The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment has settled a lawsuit with two land development companies accused of violating the state's Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act by failing to complete a 6.26-acre wetland mitigation site in Salem Township in Washtenaw County.

The settlement agreement calls for George H. Pastor & Sons Inc. of Livonia to complete construction on the mitigation site along 7 Mile Road near Chubb Road and monitor it for five years. The company also agreed to give the state a valid conservation easement over the constructed and existing wetlands and pay $35,000 to settle the lawsuit.

John Pastor, president of George H. Pastor and Sons, said his company did nothing wrong. He said the wetlands construction has been completed and that the company had been working to complete it before the lawsuit was filed.

Pastor & Sons constructed the wetlands as part of an agreement for a commercial development in Wayne County's Northville Township.

"We created 6.5 acres of pristine wetlands and donated 19 acres to the state," he said. "We're pretty frustrated with the DNR. We have spent a ton of money on this and it's almost put our company under." 

Pastor estimated the project has cost the company $500,000.

He also questioned the timing of the DNRE's press release announcing the settlement on Monday. He said the settlement was reached more than two months ago and suggested the timing was politically motivated. Pastor, a former state represntative, is running as a Republican for state Senate in the 6th District.

Mary Dettloff, a spokeswoman for the DNRE, said the press release was delayed because the Enbridge oil spill near Marshall had demanded staff attention.

"I had no idea that John Pastor was associated with the company at all," she said. "For him to say that it's politically motivated is over the line."

The complaint was filed in June 2007, alleging that Pastor & Sons and an affiliated company, GHP II, LLC, violated state laws regarding water quality and wetlands protection. The DNRE alleged that Pastor & Sons failed to complete construction of the wetlands and failed to implement adequate soil erosion control measures, resulting in repeated discharges of sediment into wetlands and a stream located on the property.

In addition, the DNRE alleged that the companies failed to submit a required valid conservation easement for the existing and constructed wetlands on the Salem Township property.