STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – Macomb County officials are urging residents living along a relief drain in Sterling Heights not to use and alter the property.
The entire length of the Sterling Relief Drain has been planted with native grasses, shrubs and wildflowers in an attempt to filter out pollutants before they end up in Lake St. Clair.
Neighbors along the drain have been vocal about what they wanted and didn’t want there over the years. They opposed the idea of a nature path, and instead the drain was made to look less like pipes and more like a creek surrounded by native plants and wildflowers meant to attract butterflies.
Residents living along there have treated the property beyond the fence line as extension of their yard.
By altering the planting, county officials said residents alter what it is designed to do, which is to suck up nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment so it doesn’t end up in the lake.
Macomb County Public Works Director Candice Miller sent a letter to neighbors, urging them not to mow, dump yard waste or put things up like benches beyond fence line.
“I don’t need the neighbors out there mowing all of this down. It’s not supposed to look like a golf course. It is native habitat,” Miller said.
Watch the full report in the video above.
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