Abandonment of city property sails with 85 percent

A majority of Orchard Lake voters authorized the city to vacate a portion of property on Willow Lane during the Tuesday, Nov. 8 general election.

Voters were asked the following:

“Shall the City of Orchard Lake Village vacate, discontinue and abolish 40 feet of roadway located at the end of Willow Lane, formerly known as Troy Street, in the City of Orchard Lake Village, and then sell the vacated portion of the road?”

The proposal passed with 85 percent of the electorate voting in favor and 15 percent voting against.

The city-owned property, located on the west shore of Orchard Lake on Willow Lane, off of Old Orchard Trail near Birchway, juts out where Willow Lane dead ends.

Under City Charter, before the Orchard Lake City Council could disburse, vacate or abolish any city property, the issue was required to go before the public for approval.

The parcel was initially platted nearly 50 years ago as part of the Cuthbertson Resort subdivision.

Now the road ending is a grassy, non-improved trail that projects into a 1.56-acre parcel currently for sale at 44890 Birchway.

No actual street is visible, but because of the way the lots were laid out originally in the area, these 800 square feet of city-owned property intrude sideways into a privately-owned piece of lakefront land.

The current owner of the lakefront property apparently has an offer on the land, but without the Willow Lane property, the land sale may not move forward given that it is a critical piece of land located at a potential building site. The parcel creates a larger building area without the need for variances, and provides the means to install utilities and/or driveways.