Officials want sinkhole residents to get financial help

Fraser — A temporary, three pipeline sewer bypass, needed to offset damage done by a massive sinkhole in the city, will likely take a full month to complete, Macomb County officials said Sunday.

In addition, officials hope homeowners impacted by the sinkhole will be supported financially by state and, possibly, federal sources.

Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller updated the status of repair to the ruptured sewer line that caused the sinkhole last month at a press conference held Sunday near the sinkhole site along 15 Mile.

Crews have been working to build the temporary bypass for the leaking Macomb Interceptor Drain sewer line to route sewage around the break and relieve pressure in the area. The lead engineering firm on the repair project is Shelby Township-based Anderson, Eckstein and Westrick Inc.

“The consensus going forward is they are going to be building three parallel pipes that will be built along 15 Mile Road in the right-of-way...,” Miller said. “This will probably take perhaps a month in order to be able to do that.”

Sunday marked the first day in office for Miller, and her meeting with the media made it clear that county officials still have many questions regarding the how and the why of the emergence of the latest sinkhole. In addition, she is faced with questions regarding how to assist those now living in the area surrounding the sinkhole.

Miller said she spoke with Gov. Rick Snyder and Michigan Emergency Management Agency officials in a teleconference Saturday to begin the investigation into what kinds of financial support might be available to impacted homeowners. Potential targets for assistance will likely be the Federal Emergency Management Agency, federal highway funds and the state revolving fund.

“We are going to explore every avenue so we can help the people who have been impacted so we can negate the amount of bills that will be absorbed by the county and all of the communities in this drainage district,” Miller said.

Pressed on whether homeowners might be stuck with bills for a catastrophe beyond their control, County Executive Mark Hackel said: “You’re going to see an incredible amount of controversy in the courts dealing with this issue in reference to whose going pay for it. So whether it’s going to come from ratepayers, whether its going to come from insurance claims that are going to come our way, I don’t suspect that the homeowners are going to be left out in the dark without having someone pay for the damage that was done to their homes.”

Last week, complaints surfaced about the lack of cooperation from previous Public Works Commissioner Anthony Marrocco’s office as crews worked to address the problem. Marrocco and Miller, a former congresswoman, engaged in a nasty campaign in 2016 for the right to head Macomb’s public works department. Marrocco had held the post for 24 years before losing in November.

Both Miller and Hackel had harsh words Sunday for Marrocco, who had been unavailable as the sinkhole problems unfolded. Hackel criticized Marrocco for instructing public works employees not to speak with members of the incoming administration.

“Many of them were given the direction not to converse with us, but they did,” Hackel said Sunday. “Why? Because they realized they had a problem (on their hands), and they wanted to work to solve this problem on behalf of the people.”

Marrocco acquired the sewer pipeline responsible for the sinkhole in 2009 from Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, five years after a similar hole opened up near the current one.

Officials say Marrocco may have taken over the line in order to give Macomb County better oversight of maintenance and repairs. Yet a week after the new sinkhole opened, county officials are questioning whether the purchase was a smart move and how the sewer line was handled after it changed hands.

“I’m going to be looking into the inspection logs on this pipe, when the inspections were made, what kinds of inspections were made, what did the inspections tell us, the conditions of the pipe, was there any maintenance (done),” Miller said. “I don’t have those answers today, but I’m telling you, I’m going to get those answers.”

A similar sinkhole occurred in 2004 on 15 Mile in Sterling Heights because of a break in the Macomb Interceptor about a third of a mile from the one in Fraser.

Its 2004 collapse created a sinkhole that took months and tens of millions of dollars to fix. It was also at the heart of a 2011 lawsuit touching on the corruption scandal of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

The 100-foot-wide, 250-foot-long sinkhole that appeared Dec. 24 was caused by the collapse of the leaking Macomb Interceptor Drain sewer that runs under 15 Mile, the border between Clinton Township and Fraser.

The county-owned interceptor transports sewage from 11 northern Macomb County communities into a network that leads to a wastewater treatment plant in Detroit operated by the Great Lakes Water Authority.

It’s a 3-mile-long, concrete sewer main that runs west along 15 Mile from Garfield Road to ITC Michigan’s electric transmission lines corridor. The pipe is about 11 feet in diameter.

The sinkhole has forced the evacuation of nearly two dozen homes near the corner of 15 Mile and Eberlein.

Police have closed the road between Utica and Hayes as a precaution and the city declared a state of emergency in the area.

The stretch of road is scheduled to be closed to through traffic for several months, but businesses in that area remain open, and traffic to and from them is permitted.

Mayor Joe Nichols will update residents on efforts to fix the sinkhole at 6 p.m. meetings on Jan. 9 and Jan. 31 at Fraser City Hall.