Unbuildable Lots

Unbuildable Lots

2023 Update

Beginning in 2008 the Village of Lake Isabella worked with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Central Michigan District Health Department (CMDHD), and Isabella County Board of Public Works (BPW) to resolve the problem of what is locally known as “unbuildable lots.”  Through this collaborative effort, these four organizations have been able to successfully address the unbuildable lots issue in all five plat where the restrictions existed. Those plats and the resulting changes are:

Lake Isabella Airpark:  Restrictions fully lifted in 2009.

Canterbury Estates:  Restrictions fully lifted in 2009.

Lake Isabella North:  In 2023 an agreement was reached by all of the stakeholders, to replace the amended restrictions that had been in place since 2013 with the Baseline Septic System Criteria that was enacted for Lake Isabella South and Lake Isabella Golf Estates #2.

Lake Isabella South & Lake Isabella Golf Estates 2: In January of 2018 the Village of Lake Isabella recorded an agreement approved by the the Isabella County Board of Public Works (BPW), Central Michigan District Health Department (CMDHD), and the Michigan Department of Environment Quality (MDEQ) to lift the long-standing restrictions on the development of on-site well and wastewater systems in southern Lake Isabella plats of Lake Isabella South and Lake Isabella Golf Estates #2.  This Agreement not only lifts the restrictions which prohibited development based solely on the total number of permits in the plat, but also created a clear guide for future systems to use modern technology and pre-treatment methods of their on-site wastewater.  That document is known as the Baseline Septic System Criteria.

*** Baseline Septic System Criteria Development Process Flow Chart ***