At the May 26, 2026 Springfield Township Planning Commission meeting, Township Planner Megan Masson-Minock of Carlisle Wortman provided the latest monthly update regarding the Levy/Burroughs Materials Corporation application for the proposed sand and gravel mine on Ormond Road.

There does not appear to be any new substantive information from Levy/Burroughs at this time.

On pages 211–212 of the May Planning Commission meeting packet, residents can find a May 19, 2026 memo from Project Manager Megan Masson-Minock with Carlisle/Wortman’s latest update on the Levy/Burroughs application.

Springfield Township Planning Commission May 26, 2026 Packet (212 pages long)

You want to skip the first 210 pages? Understandable. Click this one -> Carlisle Wortman Levy Update May 19, 2026

The memo mentions recent activity included an April 23 site visit where Supervisor Davis, Clerk Miller, Trustee Sclesky, and Planning Commission Chair Brian Galley observed soil cores on-site. This was already discussed at the April Planning Commission meeting.

The memo also notes that on April 30, a meeting was held at Ramboll’s Ann Arbor office with representatives from Ramboll, Levy, Zausmer, Smith Group, Carlisle/Wortman, and Springfield Township. The purpose of that meeting was to provide an overview of the proposed mining plan, discuss completed and ongoing environmental and related reports/studies, and answer questions.

At the Planning Commission meeting, Megan Masson-Minock explained that Levy showed the group the same PowerPoint presentation that had previously been presented to the Springfield Township Planning Commission in May of 2025.

The Carlisle/Wortman memo lists the topics discussed at that meeting as:

• The history of the site, including agricultural use since the 1980s
• A monitoring well installed by Levy in 2002
• Twenty additional test wells added in 2017
• The test well
• Examples of housing developments on reclaimed sites previously mined by Levy

These bullet points might be new to Carlisle Wortman, but to residents, it is the same tune.

FYI: What is reclamation? In mining, reclamation refers to the work done after extraction ends to stabilize, reshape, and reuse the mined land. This can include grading slopes, managing water, restoring vegetation, creating habitat, or preparing the site for another land use.

Levy has continued to point to examples of reclaimed mine sites that were later developed into housing. But it is important for residents to remember that examples of housing developments elsewhere do not automatically translate to this property on Ormond Road.

The residential housing community examples presented by Levy are not a clean comparison to Springfield Township because those developments are on city water and sewer. In Springfield Township, the surrounding area does not have access to municipal water and sewer. Homes in our area rely on private wells and septic systems.

I brought this to the attention of Supervisor Davis and the Township Board in Fall 2025 during public comment.

The Carlisle/Wortman memo also states that, according to Reuben Maxbauer, exploratory well drilling is expected in June, although the “schedule may change”. This is extremely vague and does not provide information of any substance.

I left the meeting with the following take aways…

• The public record appears to show continued meetings that are not open to the public, residents/FFC members are not in attendance for some of them, and the meeting minutes are currently not being uploaded to the Township website for public access.
• Independent mining expert and hydrogeologist, Brian O’Mara of Agate Harbor Advisors, is not listed in these meetings despite being contracted with the Township.
• There is continued discussion although the details are vague or redundant.
• There is expected exploratory well activity but no new application materials, no new technical findings about the exploratory wells, no timelines for construction, no locations for the wells are listed, and no new answers to the larger questions residents have been asking for more than a year.

What the Memo Does Not Explain

The memo also leaves out several important details about the current well activity on the property. While Carlisle/Wortman notes that “the test well” was discussed and that exploratory well drilling is expected in June, the memo does not explain what work has already been completed, what work is still planned, or what information has been learned from the drilling activity.

Important details the memo does NOT state:

• whether the first exploratory well has been completed
• how deep the well was drilled
• what aquifer or aquifers were encountered
• whether a second exploratory well has been started
• where the second well is located or proposed to be located
• whether the monitoring wells are existing wells from prior testing or newly installed wells
• where the monitoring wells are located
• what data is being collected from the wells, including water quality such as arsenic levels
• whether any preliminary findings have been shared with the Township’s consultant, Brian O’Mara

That matters because residents are being told there are ongoing environmental and groundwater-related studies, but the public record still does not clearly explain what testing is taking place, where it is taking place, or what the testing has shown so far.

A monthly update should help residents understand the status of the review. At this point, the update confirms that meetings are happening and that well activity is expected, but it does not provide meaningful information about the well construction, monitoring network, groundwater findings, or the technical questions that remain unresolved.

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A Missed Opportunity for Necessary Education

These updates are not only for residents. They are also an opportunity for the Township’s paid professionals and consultants to help educate the Planning Commission on the complex technical issues involved in this proposed mining operation.

Currently activity involves highly complex topics such as groundwater movement, confined & unconfined aquifers, material composition, etc. Planning Commission members should not be expected to interpret vague updates without clear explanation from the professionals hired to guide the review. But Planning Commission members also have a duty to remain curious and ask questions.

These monthly updates from Carlisle Wortman should be more than a status note. They should help the Planning Commission & Residents understand what information has been received, what it means, what questions remain unanswered, and what additional information may be needed before any recommendation is made.

At the May 26 Planning Commission meeting, no Planning Commission member asked Megan Masson-Minock any questions about the update.

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The Hunt for Red October Levy’s Updates

Information that affects the whole community should be placed where the whole community can find it.

At April’s Planning Commission meeting, a resident specifically requested that Megan Masson-Minock’s updates be posted on the Township website so the public could easily find them. As of this article, there are no updates from Megan on the ‘Levy Update’ page of the Township. Instead, May’s update was buried on pages 211–212 of the Planning Commission packet.

This entire process has repeatedly been described as ‘transparent’, with dedicated webpages and public updates meant to keep residents informed. But over time, the information has become harder to follow, and updates have stopped. The Fact-Finding Committee Meetings page has not been updated in more than 200 days. Residents should not have to search through hundreds of pages of meeting packets to find a two-page generic update about a major land use proposal that could the long-term future of Springfield Township.

If the information matters enough to guide the decision, it matters enough to share clearly.

During May’s public comment period, I asked the Planning Commission to make a plan because this is not working. The community cannot follow what it cannot find. Information should not be a scavenger hunt, and residents should not have to rely on residents digging through packets, emails, FOIA responses, meeting recordings, and buried documents just to understand what is happening.

Regardless of the ‘black hole’ of information created by the Township – Here at Oko Environmental, I will continue to dig and report on all the information I can find with properly cited sources.

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For any questions or concerns, send an email to kara@okoenv.com

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