Dexter Council Weighs Annexation Plan Tied to New Municipal Well

PHOTO: View looking south from the corner of Wellington and Carrington drives in the Dexter Crossing neighborhood. The proposed development would occupy the open land beyond the pavement, adjacent to this residential area. Photo: Google Street View. 

At its Nov. 10 meeting, the Dexter City Council revisited a long-running and often complicated question of whether to support the annexation of 45 acres along Baker Road from Scio Township into the city. The proposal, first raised in 2022, ties closely to one central issue of the need for another municipal well to secure Dexter’s long-term water supply.

The property, owned by Baker Road Land Holdings, sits directly south of Dexter Crossing. As summarized in the council packet, the land has no access to Scio Township utilities, while Dexter has existing water and sewer lines nearby. The developer has drilled a test well on the property, and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) recently reviewed the results. According to the city’s background memo, EGLE confirmed that the well location “has sufficient water,” would require iron and arsenic treatment similar to Dexter’s current system, and that a reduced 100-foot isolation radius “is likely permissible” due to the confined aquifer and distance from the nearby gas line.

Mayor Shawn Keough opened the discussion by reminding both councilmembers and residents that the city has been evaluating the site for more than three years. Water security, he emphasized, remains a major factor.

“We are almost always in the business of wanting to have sources, redundant sources of public water,” Keough said. “This, I think, is a huge opportunity for our community to invest in ourselves and invest in that water supply.”

Keough noted that even if a new well is not used at full capacity, it would give the city flexibility to rotate, repair, and maintain existing wells, always a challenge for staff. “It would make it a lot easier to have a redundant source,” he added.

Protecting Neighboring Wells

One of the most sensitive issues has been whether a new high-capacity municipal well would affect private wells nearby. Keough told the public that EGLE addressed that directly.

According to Keough, EGLE staff “explained that the draw-down testing provided so far shows that there is virtually no to very low risk of impacting any adjacent wells in the area.”

Keough said he raised the concern specifically because “we don’t want to be the bad neighbor that is affecting somebody else’s well,” and EGLE’s reviewers “have no worry about that.”

Why Annexation Matters Before Development

Keough addressed the uneasiness many residents feel when they hear the word “annexation,” especially because the developer has floated a range of housing densities in earlier conceptual plans. The mayor stressed that zoning decisions come later, through the Planning Commission’s public process, not through the annexation vote.

He reminded the public that if the property develops while remaining in Scio Township, Dexter would lose influence over key impacts such as traffic, utilities, and buffering between neighborhoods. Without annexation, he said, “we’ll have no seat at the table for discussion.”

What the Resolution Actually Does

Keough clarified that the resolution before the council does not approve development and does not annex the property. Instead, it authorizes staff to draft a proposed agreement with the landowner, spelling out conditions such as construction traffic routes, well alignment requirements, or infrastructure commitments that the council could later accept, revise, or reject.

“This [resolution] is meant to continue the discussion,” Keough said. “If we just say we should vote no tonight, then we’re done until the next group that buys the property.”

He emphasized that having a draft agreement allows the council to see the terms in writing before any formal annexation action is taken by the city or by the State Boundary Commission.

A Decision Still to Come

The annexation question, while technical, touches on residents’ daily lives: long-term water reliability, neighborhood compatibility, traffic on Carrington Drive, and the city’s ability to guide growth at its borders.

Keough acknowledged the complexity. “There are other topics that are related to the annexation that will need to be discussed beyond whatever we do tonight,” he said, noting that additional public hearings and planning steps would follow any annexation support.

The council approved the resolution authorizing the draft of a formal agreement with the property owner that could possibly lead to annexing 45 acres from Scio Township into the city.