A White Lake Township motel is vacant and undergoing renovations after being sued by the township for conditions building officials deemed unsafe and unhealthy.

The Pontiac Lake Motel, 8230 Highland Road, received a vacate notice on Feb. 15, according to a report from Jason Hudson, the township’s ordinance officer.

In it he said “the property owner demonstrated a clear unwillingness to adhere to this order. The owner was verbally combative and argumentative, hindering the the attorney who represents Ngwa. The owner must use licensed contractors for plumbing and electric work.

Barnett said it’s the second time the township sued since Ngwa bought the property about a decade ago. In 2019, the township alleged the motel was polluting Pontiac Lake with a poorly maintained septic system. As part of that lawsuit, the motel was connected to the township’s sewer system. An electrical issue was also fixed, Barnett said.

Barnett acknowledged an incident happened in early February when an inebriated resident broke a gas line while trying to move a bed and poured concrete into a toilet. A Consumers Energy crew capped the gas line but couldn’t repair it, so gas was shut off to the property, he said.

“White Lake Township officials were there and police and fire were there,” Barnett said. “So the owner provided oil heaters so people didn’t freeze to death. Ten days after that, the township said we had to shut it down.”

Township Supervisor Rik Kowall authorized the lawsuit as an emergency measure.

In a memo to township trustees, he wrote that the motel had violated several local ordinances. He called the motel, which has 10 rooms and 10 small free-standing cabins, a public nuisance.

“Specifically, the building is a dangerous building believed to lack essential facilities, and the property violates several sections of the Property Maintenance Code/ Rental Code, and Fire Code,” he wrote.

Kowall told The Oakland Press he could not make other comments because of the lawsuit.

Barnett said the Sixth Circuit Court Judge Yasmine Poles ruled that the property must be brought up to code — that includes installing independent heating and cooling equipment for each unit.

“It will be electric because the gas line is too deep and would have to be dug up,” Barnett said.

A report from ordinance inspector Hudson described the motel rooms as uninhabitable. For starters, a broken gas line rendered the furnace inoperable.

The owner had given tenants space heaters for bedrooms and living quarters, but those were not approved as a replacement for a furnace, according to the report, which listed a series of concerns in several units:

• Broken windows;

• Damaged entry doors;

• Damaged or missing fixtures;

• Filth and debris.

Barnett said it will take some time to get the work done.

“The owner probably won’t be back in business for three to four months. I’m not throwing stones against White Lake,” he said. “I think the (Judge Poles) made the right call and (Ngwa) is working on it.”