Social service agencies in Oakland County are ready to help people receiving food aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. They just don’t know what will happen next.

“Organizations like ours shouldn’t scramble to meet emergency needs,” said Ryan Hertz, president and CEO for Lighthouse of Oakland County,. “We should have public policy that meets the needs on an ongoing basis.”

Lighthouse already serves an estimated 111,000 people – half of whom are children – in 40,000 households in Oakland County. He said 60% of the people who receive SNAP benefits find the money isn’t enough to feed their families. The federal shutdown is having a destabilizing effect on people who use SNAP for groceries and who get vouchers or other financial aid for housing, he said.

Hertz said he was glad Michigan had joined an effort to sue the federal government to fund SNAP. He’s frustrated that it has to happen.

Late Friday, two federal judges ordered the administration to continue payments using emergency reserve funds during the shutdown. In Michigan, SNAP money is distributed via Bridge cards. But it can take days for the cards to be loaded with funds, so people will go hungry while they wait..

It’s also unclear whether the administration will appeal the decisions, which would add to the delay.

The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture initially planned to continue providing SNAP benefits by using nearly $6 billion in contingency funds, but reversed the decision and announced benefits would be paused on Nov. 1 because of the shutdown.

SNAP serves an estimated one in eight Americans and is considered an important part of the nation’s social safety net. It costs an estimated $8 billion a month.

SNAP’s 2025 poverty threshold for a family of four is a net income of $31,000 after certain expenses. Last year, SNAP provided assistance to 41 million people, nearly two-thirds of whom were families with children, according to an Associated Press report.

In Michigan, 1.4 million residents benefit from SNAP, including approximately 492,225 children and 38,513 veterans.

More than 102,000 Oakland County residents live below the poverty line, according U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Nearly 255,000 of the county’s 1.2 million residents are under age 18. Of those children, an estimated one in seven, or nearly 36,000 don’t have adequate food on a daily basis.

But Hertz said that doesn’t include people who are barely above poverty level and juggling bills.

“We’re talking about low- to middle-income folks who are employed but not making enough to make ends meet,” he said, adding that low-income families have faced an exhausting and prolonged series of threats to support services that are affecting their wellbeing.

Lighthouse estimates it reaches 74% of impoverished people scattered among the county’s 62 municipalities.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer calls the pause on payments unacceptable. She ordered $4.5 million sent to the Food Bank Council of Michigan, which supports outlets in all 83 counties.

FBCM officials declined an interview request from The Oakland Press because, a spokeswoman said, “circumstances remain highly fluid, and we want to avoid contributing to speculation while we continue gathering updates from our network and state partners.”

She said FBCM is monitoring conditions and prepared for an increase in need. The focus, she said, “is on maintaining access to food for the people we serve, even as no new resources are currently available to meet higher demand.”

Whitmer also ordered an expansion of the state’s Double Up Food Bucks program, which gives Michigan families money to purchase groceries, including fresh fruits and vegetables.

She promoted Hunters Feeding Families, a program that provides venison or other fresh game to feed families and said the state’s 1.4 million public school students would continue receiving free breakfast and lunch. The school meals save families an estimated $1,000 a year.

Gleaners Community Food Bank is another southeast Michigan nonprofit monitoring requests for support with partners and community mobile distributions, according to spokeswoman Kristin Sokul.

She said Gleaners has experienced a rise in requests for information about receiving food aid.

“We remain focused on increasing food purchases where necessary, increasing volunteer shifts to support more box builds, and looking at where hot spots may be to respond with mobiles,” she said.

People can help in three ways, according to Sokul:

•  Use your voice to advocate for SNAP funding.

•  Volunteer at a food pantry or food bank to help stock and deliver groceries.

•  Consider donating money instead of food. Gleaners has agreements with retailers for discounted groceries. Donated money “will help us support our partners in the charitable food network and flexibly resource our drive-up distributions while we continue to hope for a resolution at the federal level,” she said.

Hertz said Lighthouse assumed a leadership role during the COVID-19 pandemic by leveraging its network of volunteers and agreements with suppliers.

“It was a joint effort for our staff, volunteers, local, state and federal governments,” he said. But it took three months to organize.

There’s no mechanism to increase resources in the space of a few days, he said, adding that families are facing more than food insecurity. People who receive housing benefits are also at risk during the shutdown.

“There’s a degree of fatigue happening with how heavily our community has been hit,” he said. “It’s hard on our staff, donors and volunteers” who can’t provide immediate support or quick resolutions.

“It’s not something you can turn on or off. We can’t just say ‘We’ll meet this massive additional need,’” he said. “We’d have to dramatically ramp up capacity.”

 

Nonprofit food banks and pantries exist to reduce or prevent hunger. They need supplies, staff, volunteers and warehouse space, all of which costs money, he said.

“That’s a very expensive way to get food to people, instead of just giving them adequate SNAP benefits and letting those people go shopping,” he said. “In an ideal universe, we‘d be funding SNAP at an appropriate level – which would also help grocery businesses.

“Give people the dignity and resources to go grocery shopping because they’re human beings like the rest of us,” he said.

Pontiac resident Eisha Branner spent the week creating lists of resources for the people she works with through her nonprofit, E-Community Outreach Services. She helps families with case management, community and other resources. The organization has few barriers when people need help, she said.

She said most of her clients are from Pontiac and some are from Detroit, but the SNAP crisis has caused a surge of inquiries.

“It’s alarming to me,” she said. “These are not just people who are not working. These are people who are the true working class. I’m seeing people in higher income brackets looking for help. They’re always struggling to pay bills but with SNAP they knew they at least had food coming.”

She recently expanded from a 2,500 sq. ft. building to a 5,000 sq. ft. space at 180 N. Saginaw in Pontiac, which officially opens on Nov. 12.

To find food resources or other support, call 211 or visit https://mi211.org.

Aircraft owners at the Oakland County International Airport will get a smoother ride thanks to a $6 million grant from the state.

Work to replace  nearly 8,000 feet of pavement will begin next spring, said airport manager Cheryl Bush.

A $6 million grant managed by Michigan’s Department of Transportation will help renovate Oakland County International Airport. This grant money comes from the Federal Aviation Agency but is managed by MDOT. It will pay to reconstruct and improve lighting for Taxilanes D, F and Y and renovate the airport apron.

The county will add just over $151,000 to the state Department of Transportation’s funds.

Bush told commissioners on the county commission’s Economic Development and Infrastructure committee that the work is a year overdue.

“The pavement has been pretty rough. We’ve had some complaints about it,” she told the committee last week, adding that the work couldn’t happen without the support of federal grants.

The work will begin next spring on the airport’s north side and will be done in phases over four months so the nearly 400 airplanes kept at the airport will remain accessible to their owners, Bush told commissioners.

The committee also advised the commission to approve a separate, nearly $2.2 million MDOT grant to reimburse the airport for purchased snow-removal equipment and land to add to a protection zone for Runway 27L and renovate the pavement for Taxilane M.

The airport is in Waterford Township and is the second-busiest in Michigan.

The commissioners’ general business meeting is 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30 in the auditorium at 1200 N. Telegraph Road in Pontiac. The full agenda and packet are online at https://oaklandcomi.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1302/files/agenda/11994.

A West Bloomfield lottery club’s $2 million Powerball win is being called “comforting and unbelievable” by the club spokesperson.

Club members agreed to buy several Powerball tickets when the jackpot exceeded $1 billion.

“They were checking their tickets after the drawing and didn’t believe it when they realized one was a $2 million winner,” said club representative and spokesperson, Sheldon Larky. “They scanned the ticket on the Michigan Lottery app to double check it and make sure it was real.”

The club’s winning ticket matched five white balls in the Sept. 3 drawing: 03-16-29-61-69. The Power Play option multiplied the prize to $2 million. The Sunkiss Market, 13535 Puritan Street in Detroit, sold the ticket.

Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli congratulated the club.

Powerball tickets cost $2 each but the “Power Play” option costs $1 more and a “Double Play” option raises the ticket price to $4.

Powerball tickets are drawn at 10:59 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday and are sold in 45 states, Washington D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Free confidential help is available for people with gambling addictions and their loved ones via the National Problem Gambling Helpline, (800) GAMBLER or (800) 426-2537.

 

Nine new wells to monitor groundwater contamination will be added to Oakland County International Airport in Waterford Township over the next 90 days. It’s part of a five-year consent agreement the airport signed with the state in February.

Township Supervisor Anthony Bartolotta said Thursday he was aware of some PFAS discussion “four or five years ago,” but did not know about the new wells, the consent agreement or a dedicated county airport-PFAS webpage. There is no requirement for the airport or Michigan’s Environmental, Great Lakes and Energy office to notify the township of PFAS monitoring at the airport.

Eight wells were installed on airport grounds in 2021, after the airport and hundreds of others across the state were linked to groundwater contaminated with forever chemicals per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances generally known as PFAS. These chemicals have been used in firefighting foam, flame retardant in carpet and upholstery and cosmetics. PFAS has been linked to some cancers. Twelve more wells were installed on airport grounds since 2021, as state tests continued to find unacceptable PFAS levels.

EGLE online records show that in July 2023, a state contractor collected water samples at 26 of the 39 homes known to be affected. Tests found PFAS traces in two residential wells at two homes at levels below allowable limits. On Oct 31, 2023, testing on 22 homes found 15 wells exceeded groundwater clean-up criteria for PFAS. The highest result was 11,000 parts per trillion for a subtype called PFOS; the state’s limit is 16 parts per trillion.

On Friday, airport’s manager Cheryl Bush told The Oakland Press the new wells were planned as a result of the agreement with EGLE.

EGLE officials have been testing wells in some nearby homes and the water and fish in White Horse Lake, an eight-acre body of water downstream from the airport, north of Elizabeth Lake Road and south of Pontiac Lake Road. It’s part of the Clinton River watershed and has bluegill and panfish.

Abigail Hendershott is executive director of EGLE’s PFAS action response team. She spoke to The Oakland Press Friday along with Stephanie Kammer, EGLE’s emerging-pollutants section manager, and PFAS response team expert Mike Jury. They encourage homeowners with wells to regularly test for contaminants.

Township’s DPW director, Justin Westlake, was also unaware of the airport’s consent agreement – in part because the township has no jurisdiction over the airport property or homes that rely on wells for drinking water. The township has its own water system, which uses deep wells to draw water from the aquifer.

The airport is still in the investigation phase, Bush said. She said she is “happy to sit down and update the township on its progress at their convenience.”

The township’s website includes water testing results for its own wells and information on PFAS chemicals classified by the federal Environmental Protection Agency as an emerging contaminant.

Health and lab studies show elevated levels of PFAS may cause increased cholesterol, changes in the body’s hormones and immune system, decreased fertility and increased risk of certain cancers.

The EPA has set a lifetime health advisory level for drinking water for two PFAS compounds but no enforceable limits for the chemicals in drinking water.

AIRPORT PFAS HISTORY

EGLE’s website recaps the airport’s history. The first truck with the fire-fighting foam arrived in 1965 with 400 gallons aboard. Records on how and why the foam was used between then and 1996 to 1996 are lost.

Between 1996 and 2019, the foam was used in seven incidents. In March 2020 an accidental release of the foam happened during a nozzle certification on the airport property. In 2020, the airport received a grant to pay for a PFAS investigation.

As of Thursday, the state’s website had not been updated with any tests in 2024 or 2025. The airport’s PFAS webpage was updated this month, online at https://www.oakgov.com/community/airports/oakland-county-international-airport/pfas-response

Kammer oversees the consent agreements like the one with Oakland County’s airport. The voluntary agreement gives each facility four years to create a process testing surface-water runoff for PFAS and minimizing the contamination, with the final year dedicated to ensuring ongoing compliance. The airport submitted its plan in June.

“If they still have exceedances they have to evaluate and update their plans to bring the site into compliance,” she said. “It can be an iterative process. Oakland County airport has been very cooperative.”

The agreement is limited to the airport itself, though state officials know there are nearby homes and waterways that may be affected.

EGLE officials have made four or five efforts to alert households near the airport that rely on wells, Hendershott said. Awareness campaigns include knocking on residents’ doors, leaving door hangers with information and sending informational letters multiple times to ask permission to test the water.

“We’ve sampled between 40 and 45 home wells but we have many people who declined the sampling,” Hendershott said. Eight of the residential wells tested were found to have unacceptable levels of PFAS.

WHY TESTING HOUSEHOLD WELLS MATTERS

She and Jury encourage homeowners to have their wells tested through the state or independently.

Jury said there are many sources of PFAS besides the airport’s stormwater runoff.

They said PFAS continues to be used in manufactured products, including cosmetics, hand creams, eye drops and rug shampoo.

Jury said it’s an ingredient that isn’t yet required to be listed in many cases, but the state has an online resource where people can look up various items to check.

Something as simple as shampooing stain-resistant carpets or upholstery and dumping the wastewater into a septic field can increase PFAS saturation, he said.

EGLE doesn’t offer specific guidelines on PFAS and well depths. Jury said many people don’t know how deep their household wells are. There’s no standard depth for residential wells because the depth depends on the water table, who made the well and when it was installed. Some are barely 14 feet deep and others could be close to 150 feet deep.

That’s why testing matters, he said. Predicting stormwater runoff filtration depends on the various types of earth filtering the water and a well’s depth.

The state offers tests worth nearly $300 for homes in the affected areas near the airport. If unacceptable levels of PFAS are found, they provide an under-sink water filter and other resources.

People outside the affected area can buy their own tests and under-sink filters, Jury said.

State and township officials emphasized that homeowners with wells are effectively their own water departments and should regularly test their wells for contaminants on a regular basis and maintain the electric pump.

Hendershott’s team works with a wide range of facilities; there are dozens in Oakland County. The state has an interactive map where people can check their own neighborhoods for details, online at  https://egle.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=bdec7880220d4ccf943aea13eba102db

She said Michigan’s PFAS response is so comprehensive, it is used by the EPA and other states. EGLE works with the EPA to develop interim strategies to manage exceedances, she said.

Because PFAS and PFOS can accumulate in fish, EGLE instituted a monitoring program in White Horse Lake, downstream from the airport.

WATERFORD’S OUTLOOK

Waterford’s DPW director Westlake said the lion’s share of the township’s 32,000-plus households are connected to the township’s water supply. Township wells, an estimated 100 feet or more deep. He estimated 2,000 to 3,000 households have their own wells.

The most recent township tests for PFAS, copper, lead and other known contaminants based on EGLE’s schedules and found they were below dangerous levels, he said. The township has about a dozen wells in various spots with two close to the airport.

He said DPW officials have so far not found excessive contaminants.

“But who knows what it’ll be in 10 years,” he said. “I think that’s the worry, that the groundwater is supposed to filter it out because the deeper it goes the more it gets filtered.”

The chemicals are already in the ground, he said, adding that “the best you can do is monitor it and God forbid it becomes an issue in our public wells.”

If the township were to find excessive levels in its wells, he said, mitigation options could include digging new, deeper wells or overhauling the water treatment plant.

“But you’re not going to spend millions to overhaul a treatment plant for something that’s not there,” he said.

People using wells who are concerned and want to connect to the township’s system can contact DPW for guidance, he said. Some may be eligible for help based on financial hardship, but they would still likely have to pay a contractor to install a water line between the township’s system and the home.

“As of right now, Waterford is ‘so far, so good’ and hopefully it stays that way,” he said. “If not, we’ll adapt and adjust.”

AIRPORT ACTION

Airport officials belong to the Michigan Association of Airport Executives and other organizations that share information about limiting PFAS contamination at their airports, Bush said.

In August, the airport added a new fire-fighting vehicle, which uses the new fluorine-free foam and has an older vehicle that uses a concentrate called 3% aqueous film forming foam as a back-up plan for an extreme emergency, Bush said, adding that all the vehicles and foam storage comply with FAA rules.

Each year, the airport conducts FAA-mandated firefighting training and a demonstration by the airport’s emergency response team during the annual August airshow.

Bush said no foam is dispensed during the drills and no foam has ever been used at the airport during training exercises.

If an emergency leads to foam use, rules require cleaning it up as quickly as possible to limit what gets into the ground. Absorbent booms capture pollutants and filter water out, drains are plugged immediately and a contractor specializing in environmental clean-up disposes the captured foam.

The airport relies on EGLE grants for monitoring, tracking and analyzing PFAS to understand its full impact on the airport and nearby neighborhoods and has applied for additional state grants, Bush said. More state funds may be available for disposing of old equipment and any foam it holds, she said.

The next airport committee meeting is 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3, in the conference room near the county  commission auditorium at 1200 N. Telegraph Road in Pontiac. Airport committee members: County Commissioners Karen Joliat, Penny Luebs, Linnie Taylor, Christine Long and Dave Woodward, with executive designee J. David VanderVeen. Typically Bush and another airport employee are present for these meetings.

ELGE has a dedicated website with resources at https://www.michigan.gov/pfasresponse/resources/action.

A 15-year, $300 million upgrade to a Detroit-based pumping station serving Oakland and Macomb counties is complete.

That led to an all-smiles ribbon-cutting Wednesday with Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash and Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice S. Miller – long at odds over stormwater overflows.

The northeast sewage pumping station improvement is part of a multi-phase modernization of the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor Drain wastewater system.

The renovation didn’t change the facility’s 400-million-gallon daily capacity for moving sewerage. The pumping station is part of the sanitary sewer system and separate from the type of combined sewer system that carries stormwater. Only combined sewer systems carry stormwater and wastewater.

The upgrades strengthen reliability and ensure the system can handle the wastewater for more than 830,000 residents in both Oakland and Macomb counties well into the future, according to Oakland’s WRC officials.

The pumping station on Outer Drive just east of Van Dyke in Detroit  was built between 1969 and 1972. It has more than seven miles of pipe that sends sewage to the Great Lakes Water Authority for processing. The new infrastructure is considered a critical link in southeast Michigan’s wastewater network.

A federal grant paid for nearly $1 million of the cost and Michigan’s Clean Water revolving fund paid $125 million. The remainder came from local bond sales and community investment, according to WRC officials.

“This project focused on replacing aging mechanical and electrical systems to improve reliability, not increase flow.

Nash and Miller were joined for Wednesday’s ribbon cutting by a retired state official, Mike Gregg, who spent part of his career at the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development as the water resources program manager.

Nash called the project a major investment and “reflects our commitment to protecting public health and the environment by ensuring that future generations inherit dependable infrastructure.”

Miller said the two counties’ engineers worked closely with consulting engineers and contractors on the project.

“There’s no overstating the importance of this massive modernization project,” she said. “Without it, this aging pumping station built in the 1960s would have eventually failed and caused an infrastructure disaster and health hazard impacting many hundreds of thousands of people, homes and businesses.”

Improvements include:

•  Mechanical and electrical upgrades to reduce water and energy use.

•  State-of-the-art sewer lining upgrades to protect pipes and extend system life.

•  Revitalized pumps and sensors to increase efficiency and reliability.

When the Oakland County’s board of commissioners meet Thursday evening, the agenda will include event-sponsorship requests, union contracts and grant applications among other items.

What the agenda doesn’t include, as of early Wednesday afternoon, are resolutions to update the county’s ethics rules and establish financial disclosure rules as well as whistleblower protections.

Earlier this month, County Executive Dave Coulter issued statements calling for ethics and financial-disclosure reforms for county officials and the creation of an ombudsperson to address related concerns and complaints.

So far this year, there have been ethical issues involving a county road commissioner found at fault for breaking workplace rules, an information technology staffing contract canceled over conflict-of-interest concerns involving a company created by a current county employee, and questions about whether County Commission Chairman Dave Woodward’s private business contracts and whether his lobbying efforts on behalf of the Sheetz convenience stories conflicted with his board position.

Two commissioners, Kristen Nelson, a Waterford Township Democrat, and Charlie Cavell, a Ferndale Democrat, have made repeated attempts to update the existing ethics guidelines, add protections for whistleblowers and institute financial-disclosure rules for county officials.

They introduced three resolutions in May, which the board referred to committees for review. Since then, Woodward said they were also being reviewed by the county’s legal team. Cavell and Nelson later brought the resolutions to the board bypassing the committee process but each failed to pass.

If the proposed ethics policy is adopted, elected and county officials would be required to disclose:

•  Earnings outside of their county roles and above a certain threshold.

•  Positions with businesses, nonprofits or other organizations.

•  Any gifts, travel costs or other reimbursements by organizations doing business with the county.

Spouses would also have to disclose any interests that could create a conflict with county business, according to the proposed policy.

The proposed financial-disclosure policy calls for training on what must be disclosed and penalties for violating the rules that include:

•  Public reprimands

•  Ineligibility for appointment to county boards

•  Referral to the appropriate ethics or legal authority

It’s unclear whether the commissioners will consider the existing proposed policies or updated versions.

The commissioners meet for Democrat and Republican caucuses at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16. These are not publicly livestreamed but are open to the public. These are followed by the commissioners meeting at 6 p.m. in the commission’s auditorium, 1200 N. Telegraph Road in Pontiac, which is livestreamed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@OakGovBOC.

The meeting agenda and packet are online at https://oaklandcomi.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1301/files.

The Home Bakery in downtown Rochester debuted a tribute to Taylor Swift and her latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl” with a life-size cake.

It took five designers 75 hours to transform 30 pounds of fondant, 12 quarts of buttercream, eight sheets of crisped rice and one full sheet cake, into Swift-as-Vegas-style showgirl, complete with champagne glass.

Bakery owner Heather Tocco unveiled the new Swift cake on Friday at the bakery, 300 S. Main Street in Rochester.

“I chose to create a Taylor Swift-inspired window because, honestly, we’re a bunch of Swifties in here!” Tocco said, adding that she’s happy to celebrate the global superstar’s music because “I really admire her. Taylor isn’t just an incredibly talented artist, she’s a brilliant businesswoman, a master storyteller, and someone who has built a global community through creativity, resilience, and authenticity.”

Tocco said she thinks of her bakery’s windows as canvases for storytelling and celebrating cultural moments that bring people together.

Swift is a popular role model, especially for young women, she said because the singer-songwriter-director shows success comes from hard work, imagination “and the courage to reinvent yourself.”

Tocco plans to display the Swift cake through mid-November.

The bakery’s front window drew crowds in January for a tribute to the Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown’s iconic headstand and earlier for a life-size Spiderman cake.

Waterford Township planning commissioners have approved a three-story 60-unit senior-living building on Scott Lake, over the objections of nearby residents.

Lourdes Senior Community has a nearly 40-acres campus along Watkins Lake Road next to Scott Lake, currently offering nearly 150 units devoted to independent and assisted living options, rehabilitation, short-term and long-term care and hospice care.

Scott Lake is a private, spring-fed 77-acre lake with depths up to 35 feet. It is considered an all-sports lake.

The township allows up to 10 units per acre; the new-building site is just over three acres on the campus and would allow up to 62 units, according to township officials.

The one- and two-bedroom apartments will have full kitchens and in-unit laundry utilities. The units range in size from just over 700 square feet to just under 1,200 square feet. Amenities in the building will include a bistro, theater, game room, chapel, salon, fitness center and multipurpose rooms. Apartments would cost $5,000 to $6,800 a month, depending on size. Lourdes existing independent-living units cost between $2,875 and $4,200.

Two docks are planned on the lake, with an agreement for a total of two pontoon boats that would be operated by staff, according to plans submitted to the township.

Lourdes’ President and CEO, Rich Acho, told The Oakland Press the company started in 1965 and remains one of the few Catholic nonprofit retirement communities in Oakland County. He said aging baby boomers will need more options in the near future.

Within a five-mile radius of Lourdes’ campus, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments’ 2050 economic forecasts show a 22% increase in households with people 75 years or older at a time when their children or other potential caregivers are moving out of the area.

“In our market area, ages 65+ will see a 32% increase by 2028,” Acho said. “With the workforce shortage, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hire private caregivers.”

But plans to add the 60-unit independent-living building to the campus riled many Scott Lake residents. They appealed to township planning commissioners to stop the project.

Lourdes revised the site plan to address township officials’ and residents’ concerns, including relocating the building to meet setback rules, redesigning the parking lot to meet township standards and hiring a company to do a traffic study. Lourdes widened a fire lane and added a sidewalk along Watkins Lake Road, while dropping plans for a pickleball court in favor of a courtyard designed for quiet activities.

Lourdes officials told the township that because residents are considered independent, there would only be a single staff member in the building to assist in the event an emergency required a 911 call.

David Cyplik lives two-tenths of a mile from Lourdes, closer to Watkins Lake. His wife was a patient there near the end of her life, he said, adding that he donates to Lourdes and supports the senior community in other ways. But he doesn’t support a 60-unit building and worries about traffic on Watkins Lake Road, especially during rush hours.

“If you live nearby, as I do, I see the traffic backing up every day,” he said. “It backs up for a long period of time.”

Jennifer Almassy said despite changes in Lourdes’ site plan, she remains concerned.

“It’s still a stark-white three-story building adding 60 units when there’s not even barely 100 houses on the lake. I think that’s excessive,” she said.

Another neighbor, Frank Scerbo, said he liked having the Lourdes across the lake.

“It’s nice and quiet. We’d just like to keep it that way,” he said.
“I ask you respectfully: Do not allow 60 units to be built there to stick out like a white elephant.”

Scerbo said one or two residents per unit would increase Watkins Lake Road traffic, either because they will be driving or having visitors.

Several asked for a traffic light for safety reasons.

Supporters included Lourdes residents and employees, who also spoke at the Sept. 23 meeting.

A retired priest, the Rev. Joe Lang, said he’s lived on Lourdes’ campus for three years and found it peaceful.

“It’s an environment in which people take good care of themselves,” he told the board, noting that many no longer drive.

Some Lourdes residents were accompanied by the company’s caregivers. One said she heard more noise from the 80 households that share Scott Lake than from her Lourdes neighbors.

The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments’ 2050 forecast of regional trends to predict how changes will affect the economy and the movement of residents and companies. The report is used to help decide how the infrastructure changes and what services are needed. SEMCOG’s report shows that aging is a major issue, with more older adults than children by 2026 in southeast Michigan, a trend that will be national by 2034 and global by 2050.

Higher-density housing is one SEMCOG recommendation for making sure older residents have access to transportation, food, housing, public spaces and social engagement.

It’s fall cleaning time for Oakland County’s roads and hundreds of people have volunteered to help.

The final Adopt-A-Road cleanup is Sept. 20 through Sept. 28.

So far this year, 381 organizations have sent volunteers to pick up litter and other debris along the county’s 598 miles of roads.

Road Commission Chairman Eric McPherson said he’s incredibly grateful for the volunteers’ deduction and asked drivers to keep them safe.

Volunteers will wear orange safety vests for better visibility and carry garbage bags while cleaning. Road commission signs will be posted at both ends of the designated road sections.

The road commission relies on groups to manage their need for more garbage bags or vests by calling the permits division groups needing additional garbage bags or safety vests can call the Permits Division at (248) 858-4891.

To learn more about Adopt-A-road, including volunteering for the final 2025 session, visit http://www.rcocweb.org/218/Adopt-A-Road or email adoptaroad@rcoc.org.

Oakland County Historical Society’s annual Oak Hill Cemetery Walk on Saturday will make history come alive, thanks to volunteers.

This year’s theme is “From Temperance to the 21st Amendment.”

The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, which prohibited “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” in the U.S. The 18th Amendment was in effect from Jan. 17, 1920, to Dec. 5, 1933.

Lois Keel, a Springfield Township resident and historical society member, volunteered to portray a nameless flapper on Saturday.

The semi-retired librarian divides her time between substituting at area libraries and performing as historical characters for schools and other groups. She’s excited about her flapper role and why Michigan had a one-year head start on Prohibition.

“Henry Ford brought in a baseball player-turned-evangelical named Billy Sunday,” she said, adding that the national alcohol ban opened a new line of business for mobsters such as Al Capone and members of the infamous Purple Gang.

“These boys were a bunch of juvenile delinquents and they really made money bringing (alcohol) in from Canada,” she said.

This rain-or-shine annual walking tour features volunteers posing as prominent figures from Oakland County’s past. Organizers suggest attendees are 12 years old or older.

The cemetery walk is an important historical society fundraiser. Tickets cost $15 per person. The tours begin every 15 minutes starting at 2 p.m. The last tour steps off at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14, at Oak Hill Cemetery, 216 University Drive in Pontiac. To buy tickets and learn other details, visit https://events.getlocalhop.com/oak-hill-cemetery-walk/event/LyAwhVxsK4.

The gray building on University Drive in Pontiac looks like other light industrial spaces. But the building’s current status is complicated by a murder, a cannabis operation and multiple ordinance violations.

Ongoing litigation has frozen the city’s ability to enforce building standards at the site, where businessman Sam Simko was killed on Jan. 12. Three men are scheduled for an April 13, 2026, trial for the Commerce Township man’s slaying.

City officials have long been familiar with the building. In 2021, then-Mayor Dierdre Waterman’s administration granted a business license to four addresses — 1012, 1014, 1016 and 1018 University Drive — to operate as a caregiver’s medical marijuana growing operation, according to city records. Justin Corlin was listed as the business owner. He could not be reached for this story.

Such operations are allowed under the 2008 Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, which states that people who are primary caregivers may grow 12 plants per patient, with a limit of six patients; they cannot grow more than 72 plants. Waterman’s administration never completed plans for a cannabis licensing process for medical or recreational marijuana. Caregiving businesses are considered a separate category.

After Simko’s death, Oakland County sheriff’s deputies recovered an estimated 50 pounds of marijuana, or 800 ounces, found with the three murder suspects. Police did not disclose how many plants were being cultivated in the building but referred to it as a large operation. The value of the recovered 800 ounces of marijuana is unclear, as area retailers’ online prices range from about $60 per ounce to more than $400.

The University Drive industrial warehouse was built in 1987 and is just over 10,000 square feet with 16-foot-high ceilings and four vehicle entrances as well as traditional doors.

While Waterman’s administration listed the four addresses, considered suites, as part of a medical-caregiver grow operation in 2021, city spokeswoman Paula Bridges said only Suites 1012 and 1014, are currently considered a “previously approved non-conforming caregiver operation” owned by Simko.

Suites 1012 and 1014 were leased by Simko from the property’s owner, Precision Investment Group. Precision’s business registration belongs to Bloomfield Hills businessman David Supal. Suites 1016 and 1018 are considered occupied by Precision.

Supal told The Oakland Press his lawyer advised him not to discuss the building or any related litigation.

City officials responding to a 2019 complaint about Simko’s operation learned he had no business license for that site. The code inspector also found that the property had been divided into suites and new addresses added without city approval. The city’s code enforcement action required an architectural drawing to show the separate suites and permits for the construction work.

Bridges said Suites 1016 and 1018 never received permits for operating as a primary caregiver marijuana facility, and “to the best of the city’s knowledge, is not engaging in any marijuana grow operations.”

On Aug. 27, 2024, nearly five months before Simko’s death, Pontiac building official Bruce Eck visited Suite 1016 to investigate a complaint. In his notes, which are public record, he wrote “marijuana facility is illegally open. They will need to cease and desist immediately.”

Eck’s inspection notes state that the operation did not meet zoning requirements and that police might get involved if the operation wasn’t shut down in the next seven days and the property owner could be ticketed.

The record shows he last visited Suite 1016 on Jan. 6 and approved the work. But the text on that same page dated Jan. 14 notes that the inspection was improperly marked and that the building’s owner still needed the city’s zoning board’s approval to operate as a medical marijuana facility. The text states Suite 1016 needed a fire-safety inspection and permits for evident construction work, as none had been pulled. The text ends with a message highlighted by two asterisks: “Please note that previous use in this building [was] never approved for medical marijuana facility.”

Bridges said Eck inspected Suite 1016 on Sept. 4, 2024, and scheduled a progress check for March 17. His notes show he planned to verify that proper permits had been obtained and the suite met standards for a certificate of occupancy. But he was fired on March 10 after three abandoned children were found in a filthy townhouse on the city’s west side. Eck is suing the city for wrongful discharge.

Because of the litigation between Precision and the city, Bridges said, “the building division has not taken any action” to re-inspect Suites 1016 and 1018 and Precision has not requested any new permits.

On Jan. 14, two days after Simko’s body was found in the University Drive building, Eck visited Suite 1018 and prohibited occupancy. He scheduled a progress check for March 18, according to city records. Litigation has also precluded code inspectors from following up and Supal’s company has not applied for any new permits, Bridges said.

Precision still “has no city approvals to operate any business (at Suites 1016-1018),” Bridges said, adding that, to city officials’ knowledge, no cannabis being grown at those suites.

Eck visited Suite 1012 on July 10, 2024, and tagged the door with a notice that the business did not have a certificate of occupancy, which is granted only after permitted work is completed and passed city inspections. He and the fire marshal returned on Sept. 4, 2024, for a final inspection. “All OK,” Eck’s inspection note said.

On the same date, Eck issued a certificate of occupancy to Suite 1014.

Suites 1012 and 1014 are each listed on the city’s building records as “a legal non-conforming medical marijuana caregiver facility.”

Downtown Rochester will be abuzz this weekend with the annual Art & Apples Festival, hosted by Paint Creek Center for the Arts.

More than 250 artists will showcase their wares at Municipal Park. This is a juried art show. Ortonville resident and painter Kelly Ingleright-Telgenhoff won Best in Show in 2024.

An estimated 60,000 people are expected to attend the festival through the weekend.

Jazz artist Sheila Landis leads the live entertainment at the park’s central band shell on Friday afternoon, followed by the cover-friendly Weekend ComeBack band on Saturday evening and country singer Julianne Ankley on Sunday. Local musicians and dance groups fill in the entertainment schedule.

This family-friendly festival offers make-and-take art for children, hosted by Meijer Kids Art Zone; oversized games from Rochester Area Recreation Authority (RARA), live-art demonstrations at the Creation Station and fun with inflatables.

Apples are the star of the food menu – members of Scouts Troop 125 and the all-girl Troop 456 return to sell homemade apple pies, cider and donuts – but there’s a wide range of food trucks and booths to soothe hungry bellies.

The Art & Apples Festival is 2 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, with a 4 p.m. ribbon cutting at the downtown bandshell; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, at Municipal Park, 400 Sixth St. in Rochester.

Festival entry is free but a $5 per-person donation is encouraged. Art & Applies is the main funding source for year-round programs at Paint Creek Center for the Arts. Some of the gate proceeds are shared with other community groups and nonprofits that provide festival volunteers. For more about Paint Creek, a festival map and the complete festival schedule, visit https://pccart.org/festival.