Selling or Buying in Westport This Winter? Which Street It's On Decides When the Sewer Bill Comes Due

Say two Westport homes go under contract the same week in late November. One is on Winddrift Avenue and the other is on Old Log Trail. They have similar square footage, both are on septic, and both list at similar prices. Where does each house stand on sewer? Winddrift is one of the streets the township expected to be ready for connections in early November, and that readiness is what starts a two-year hookup deadline. On Old Log Trail, the sewer main isn't scheduled to reach the street until Westport South is built, and Oshtemo Township expects that work to start in 2027 and finish in 2028.

The house and the price are the same in both deals. Where each street sits on the sewer schedule isn't. That gap is the most important thing to understand about selling or buying in Westport right now. The township's Phase 2 sewer extension wrapped up its 2026 season in October, and it left the neighborhood split into groups of streets that are each at a different point in the process.

Westport North includes more streets than the ones in the October readiness update, such as Cutty Sark, Nightingale, Signal Hill, Wyndham, Walker Trail, Saybrook, Chippendale, Morningstar and Torrington. The township has scheduled Westport North for 2026 and 2027. You can find any address on the township's Westport sewer map.

Where the two-year deadline starts

The township's Phase 2 project page says a property owner gets a notice once construction in front of the home is finished, including paving and testing, and "from the date on that notice, you will have two years to connect."

The ordinance behind that rule is Section 232.008 of Oshtemo's wastewater code. It applies to homes served by a septic system "more than fifteen (15) years old." Those homes must connect within 24 months after the sewer main is installed and the township publishes or mails a notice that sewer service is available.

Neither the ordinance nor the project page says what happens to a running deadline when a house changes hands. A Maple Leaf seller who receives a notice in November and sells in March should ask Public Works how the remaining time applies to the buyer. On Chesapeake or Redbud Trail, the deadline can't start until the Saybrook lift station is running, which the township expects in spring 2027. On a Westport South street, the start date is further out. A date on a piece of township mail is what separates these cases, so it's worth getting a copy of that notice into the transaction file.

The cost the deadline is counting down to

The township breaks the cost into two parts, and both sides of a deal will see them.

• Public connection fee, $7,500. This covers the line from the sewer main in the road to the property line. It's made up of a $2,000 benefit fee for a single-family home and a $5,500 parcel fee, which is the same for every parcel regardless of size.
• Private connection, typically $5,000 to $7,000. This covers the line from the property line to where the sewer pipe leaves the house. The price depends on how far the house sits from the road, what's in the way (patios, decks, pools, fences, sheds and trees), and where the interior plumbing is.
• Septic abandonment. This is now required, as explained below. Contractors told township staff it's usually the first thing homeowners ask to cut, and it runs about $500 to $800.

Using the township's estimates, a typical Westport home is looking at about $12,500 to $14,500 before abandonment work. Actual costs can run higher. MLive reported in May that connections in Phase 1 cost residents anywhere from $5,000 to more than $10,000. The same story said Oshtemo signed $19.482 million in USDA bonds to bring sewer to about 270 Westport households. The work includes more than four miles of sewer main and three lift stations, built by Redline Excavating with engineering firm Fleis & VandenBrink overseeing.

The financing stays with the house

Most owners won't pay the $7,500 public fee up front. The township offers an installment payment agreement. It requires $500 down, and the remaining $7,000 is financed at 3.375% over up to 40 years. Payments are added to the winter tax bill, and there's no penalty for paying it off early.

This matters at closing. The township's 2020 sewer FAQ, written for Phase 1, says that special assessments and installment agreements "BOTH place a lien on and run with the property." The same FAQ describes two ways sales were usually handled. In the more common one, the unpaid balance is negotiated into the sale price and paid to the township from escrow at closing. In the other, the buyer signs an assumption agreement with Oshtemo and takes over the payments, as long as the buyer's lender agrees.

That FAQ is six years old, and the current Phase 2 page lists payment terms without explaining what happens at a sale. Before closing, check the current procedure with Oshtemo Public Works at 269-216-5244 or [email protected]. This affects both sides. If a Winddrift seller has signed an agreement, the 2020 FAQ suggests the balance gets dealt with at closing. If the seller hasn't signed one, the current page says the fee is due before a contractor starts the physical connection, so whoever owns the house at that point is the one who pays it or finances it.

Why a buyer's septic inspection matters more now

Section 232.008 contains a second trigger that's easy to overlook. A home must connect "at such earlier time" as its septic system needs replacement, a new drainfield, a new dry well or a new septic tank. So a home whose two-year deadline hasn't started, or still has months left, can face an earlier connection date if the septic system has failed.

The township made this sharper in August. Ordinance 696 passed on Aug. 25, 2026, and took effect Sept. 1. It amended the sections on connection permits and timing. Section 232.007 now makes abandoning the septic tank, drainfield and dry well part of the connection permit. At a minimum, a licensed septage hauler has to pump the tank, and the township recommends crushing and filling it.

The reasons are in the Aug. 11 memo from Public Works Director Anna Horner. On earlier connection projects, staff found failed or inoperable pumps, dry wells and block structures with no bottoms or poor grouting, utility lines running through septic tanks, trees planted over septic systems, missing or loose lids, and systems with no access point anyone could find. Staff also met many owners who couldn't say where their septic system was, or who said the tank had never been pumped "despite decades of use." The memo says the rule also "improves the accuracy of property records for future owners."

For a Westport sale this winter, that means the septic inspection can affect timing as well as repairs. On a Westport South street, a drainfield that needs replacing could move the sewer connection years earlier than the 2027-to-2028 construction schedule suggests, depending on how the township applies the earlier-connection rule once a main is available. On a Ramblewood street, where connections were expected to open in early November, the same finding lands on a house whose two-year window may already be counting down.

This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. If you're weighing a Westport sale or purchase, confirm the details for your property with Oshtemo Public Works, your attorney or your lender.

FAQ

Can I pay off the installment agreement before closing? Yes. The township's Phase 2 page says there's no penalty for paying it off early.

Is there help with the private connection cost? The township says most contractors don't offer financing. It points owners to USDA home repair loans and grants and to its own Hardship Assistance Program and deferment options.

Who does the private connection work? The owner hires a contractor. The township publishes a list of contractors familiar with the work and recommends getting several quotes, because methods vary and include directional boring, open trenching and rerouting interior plumbing.

How do I know which phase my street is in? Check the Contract D and Contract E street lists and the map on the township's Phase 2 page. You can also sign up there for construction text alerts.

If you own a home in Westport and want to know how your street's sewer timeline affects your price, Atwood Properties Group can go through the numbers with you, including the fee, the financing balance and the septic history. Get your instant home valuation as a starting point, then give us a call.