COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Branch County Board of Commissioners voted Friday to have residents of Lake George sign a petition in order to set the legal lake level on the Michigan side of the lake.
It was one of two options presented to Commissioners recently by County Administrator Bud Norman. The other was to file an appeal with the Branch County Circuit Court.
If the Circuit Court option was pursued, there would have been a resolution requiring a preliminary engineering study and a cash bond of $10,000.
While Norman said the court process would be faster, Commissioner Terri Norris felt pursuing the petition option for 200 homes on the Michigan side of the lake would not cost the county any money. She added it would provide the least amount of risk and liability to the county.
The Lake George Cottagers Association felt having the Branch County Circuit Court set the legal lake level was the best option to pursue.
The legal lake level is the last step in the process involving two states in order to fund repairs to the Lake George dam that was built in 1927 on the Indiana side of the lake.
