SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A homeowner in Shelby Township can't sell her home because of the city's plans to build new sewer lines.
Local 4 reported last week that Shelby Township plans to build new sewer lines -- an announcement that was met with resistance by residents who don't want the lines and don't want to pay for them.
But for one woman, the problem is more immediate. She needs a new place to live because of a disability, but she can't sell her home because of the special assessment tied to the sewer lines.
It's an old physics rule: For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. Sharon Stankus is learning all about that rule, and it's making her angry and bitter.
"We moved out here and it was just so country and it was like we went to heaven," Stankus said.
Stankus moved to Shelby Township 21 years ago. The crooked "for sale" signed out front on 25 Mile Road symbolizes the difficulty she's had trying to sell her 14-acre plot of land.
"It's a quad-level home, a large quad-level home, and I can't do it anymore," Stankus said.
An infection forced doctors to amputate Stankus' right leg below her knee last fall. She's now largely confined to the first-floor level. Her family room was converted into her bedroom.
"I can't sell it and we're stuck between a rock and a hard place," Stankus said.
She's among 80 residents who, without knowing it, ended up on the hook to pay for sewer lines after a special assessment district went into effect. It turns out the home buyers looking at the area's property knew before Stankus did.
"He came through and it was, they didn't come back and he was really happy," Stankus said. "We couldn't figure it out. Now we have another man looking, and all of a sudden, he has an attorney and he's really curious about the sewers and the water."
Stankus longs for a single-story home, but she knows a lot of money stands between her and that dream.
"We all know it's going to happen," she said. "What I have a problem with is why do we have to pay for it?"
Shelby Township said worrying about the expense of the special assessment district is really shooting in the dark since nobody knows what the price is. The township said it wasn't aware of Stankus' hardship, but the process to determine whether to build and who will pay will continue.
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