On June 17, Lodi Township Neighbors Alliance (LANA) member Susan Miller filed a lawsuit in the 22nd Circuit Court for Washtenaw County against developer Toll Brothers. LANA advocates for better land use decisions, transparency in local government, and environmental protection in Lodi Township. The filing asserts that Toll Brothers’ new, large luxury home project in the largely rural and agricultural Lodi Township, MI—called Arbor Preserve–is being built without regard for the environment or the rights of the development’s neighbors.
The suit alleges Toll’s development plan will create a public and private nuisance and trespass and will harm the neighboring areas by utilizing private wastewater treatment plants and detention ponds that will discharge treated wastewater and polluted surface water from over 100 large, luxury homes into the Rouse Drain, which feeds into the Saline River and River Raisin. The suit further alleges that Toll’s plan will increase the flow of water onto neighbors’ property in violation of Michigan’s long-established “Natural Flow Doctrine.”
Toll has a long history of environmental infractions, for example, in 2012 Toll entered into a $741,000 settlement with the EPA and DOJ for numerous alleged infringements of the Clean Water Act across twenty-three states, in 2008 the Illinois Attorney General and Illinois EPA cited Toll for violating numerous water pollution and public water supply regulations, and between 2023 and 2025 Toll received citations for repeated environmental violations in Hopkinton, Massachusetts which left local regulators at “wit’s end” in trying to compel Toll Brothers to comply with the law. (Hopkinton Independent News Article)
The suit alleges that small private wastewater treatment plants like Toll plans to use have an extremely high rate of failure and create a risk of the discharge of raw sewage into the Rouse Drain. These plants are not permitted under Lodi Township’s comprehensive Zoning Ordinances. However, Toll Brother’s secured an exception from the township and rammed through other local approvals despite widespread concern from the citizens of Lodi Township and the development’s downstream neighbors. Township officials feared Toll would initiate costly litigation against the Township if it didn’t get its way.
The suit also alleges that Toll is disregarding Miller’s property rights and planning to build over a longstanding property access easement deeded to Miller, her only access to her own property.
Plaintiff Miller stated: “In meeting after meeting the community spoke out against the environmental harm and disregard for Lodi ordinances brought by this project, but Toll was not interested in the community’s views. They left township officials profoundly concerned about a bankrupting lawsuit.” She added: Toll’s plan for a land-leveling development of luxury homes pretends to fill a need for housing but in fact it devastates a natural landscape and makes a mockery of Lodi Township’s comprehensive environmental ordinance. The Lodi Township Planning Commission voted against the site plans unanimously and stated that they violate Lodi’s ordinances.”
For additional information, contact attorney Samuel Estenson at 248-432-1586
LANA has started a GoFundMe to cover litigation expenses: https://www.
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