Power outage

Wednesday night at about 10:05 PM, an electrical power failure affected all of the units on Watling as well as those on the west side of Lexington East and the east side of Regent.   All of the other units in the Manors had uninterrupted service.  When I called to report our outage, I was given an automated estimate that the power would be restored by sometime between 2 and 4 AM Thursday morning.

Three DTE trucks arrived at around 11:00 PM and a few minutes later I walked down to where they were parked on Lexington West near Lexington South and spoke to one of the workers. He said they were aware of the isolated outage within the Manors and mentioned that there were also a group of homes without power in the Meadows sub to our south.

Power to the affected units in the Manors was restored at 2:38 AM.

Here is a link to DTE's Outage Center, from which you can use your computer or smart phone to report an outage on-line and also view an interactive map of reported outages.  Electrical power outages and downed lines can also be reported by calling (800) 477-4747.

Construction equipment south of Genisys Credit Union

You may have noticed the construction equipment that has recently been moved onto the vacant parcel on Van Dyke south of the Genisys Credit Union.  I have learned that this vacant parcel is being used as a staging site for the equipment and materials that will be used to construct the new sanitary sewer that will be installed along the west side of Van Dyke from 22 Mile Road south to a point about 1,000 feet past 21 Mile Road (approximately here).  The sewer project is expected to take six months to complete.  More information about the sewer project can be found in this article from the July 28, 2012 edition of the Source & Advisor.

Water Line Protection Program mailing

You may have recently received this mail offer from American Water Resources of Michigan.  They sell insurance for $5 per month that will cover up to $5,000 in water line repairs.

The Manors Board of Directors strongly urges you to ignore this offer.  Your Condo Association owns the water line between the Shelby Twp. water main and your unit, not you.   Therefore, if this water line needs to be repaired, the cost will be paid for by the Association using funds from the general budget.

UPDATE, Aug. 16, 2012

Earlier today I received the following e-mail from American Water Resounces:

From: Chelsea Mcfadden
Subject: AWR Mailing to Manor's Homeowners
To: Mike Grobbel
Date: Thursday, August 16, 2012, 9:34 AM

Good morning, Mike,

I came across your Condo Association blog this morning regarding our recent mailing. Is it possible for you to give me an idea of the addresses included in your association so that we do not mail your homeowners in the future and avoid any confusion for service line ownership?

Thanks in advance,

Chelsea McFadden
Assistant Marketing Manager
American Water Resources, Inc.
330 Fellowship Road, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054

I replied with a list of the street names and addresses within the Manors at Central Park and within minutes I received the following reply:

Thanks, Mike.

This is very helpful! Sorry for any confusion our mailing may have caused this month. We will be sure to remove these addresses moving forward.

Chelsea McFadden

Wildlife ?

On Saturday afternoon, April 18th, I spotted this animal near the well by the corner of Regent and Lexington North (click on the image to enlarge it). It appears to be a young red fox, but I'm no expert on identifying wildlife. Maybe it is someone's pet dog? It kind of resembles a Welsh Corgi, but this has a long tail and the legs are not a short as a Corgi. UPDATE: It turns out that it's a pet and that it's a Long-Haired Chihuahua.

As a reminder, please do not feed the real wildlife, since it serves to attract them as well as other species who cause damage and costs for the Association. Last year the Association had to spend precious budget dollars to "evict" multiple woodchucks who migrated from the fields to burrow under rear decks, and then to have another contractor fill in the holes they made. Feeding the ducks and Canadian geese results in a terrible mess on our sidewalks and lawns and "baiting" the deer causes them to want to browse on our foundation shrubs and arbor vitae while they are here. Deer damage was particularly heavy on the arbs near the well, to the point where the lowest five feet of each arb is now too thin to provide any visual screening of the well equipment.

Sewer Repairs

The faintly familiar sounds of heavy construction equipment echoed across the northwest portion of the Manors this afternoon. Unfortunately, it was not the welcome noise emanating from new construction work.

A sewer line owned by the Condo Association was blocked, causing the waste water from Units 55 & 56 to back up into their basements. Repeated attempts to open the sewer with a power auger were unsuccessful and a video inspection revealed that a section of the sewer lead pipe was completely separated. Kramer-Triad received approval from the Board of Directors to hire Paul C. Scott & Sons Plumbing to excavate and fix the line as soon as possible to alleviate the problem.

Once the sewer line was uncovered at the bottom of a 10 ft deep hole, the cause of the problem became evident. The contractor who made the tie-in to the sewer lead when the basement was originally excavated in 2004 must have hit the lead with their backhoe and pulled it out of the rubber friction boot on the 10 inch sewer main. This single 6 inch sewer lead services both units and it had been pulled out about 18 inches from the boot. The situation went unnoticed because that end of the sewer lead remained covered with backfill. Ever since the units were sold in 2005, all of the sanitary waste from Units 55 & 56 has had to flow through this 18 inch long tunnel in the sand in order to reach the sewer main. Eventually this tunnel collapsed and the sewer lead filled with sand. It's a wonder that this problem did not surface much sooner and that a sink hole never developed in the front lawn.


"Men at work" on Lexington North.


Workers excavated an 8 ft. x 15 ft. hole that was 10 ft. deep.


The worker in the hole is standing on top of where the sewer lead should have been connected to the sewer main; the manhole structure is at his side.



The section of sewer pipe between the two black Fernco flexible couplings is the permanent repair and it bridges the gap apparently created by the backhoe operator in 2004.

Construction at the corner of Van Dyke and Central Park

UPDATED Sept. 18th:

You may have noticed work crews moving earth and making curb cuts at the southwest corner of Van Dyke and Central Park. According to Glenn Wynn, the Shelby Twp. Planning Director, a building for a credit union has been approved for this site and we are seeing the initial stages of its construction. This type of land use is of a much lower intensity than a grocery store and should not cause a large increase in traffic at the intersection. From markings on the curb, it appears that a curb cut is planned on Van Dyke as well as on Central Park. Mr. Wynn indicates that the credit union site plan is available for review at the Planning and Zoning Department. When I get a chance, I will stop by and take a look at it to see what the traffic flow pattern is for the site.

The new credit union will operate under the name of "Genisys Credit Union". It was recently formed by the merger of T & C Federal Credit Union of Bloomfield Hills and USA Credit Union of Auburn Hills. The rumors about a new Kroger store are not true, however, a new one was built a few years ago at the northeast corner of 23 Mile Rd. and Hayes.

While I'm sure we will appreciate a newer, larger and closer Kroger store, this is bound to generate some concerns about increased traffic at that intersection and whether there will be additional curb cuts and deceleration lanes built on Van Dyke so that all of the traffic does not have to use Central Park. Considering how difficult it can be at times to make a left turn onto Van Dyke from Central Park, this new development will hopefully drive the eventual installation of a traffic signal at that intersection.