The future of the Flat Rock dam, of large concern to residents of the community built around its impoundment of water on the Huron River, could end up in local hands.
Huron-Clinton Metroparks, which operates 13 parks across five southeast Michigan counties, owns the Flat Rock dam and is offering to sell it to the city of Flat Rock for $5 — with $4.5 million in additional funds going from Metroparks to the city for dam upkeep.
“This action bolsters the growing partnership between the City and Authority and ensures the continued negotiations address community and stakeholder desire for more local control around decisions related to the future of the Flat Rock Dam,” Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority officials stated in a release.
The Flat Rock City Council, after a closed session at its meeting on Monday, Nov. 17, approved entering into a letter of intent with the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority’s board of commissioners, with a proposed purchase agreement to come by Dec. 10. “It could be finished as soon as (Tuesday) afternoon,” city attorney Matthew Zick said.
The nonbinding letter does not mean that the sale is a done deal. The purchase agreement, whenever approved by city council, will trigger 60 days of due diligence, during which city officials can learn more about the dam and its condition and potential expenses. The time period can also be extended as necessary, Zick said.
Mayor Steven Beller said he is aware of the concerns some in the community have about what potential cost burden the city may be taking on in taking ownership of the dam and its future upkeep or potential liabilities.
“Everything everybody was asking about the dam, that (due diligence period) is our time to get those questions answered,” he said at Monday’s council meeting.
Beller likened it to potential home buyers showing interest in a house but then waiting for what they learn in the home inspection.
“That is when you find out if there is something there that might pop up that you say, ‘Oh no, this isn’t such a good deal,’ ” he said. “We are going to be busy, and we are going to get the answers that we need to find out if we can purchase this.”
The more-than-500-foot Flat Rock Dam was built in the late 1920s by Henry Ford for hydropower generation for his headlamp plant there, a purpose it served until 1950. Ford Motor Co., the following year, sold the dam to the Huron-Clinton Metroparks Authority for $25,000. The parks operator acquired the dam to maintain the approximately 250-acre water impoundment behind it and adjoining natural areas for recreational use.
But the Flat Rock Dam, and the smaller, city-owned Huroc Dam just below it, are the first significant barrier to fish traveling upstream from Lake Erie. Though a fish ladder was added at the dams in the late 1990s, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources still has found that the dams restrict fish passage and limit reproduction for a number of prized sport fish species, including lake sturgeon, walleye and white bass. A letter from the DNR Fisheries Division to the Metroparks Authority shows DNR officials encouraging the removal of the Flat Rock Dam as far back as November 1984.
In 2022, Metroparks, in partnership with the DNR, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Huron River Watershed Council and the city of Flat Rock, successfully submitted for a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Regional Partnership Grant through the congressionally appropriated Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The grant was used to conduct a feasibility study for alternative options for the Flat Rock dam “that would benefit the local community and natural habitats,” a report by Public Sector Consultants, a contractor hired as part of the review, states.
The draft feasibility study was released in February and caused some local alarm when one of the alternatives under consideration was full removal of the Flat Rock dam, which would reduce impoundment water levels by about 10 feet, expose acres of currently submerged lands, and leave the impoundment more like the river segment farther upstream.
A Facebook group, “Save the Flat Rock Dam,” arose and now has 2,500 members. Yard signs encouraging saving the dam are seen throughout nearby neighborhoods.
Some in the group expressed wariness at Metroparks’ offer.
“(They) only want to give Flat Rock ($4.5 million) to fix all of the neglect over how many years they have owned it? I say this should be a hard pass, just my opinion,” city resident Dawn Hawley posted.
“Could cost Flat Rock a ton of money in the future, let (Metroparks) keep it,” stated Bill Nagy.
Zick noted that in addition to the $4.5 million for future dam costs, Metroparks would work with the city on attempting to secure a $900,000 to $1 million NOAA grant for a new fish passage ladder over the dam.
A 2020 Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy inspection of the Flat Rock Dam listed its condition as “fair.” It’s considered a high-hazard potential dam, meaning any failure could cause serious damage to critical infrastructure, significant environmental impact, or potentially result in loss of life.
Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Huron-Clinton Metroparks offers Flat Rock dam to city for $5, with millions for maintenance
Reporting by Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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