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BOARD BRIEFS

General Membership Meeting

July 7, 2007

Deed Restrictions – You are required as a property owner to abide by the RLPOA Covenants & Restrictions.

Road Abuse – Speed limit 20mph by ALL vehicles; Road abuse affects all of us. 

Voluntary Fish Fund - $5 per lot Fish Fund reinstated; $5 Riparian Rights Fund continues.

Board Membership – All officers continuing for 2007-2008.

Board Meeting

September 1, 2007

Covenants & Restrictions – Ordinance & Restriction book from County for guidance when erecting building now available.

Road Abuse – If you see it … phone the property owner, send written complaint to board, file formal complaint with Sheriff’s office.  For destruction of property you need to take these steps … Get description of offender, Call the Sheriff’s department, File a complaint, Follow through.

RLPOA Directory – To be distributed at Annual Meeting.

Rainy Laker – Newsletter to be mailed with assessments.

By-laws – Recommended changes from attorney accepted.

Board Meeting

December 1, 2007

Riparian Rights Committee – requested by board to bring recommendations to either accept MOU as revised by DNR or make changes with hope DNR would agree and sign.

Voluntary Fish Fund/Fish Fund – 2 funds kept separate but both used to stock lake.  Riparian Rights Fund remain separate from these.

Voting Privileges – New By Law mandates no payment of assessment for 2 years, forfeit voting rights and voice.

Full minutes available on our web site!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“200 Sinkholes in Michigan … all but FOUR are in the northern Lower Peninsula” begins an article by Janelle Packer for the Northern LifeStyles paper November 3^rd issue.  There are many different articles done explaining karst and sinkholes.  One board member provided the above referenced article which put it in lay terms.  The article details the four sinkholes that are open to the public; three are off M-65 in Alpena County and are managed by the Thunder Bay Karst Preserve Committee. 

 

Dr. Steve LoDuca, professor of sciences at Eastern Michigan University, explains that karst is simply the scientific name for the formation of caves and sinkholes.  The article explains in layman’s terms how the limestone is easily dissolved by rainwater; the rainwater is mildly acidic. The limestone reacts with these acids by dissolving.  As the water moves through the limestone, fractures are dissolved and can then be enlarged to the point where large cavities, called caves, are formed.  Those cavities can become large enough that the roof collapses, forming a sinkhole.

 

Dr. Michael Kasenow, professor of hydrogeology at EMU, said sinkholes are associated with limestone terrain.  The small caves and caverns under the ground have water flowing through them.  When this water is taken out quicker than it goes back into the system, water pressure is lost.  Often time the over-burden is very heavy and the caves and caverns collapse on themselves creating a sinkhole. 

 

 Rainy Lake is composed of five or six sinkholes.  The study completed  in the early 80’s by a four person staff from Bowling Green State University in Ohio reported that an “interconnected, well-developed, subsurface drainage system appears to exist under the main body of water.”  The system is connected to the lake through a number of openings in the sinkholes beneath the lake, and the openings serve as the discharge sites for the lake’s water.  This report also stated that it “is likely that both … (the sinkholes and reduced inflow) are actually contributing to the subsiding water level” and that “both courses of action should be considered in the development of a plan for alleviating the problem”. 

 

The RLPOA Riparian Rights Committee has been working diligently over the past five years to negotiate a written, signed agreement with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to affect the natural inflow of water through the Rainy River into Rainy Lake.  This would provide the leverage the association needs to manage the inflow of water.  The intent is to protect all property owners in terms of having the level of the lake up in the summer through the month of August.  The Riparian Rights Committee is continuing negotiations with the DNR for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  The most recent edits by the DNR have been reviewed by the committee. The RLPOA board has asked them to send their recommendation of how to proceed to the board for final determination.  It is hoped we will have a signed MOU with the DNR soon.

 

Newsletter Page 5

Rainy Lake Property Owners Association, Inc.