The Village of Lake Orion will receive $1.75 million in 2024 Congressional Community Projects Grant funding for the community’s phase I improvements to sanitary sewer pump stations and force mains, Congresswoman Lisa McClain’s office recently announced. Congresswoman McClain recommended the village’s project last year as one of fifteen projects within her district for funding consideration by the US House Appropriations Committee.
The phase I project involves the replacement of four centrifugal and ejector style pumps on Victoria Island and Bellevue Island, the rehabilitation and upgrade of pump station structures, and improvements to the two affected sanitary sewer gravity mains. The ejector station upgrades will involve new ejector pumping equipment, sewage receiver pots, air compressors, motors, and air manifolds; new isolation plug valves, check valves, piping, and pipe fittings; and new air storage tanks. The centrifugal station upgrades will involve new centrifugal pumps and new isolation plug valves, check valves, and pipe fittings. Upgrades to all stations will include new ventilation blowers, new level transducers, electrical improvements, new control panels, controls integration with the recently upgraded WRC SCADA system, new sump pumps and appurtenances, lighting upgrades, corrosion protection, and new epoxy coatings on floors.
Village Manager Darwin McClary submitted a grant application in March 2024 seeking a total of $5,823,760 in grant funding to complete all three project phases. With this funding award, phase I is scheduled for completion in fiscal year 2024-25, while phases II and III are scheduled for the following two years. The village will also utilize $100,000 in Oakland County Critical Infrastructure Grant funding and $335,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding to complete the total $9.1 million phases I, II, and III projects. McClary has already submitted another grant application this year under the 2025 Congressional Community Projects Grant program in the amount of $6.1 million for the second and third phases. Congresswoman McClain has also selected this year’s grant application for consideration for funding, and the village should receive preliminary information on the status of funding this fall.
“The Village of Lake Orion is so appreciative and grateful for Congresswoman McClain’s strong support for our community and for this project,” says McClary. “If we had to fund this project completely with local resources, the result would be much higher sewer bills for our utility customers. Every dollar in grant funding helps to relieve the financial burden on our citizens.” McClary also expressed the village’s immense gratitude to those who wrote letters of support for the grant funding, including the Lake Orion Downtown Development Authority, Lake Orion Lake Association, Clinton River Watershed Council, and Southeast Michigan Council of Governments. “These outstanding and insightful letters of support from our crucial community partners made all the difference in helping us obtain this much needed funding,” McClary emphasized. The Lake Orion Village Council also adopted a resolution of support.
The village will award a contract soon to Oakland County for the Water Resources Commission to manage the project. The village expects to complete the phase I project in mid-2025.
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