Lake and asked the board to approve three variances to allow for the remodel.

 

The three variances are for 25 feet, 15 feet and five-feet, six-inches to the side of the house to allow for a new front doorway. The Burthwicks said none of the variances are towards the lake side of the property.

 

Chairman Gray asked how their well and septic situations were, and the Burthwicks said both “were fine.” All three board members said they didn’t see any issued with the variances and promised the Burthwicks they would fill out the comment forms and send them to the county for their review.

 

Engineer Terrance VanderEyk said the sediment control project was all greened up and also reminded everyone of the fall road tour next week.

 

Eyk also said a security deposit for a driveway project may be held since it was noticed the edge of the bituminous was falling away. Eyk said he would have it checked out.

 

Bud Stimmler said the park looks great and said Bill Bronder of the county wants to put in wildflowers in the park in 24’x4’ spots. Stimmler also said that on Sept. 24, members of the Sentence-to-Serve group will be at the park trimming trees and cleaning things up for the fall season.

 

Sgt. Chris Aleshire said August saw his department field a total of 71 calls — 31 being traffic stops, three being calls for harassment, six medical, one property damage and one car/deer accident.

 

• Attorney Roger Neils said he sided with Haven Township’s comments in regards to a business owner looking to have a home business located in Livonia Twp.;

 

• The board said they plan to have a contractor come in and check the lower level of township hall for any mold issues. Several people have complained about the air quality in the musty basement so Clerk Mary Mathison will work on getting a few contractors out to the building to check on the condition and issue any costs or come up with an action plan to fix the problem;

 

• Mathison is working on getting a new projector installed in the ceiling of the board meeting room;

 

• Stimmler asked the board to consider setting goals for the timeline of the history book project to make sure it gets completed by the 2017 date;

 

• Rep. Jim Newberger arrived and gave an update on goings on at the capital.

 

The next Clear Lake Twp. Board meeting is Oct. 20 at 7 p.m