CADILLAC — A grieving Northern Michigan business owner is still fighting the city over a sewage flood that damaged her building.
Ashley Clark said the costly damage was not caused by her or her tenants and said the city is responsible.
“They know how much we’ve invested into our business and our building. They know how much we planned to invest further into it, and they still just expect me to take the loss,” said Clark.
Clark said she started the Charming North with her husband Ted back in April of 2019 and bought the building in 2022 located on Mitchell Street in the downtown area.
“We loved the building. I love the history of it. Loved the location,” said Clark.
That dream was shattered when Ted passed last year from cancer. They had closed the store in 2024 to deal with Ted’s illness with hopes to possibly reopen at some point.
“People have asked if we’re going to…. if I’m going to reopen the store now that Ted has passed. That’s not an option anymore,” said Clark.
Items from their store were stored in the basement underneath WildFlour Bakery, another retailer that rents space out of her building
Those items ruined when sewer water flooded the basement twice in one week back in September of last year.
“It’s not just for merchandise that we’re talking about. Between fixtures and merchandise. My conservative estimate was in the tens of thousands. But there’s probably a lot that’s not accounted for in that,” said Clark.
WildFlour also had to temporarily close because of the flooding.
She said her insurance only covered a small portion because the issue was caused by a blocked sewer line outside of the building.
The city’s insurance denied her claim, arguing governmental immunity protections unless negligence could be proven.
Clark said she feels the city was negligent, because their main sewer line was plugged with grease, and that caused the flooding.
“They knew this was an ongoing issue three years in a row, and they didn’t hold the responsible party accountable. They didn’t even put any sort of maintenance in place to monitor this line after that, knowing that it had happened every single year,” said Clark.
She says she plans to fight it.
“I have a lawyer, and if we have to fight this in court, then that’s what we have to do. But I’m not just going to take this loss. I can’t afford to just take this loss,” said Clark.
Cadillac city manager Marcus Peccia declined our request for an interview, but said in a statement, “That it’s an unfortunate situation for all parties involved but the city can not comment at this time given the potential this may be litigated.
He did add that the city does care about its property owners, including downtown merchants, and wants nothing less for them to be successful in the city of Cadillac.