SAVE SALINE MILLPOND

"Save the Saline Mill Pond"
grass roots organization

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

Our grass roots organization, Save Saline Mill Pond, seeks to preserve
iconic Mill Pond. The Mill Pond is created by the Saline dam.
The Mill Pond represents a significant part of Salines' history and
cultural heritage, wilflife. By maintaining the dam rather than remove it the millpond, we aim to
protect this valuable asset for current and future generations.

Many new developmens and people are moving in to Saline and may not be aware of it's
historical signifcance which would be threatened by it's removal

OUR RESPONSE TO:

From Saline City: Clear.gov
MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE DAM REMOVAL

HISTORY OF THE MILLPOND

Millpond Park did not come fast or easy. It started as a very small park that added land over the years that was purchased in several stages, one such purchase was the nine acres owned by the old Saline soybean mill that included the 20.6 acres of water a dam and nine acres of wooded land. Other land negotiation stages included 4.3 acres, 10 acres and 43 acres. Mayor Jackson T Bennett declared the dam and its lake as "an important beauty spot". for the city and predicted it would soon be the most popular park in town. That prediction came true. The city then was determined to preserve the lake in its present condition and improve the new nine acres as a natural recreation area.

For many years the park suffered for lack of a back door north entrance. Finally Ed Herring, owner of a key 10 acre plot of ground, sold it for $30,000 over a 5 year land contract needed for adequate access to the millpond area and signed an agreement to sell the property to the city of Saline. Mayor George Anderson along with other City leaders reacted with joy at the news "Just Terrific' he commented. I want to thank Mr. Hering for his civic -mindedness. This acquisition will finally provide easy access and parking for the park. One of the conditions of sale was to move his wifes - Marian Hering Memorial stone from its present location in Wilderness park to the new 10 acre plot. Herings wife who endeared herself to everyone who knew her was known for her long lifetime of service to others. Her stone still stands just north of the pavilion.

Since then Millpond park has been home to 27 Saline Celtic Festivals. Countless family reunions, company gatherings, car shows, picnics, ice skating, horseshoes, soccer games, fishing, kayaking and canoeing, animal shelter fundraisers, music events, nature talks, etc. It's also home to the very popular Romp play structure, movies in the park, the great pumpkin roll, winter sledding, cross country skiing, ga ga ball, geocaching. and it's very popular dog park that offers a water feature. And even Saline's own loch ness monster. (Millie - the millpond monster).

SAVING THE MILLPOND

Currently their is an initiative by City of Saline to remove the dam having spent $240 on a study and trying to procure grant funding from the government.

The City received a study citing the repairs that needed to be made. However, nothing was every done to repair the dam.

So the City has effectively bypassed repairing the dam to spending millions to remove it and many more millions and years to rebuild the MillPond Park.

We have formed a grass root organization SAVE SALINE MILLPOND PARK in order to put the issue of repaing the dam at the forefront of the City's agenda rather than the removal of the millponbased on the City getting bid

If the City is successful in obtaining the funding to remove the dam there will no longer be a Millpond.

Our grass roots organization SAVE SALINE MILPOND was formed by a group of concerned citizens who believe that not only is it's removal unnecessary, expensive and not in the best interests of Saline, will destroy an integral historic feature.

Before & after AI rendering by Spicer Engineering

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IHenry Ford Village Industry

DRONE VIDEO

mauricehogan@me.com

In 1845, David Schuyler Haywood constructed a gristmill (now known as Wellers)
at this site on the western edge of Saline, Michigan.

1935 After r Ford t rebuilt the old Flour mill
he created this Ford complex He paid 700 farmers to grown soybesns
which he refined for plastics and paints for his autos and parts during WWII

Barnegat Schuyler Mill – Ford Soybean Plant Complex, building of the dam & Wellers

A small settlement, Barnegat, soon coalesced around the mill site;
Barnegat was annexed by the village of Saline in 1848.

HISTORIC TAILRACE THREATENED

SAVE THE DAM is a citizens group that came together to address
prservation and budget concerns over removal of the dam.

Here is our Statement after the Final study presentation on March 17, 2025.

The City has now kicked this down the road to October 5. Make your voices heard and
SEND EMAIL TO DAM@CITYOFSALINE.ORG.

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LETTER TO SALINE CITIZENS
The issue of the dam's future has been a focal point of concern in our community, and as members of the SAVE THE DAM group, we feel it's important to share our perspective in response to the Spicer Group's $240,000 study and presentation.

Lack of Maintenance and Oversight:

We believe the City is wasting precious time and taxpayer money on pursuing million-dollar grants that may never materialize. The reality is that grant money is never guaranteed, and the responsible solution is to budget the necessary funds to maintain City-owned structures, like the dam, from our own resources.

SOLUTION: IMPLEMENT DPW MAINTENANCE AND OVERSIGHT SCHEDULE

We do not believe the Department of Public Works (DPW) has a full understanding of the dam system or the visual inspections required. For example, debris removal in the inlet and watching for erosion of the berm are simple tasks that should be part of regular close-up visual maintenance checks. In other words, they need to get out of their truck and walk along the dam to observe issues like soil erosion of the berm. You cannot see these things by driving by it. as it is not visible from the road.

It should be noted that more than two decades have gone by with no repairs or money or time allocated.

Citizens of Saline are not given the correct information but given some rosy eyed view of what dam removal would look like iwth fan AI generated rendering .

Take note: Tecumseh has a similarr situation and when they were faced with repairs or removal of the Eose street dam they chose repairing it. They made this decision in 2024 and work has already begun on making those repairs in 2025. The Saline dam study recommneding repairs was made in 2021 and here we are in 2025 with no money allocated in the budget or plans for repairs.

The City of Saline has gone down this road before . consider the Rec Center study in 2021 that specifie repairs needed. However y the City did not allocate funds and do the necessary repairs which resulted in and resulted in majory water damage resulting in a $$$ price tag. And now they have a request for 24 million dollars for the Rec Center which has never broke even and continues to be a drain on resources needed in other areas of the City.

The City has cited there is more grant money available for removal than for repairs.. That's like saying you should pull all your teeth out rather than fix the one that is really bad.

Here are the financial realities of Dam Removal and the things the tax implications they are not telling you about:

Here is a list of govenment agencies that have available funding for dam repairs:

Federal funding for dam repairs in local communities is available through various programs like the Rehabilitation of High Hazard Potential Dams (HHPD) Grant Program, the National Dam Safety Program, and the Corps Water Infrastructure Financing Program (CWIFP). These programs offer grants and loans to help local communities repair, rehabilitate, or remove high-hazard dams, reduce flood risk, and improve dam safety.

Specific Programs and Funding:
Rehabilitation of High Hazard Potential Dams (HHPD) Grant Program:
This program provides grants for technical, planning, design, and construction assistance for dam rehabilitation projects that reduce risks and increase community preparedness, according to FEMA.gov.

National Dam Safety Program (NDSP):
This program includes grant funding to support state dam safety programs, encouraging the establishment and maintenance of effective state programs that ensure dam safety and protect human life and property.

Corps Water Infrastructure Financing Program (CWIFP):
This program offers low-cost, long-term loans for dam safety projects, including rehabilitation, repairs, and dam removals.

List of sixteen dams that have received funding for repairs

Link to ONLINE Full Training video for Dam and Maintenance for DPW
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt9aDt7bNpdyznSsZzgqhS4DgbWLV2YrW

Conclusion:
We need a long-term, responsible solution to preserve and maintain our history, and SAVE THE DAM will continue to advocate for that.
Let's work together to preserve this vital part of our community. It's not too late to make the right choice for the future of Saline.
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No maintenance and no funds have ever been allocated for maiantenance of the dam in over 2 decades.

When we asked the City how much money has been spent on dam maintenance the City says they haven't been keeping track of it.

But, we who live by the dam and see it every day know that there is no record because in terms of receipts because there i there has been no work done on it in decades.

It is our opinion that the City is wasting time and money with these million dollar grants which may never pan out. We already know that grant money is not the answer.

The dam needs immediate repairs done due to the lack of maintence. The fact that it is in such good shape after so many years of neglect is a testment to how well it was built.

The City should has shown in their study and in meeting photos of the cement erosion exposing some rebar. So they already know that needs to be done immediatley. Even if they say they want removal of the dam these repairs need to be done now. The dam removal project will take years to move on. So just logically, priority should be to get bids for cement and berm repair. There are competent cement contractors in the area who could do these repairs.

And I do not believe there is anyone in the City or DPW who understands how the dam system works and what visual inspections they should be doing just by walking around it. i.e. to remove debris in the inlet.. to watch for erosion of the berm. 8. Right now as citizens we have walked over there and can see that the soil is washing out from below the grass on the berm. You cannot see this from the road.

The City needs to require DPW to complete a simple spreadsheet that includes a biannual walk about /visual check list based on Egle recommendation and an annual lift gate inspection to make sure the cement is intact. This shouldb e scheduled maintenance list by someone competent i.e trained in what they are looking for. I'm sure EGLE has resourses to train our own people.

The City has already wasted $240,000 on the Spicer study with nothing shceduled to be done for repairs even knowing what they are! This money could have gone a long way to get the needed repairs done.

Then the City needs to have annual inspections from Egle to keep us on track. Right now the dam is in fair condition and if we make the needed repairs we can bring that condition up. The city should be allocating a savings account for the dam with monthly deposits to prepare for silt removal and sidewalks in the future. I never remember having to have grant monty to do everything. I think it's pretty clear we should stop thinking there is going to be free money from the state or federal government and plan financially to get these things done.

If the City continues on this push to have the dam removed and then does actually does it who in the City is going to oversee it and keep the buget on tract. it

SAVE THE DAM has paid close attention to the numbers they have put out. and we are looking at between 10 and 18 million dollars without even developing the post dam removal vision which will not even be a usual stream.

Since the City says they don't have this moeny it would require more personnel to spend years working on grants with nothing phsically bein gone for repairs. And what if midway through contractors have burned through the grant money and it dries up. We could be left wth muddy swamp, historical strutures destroyed diminishing the not just Wellers but the entire esthetic of the City.

None of us at SAVE THE DAM can figure out why all of the attention has been placed on dam removal when dam repair should be the top priority. Repairs surely will need to be anyway as a removal project will take years to pan out with so many government and historic hoops to jump through. The answer we have gotten is there is not as much grant money available for repairs as there is for Dam Removal. a sorry reason to destroy such a unique feature in our community.

..lets just get rid of it.. but we the citizens will most assuredly pay for the consequences of this shortsighted vision. of...take it all down..

Citizens need to understand how this could potentially become MORE increases in property taxes when grant money runs out . Citizens need to ask the City and the Mayor the right questions. SAVE THE DAM has been vocal about this waste of time, city personnel, resources, and stress on proper;ty owners who are adjacent to the millpond and want to know what is going to happen so they can go on with their lives.

Historic Stone tailrace now serves as a way to reduce overflow into Curtis park

This structure and Wellers water rights would be threatened if the dam is removed.. it is

integrated into the dam and millpond and part of the 13 acre Historic site on the National Register.