WOOD Radio Local News

WOOD Radio Local News

WOOD Radio Local News

 

Cascade Township concerned about industrial development impacts

CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Cascade Township officials say they will take all measures possible to prevent industrial development that might degrade the quality of life along the Thornapple River watershed.

A Kent County Circuit judge ruled last Friday that the Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority is exempt from local zoning and land-use restrictions. Cascade officials say that means the township lacks legal standing to regulate stormwater management. 

Township Supervisor Grace Lesperance told WOOD Radio that Cascade officials are not concerned with normal aeronautical operations, just industrial development around the airport.

"Their partnership with the local regional transportation authority, which actually then called for four additional new on- and off-ramps in Cascade Township that would be needed as a result of this anticipated industrial development," she said.

Lesperance also said township officials are reviewing all potential measures available to protect the Thornapple River watershed from any potential airport-generated contaminants. 

The Michigan Attorney General's Office sued the airport authority on behalf of the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy (EGLE) last year over the presence of excessive PFAS compounds that it alleged resulted from airport operations. 

EGLE had sent multiple warnings about PFAS contaminants, saying there were violations of its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit. It said the contamination had run off into the groundwater and possibly some nearby drinking water wells.

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