LANSING, Mich. — A neighborhood group in Jackson is one step closer to getting some help to stop water from flowing into their homes.
The group, 'Fix the Cascades Park Lagoons' is made up of homeowners who signed and sent a petition to the Jackson County Drain Commissioner Wednesday morning to get some relief.
The park is located less than 3 miles southwest of downtown Jackson.
Elaine Wolf-Baker, one of those concerned homeowners, said this is a step in the right direction, but it might be a while before they see any real change.
Wolf-Baker is concerned the lagoons not only are causing water damage to nearby homes, but are also becoming a breeding ground.
"They're so stagnant that we have a huge mosquito infestation in our neighborhood now. We're not able to go outside and BBQ or watch the fireworks because of the mosquitoes."
She's worried about the Triple-E virus spread by mosquitoes which continues to be a threat in Michigan.
Hoping to trigger change, Baker got the signatures of five homeowners that live in the area and filed a legal petition that would create a drain that would pull the water out of their neighborhood and it pull it back through the park lagoons and then eventually to the Grand River.
The city submitted a petition to the county in the Spring, but was rejected because of the legal wording.
She said that the county Drain Commissioner revised the petition and now she must re-submit the petition with new signatures by next week.
It would probably take a up to year before the homeowners would see any change.
"it's disillusioning because we're started to get real damage to some of our houses. some of the basements, the floors are breaking up. people are very concerned so they're not going to be happy to hear this, but at least we'll get something started," Wolf-Baker said.
Once Wolf-Baker's petition is accepted, the first step the county would take would be to create a board to see what exactly is causing the issue. Then down the road, they would figure out who they would hire to do the job.
Wolf-Baker is urging anyone who lives in the drainage district -- which includes the lower Essex heights and parts of Beverly Park Place -- to contact her group on Facebook.
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