Legal Lake Level
To help maintain Lake Esau’s legal lake level established in 1984. A nearby limestone quarry discharges up to six million gallons of water from its mine daily to Lake Esau. This water flows through a silting pond and settling basins to filter sediment from the water. The delegated authority responsible for maintaining the lake’s legal level is the Presque Isle Drain Commissioner.
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Normal/Legal Lake Level: 596.63 feet NAVD88
Special Assessment District
Under Part 307 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, special assessments are the funding mechanism to pay for costs associated with maintaining the legal lake level and the LLCS. For Lake Esau, this will consist of all parcels that “benefit” from the legal lake level (generally, parcels with private legal access to the lake) - including private property owners and county or township-owned parcels. The special assessment district for Lake Esau was established on December 22, 2025.
Click the button to learn more about special assessment districts.
Lake Level Special Assessment Information
The lake level special assessment for Lake Esau was approved by the Presque Isle Board of Commissioners on August 13, 2025 and will appear on winter tax bills starting in 2026.
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Lake Esau - Lake Level Special Assessment (2026) | $215,000
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The Establishment and Compliance Assessment is a three-year assessment to cover costs for updating the lake level order in circuit court, establishing boundaries of a special assessment district and preliminary engineering study for a short and long term solution for Lake Esau.
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Parcels are assessed based on the benefit it receives from the lake using these factor categories: Access type, property type, and lake frontage.
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Download the computation of costs and special assessment roll for Lake Esau below.
Access Type | Factor Weight |
|---|---|
Direct Access | 1 |
Keyhole/Shared Access (Presque Isle Harbor Association) | 0.1 |