[Rhodes22-list] Sanford Lake News

[ROGER PIHLAJA]

Hi All,

Nearly 6 years after the 4 dam failures and the subsequent flood, our dam has been rebuilt.  All State and Federal permits have been signed off.  Refilling Sanford Lake commenced on April 15th.  The lake should be at normal summer pool level by Memorial Day.  Secord Lake dam and Smallwood Lake dam are scheduled to be complete and lake filling to commence around Labor Day.  Wixom Lake dam won’t be ready until the summer if 2027.

My property taxes have tripled to pay for all this.  The courts have ruled against the property owners in our class action lawsuit vs the State of Michigan.  The property owners will get nothing.  My property losses are about k$90!  + the 3X increased annual taxes!  It’s the biggest financial hit in my life.  Our side is appealing the case; but, this iis certainly not good news.

In a final irony, I’m still waiting for the State to approve the permit for my dock.  So, I will have a lake, but no dock this summer.

Other than that, life is dull.  I hope you all are having a better spring than me.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
1978. Sanford, MI


Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 26, 2026, at 12:58 AM, Paul Rhodes <plrhodes29 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Fellow Rhodes 22 clan members, especially ye who own or have seen a boom
> room with your own eyes, does the attached photo show parts to a Boom
> Room?  We've never seen one beyond a picture lacking much detail, but we
> want one, and if this is part of one, we hope to start with it and complete
> our own.
>
> If you own a boom room, pictures and other details would be a tremendous
> help!  (If you have one you would like to sell, that's even better.)
>
> May you all have a wonderful start to the 2026 sailing season once
> Puxatawny Phil's six weeks are past,
>
> Paul and Nancy Rhodes
> SV New Mercies
> -------------- next part --------------
> A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
> Name: 20260210_155428.jpg
> Type: image/jpeg
> Size: 3927195 bytes
> Desc: not available
> URL: <http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20260211/a227f6f2/attachment.jpg>