Residents in Detroit neighborhood sue Detroit Thermal over controversial steam project
Many residents in a Detroit neighborhood have been frustrated for months over the controversial plans surrounding Detroit Thermal's plan to dig in their neighborhood to expand its steam vents.
Neighbors living in the nearly 200 townhomes in the Lafayette Park Historic District filed a lawsuit over plans to use the historic district's property as a throughway while connecting the 1300 Lafayette East Cooperative building across the street to steam heat.
On Wednesday, the ongoing battle between residents living in a collection of townhomes and Detroit Thermal continued at a Historic District Commission meeting, lasting over five hours. Eventually, the commission decided the project could continue, but with many guidelines.
"The messaging we've gotten from the company has been like this is the only way or we've researched all the options and tearing up your neighborhood must be done," said Sam Schaefer, who lives in the Lafayette Park Historic District.
A Detroit Thermal spokesman said in a statement in part:
"This is a baseless and frivolous lawsuit selfishly filed by a few misguided Lafayette Park residents who seem determined to prevent 600 of their neighbors at 1300 East Lafayette Cooperative from receiving safe, reliable, clean and affordable heat in time for winter."
The lawsuit names three major concerns: That this work would be a threat to a National Historic Landmark, that Detroit Thermal has no legal right to access and work on this property, and that this project would serve no benefit to the historic right, all while serving an external property.
"The people in this neighborhood want this neighborhood to continue to work the way it does cooperatively and the people in that building need heat, and we want both of those things to happen. And Detroit Thermal is dividing us with a wedge, saying the only way this can happen is by pinning us against each other," Schaefer said.
Angela Fortino, a resident here who was at the meeting, said the commission's decision is upsetting and now it's up to her and everyone of her neighbors to make sure that Detroit Thermal is staying within those guidelines.