I've been having trouble with the Health Department of NW Michigan for well over a year now with my family's Lake Charlevoix lakefront property that I acquired from my mother a few years ago. It all started when in the summer of 2021. I made a number of (LEGAL!) improvements on my property including a garage for my boats (that the Township help up for a decade) a shed for my scooter and bikes, and a new dock and boat. (See 2021 Upgrades page for pictures.) For what I hoped would be the final upgrade to the property, I decided to apply for a well permit that for reasons I never understood (until now!) my father had never been willing to consider. Big mistake.
As background, my parents bought property on the lake in 1967 - two rustic, heavily wooded lots. It had a small RV trailer and an outdoor bathroom (with a flush toilet and fully functional septic system) but we never had a water well - we always had to bring in drinking water from home and had to draw buckets of water from the lake to flush the toilet. Carrying buckets of water for 40 years finally wore on me, and just before my dad died, I helped him install a lake water pumping system so that we at least we could flush the toilet without the toil and public spectacle. Finally, in 2021, after I got all of the other upgrades competed that I had always wanted, I decided that it was finally time to get a well so I went to the Health Dept. and put in an application. That's when the "fun" started. (I should have trusted you Dad - trying to reason with the Health Department has been nothing but trouble.)
My case documents
Summary of Wolff vs the Health Dept. of NW Michigan (1 page)
Summons presented to the HDNW on Sept 25, 2023.
Wolfe vs the Health Dept. of NW Michigan case details (8 pages + 8 more in appendix = 16 total)
Complete appendix info for Wolff vs the Health Dept. of NW Michigan (21 pages - this has NOT been filed!)
Filings from the legal counsel of HDNW (Haider Kazim of CMDA in T.C.)
Initial response from HDNW's legal counsel including my entire court filing (22 pages)
In response to this I issued my updated case file, which had a table of contents and page numbers, and an added summary page to clarify the charges against the HDNW.
2nd response from HDNW's legal counsel (6 pages)
Motion to Dismiss the case from HDNM's legal counsel on Jan 12, 2024 (12 pages)
My response to Motion to Dismiss made on Jan 25, 2024 (3 pages)
Kuhn Rogers opinion regarding my family's rights to continue to sustain the ("grandfathered") non-conforming usage of maintaining an RV trailer on our property including my right to update the trailer itself. I got this opinion before I removed my parents old trailer as I wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything illegal. Unfortunately it has become clear that the Health Department's interpretation of their codes differs from generally accepted legal interpretation of the prevailing local zoning ordinance. This is most unfortunate.
Wolff opinion regarding differences in zoning vs Health Dept. code and why an assessment that the "successor building" classification of the trailer on my property is erroneous.
Health Dept. of NW Mich. Sanitary Code
Here are two letters I got from the Health Department prior to the public Appeals Board hearing that was conducted in December of 2021, and one afterword:
Health Dept. letter 1 - Cease & Desist issued Sept. 17, 2021. (Letter 1)
Health Dept. letter 2 - issued on Oct. 21, 2021 after 10-4-21 onsite inspection was completed. (Letter 2)
Health Dept. letter 3 - issued on Jan. 10, 2022 after the 12-16-21 Board of Appeals meeting. (Letter 3)
Wolfe property septic issue summary page that I prepared Sanitary Code Board of Appeals meeting that was held in December 2021.
Wolfe property septic issue info package that I prepared Sanitary Code Board of Appeals meeting that was held in December 2021.
My Oct. 7, 2022 response to the Cease & Desist imposed on my property by the Health Dept. of NW Michigan. It was directed to the Environmental Director, Mr. Jeremy Fruk.
October 2022 e-mail exchange with Jeremy Fruk and Mike Jones regarding my septic system and some data I gathered. (Mr. Jones is a supervisor who works under Mr. Fruk.)
Letter I wrote to two Board of Health members that I presented to them at the 11-2-22 meeting I attended and spoke at.
E-mail follow-up with Board of Health members regarding inaccurate comments about me & my trailer made by Jeremy Fruk at the 11-1-2022 board meeting I attended.
My final letter to the Health Dept. prior to initiating litigation which includes some of my legal case info.(4 pages)
Data file from MET
(Mackinac Environmental Technology) showing the soil constituents around my septic system and the water table level.
Data report from Tip of the Mitt
Watershed Council showing the E. coli level in lake water at my beach. (It was undetectable - ie none.)
Legal strategy notes and complete timeline of all of the pertinent events over the 56 years of Wolfe/Wolff property ownership on Lake Charlevoix.
My list of grievances against the NW Michigan Health Department
This is a list including 20 separate items of contention. This isn't about right and wrong. It's broader than that. It's about a clash of cultures that can't be put in simple terms or compliance and non-compliance. I understand that the Health Dept. has rules and they are trying to enforce them. But I also understand that my family has had our property for 55 years and always had a trailer connected to our septic system and there have never been any problems. We also have rights, and to be told now that I have to drastically change my lifestyle (disconnect or even remove my trailer) just because I asked for a well permit I feel is ridiculous. (As one local civil engineer I consulted with put it: "You poked the bear.") The primary thrust of the Health Dept. in response feels very much feels like harassment. It seems to me they are trying to help clean up the neighborhood by taking out the trash - the trailer trash in this case, which means me, and I think it sucks. (You can quote me.)
Description of 2022 Tonnadoonah Annual Meeting in much my trailer and septic system was discussed at length .
Letter to my lawyer
in the summer or 2022 after I was harassed at the annual Tonnadoonah meeting based on my trailer and the darn Cease & Desist .
(Background picture - my departed parents one Christmas on a visit to me about 10 years ago. They were both modest and inscrutably honest, as I also strive to be.)