About Pine Lake

PLPOA is focused on education and specialists testing to guide us, as we put plans into place to protect and preserve the lake. We cannot achieve our goals alone. Together, with member support, we will continue to enjoy Pine Lake, our investment, for years to come.

The following facts about Pine Lake are taken from:
“A Water Quality and Watershed Management Study of Pine Lake” as revised in March, 1991 by Wallace E. Fusilier, Ph.D. For more information go to the “Lake Management” page within this website.

Name: Pine Lake
Size: 395 Acres
Volume: 6,795 Acre-feet, 295,990,220 gallons
Maximum depth: 94 feet
Mean depth: 18.9 feet
Location: Section 11, 12, 13 & 14, West Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michgian
Drainage basin: Clinton River System
Lake drainage area: 1166 acres
Lake watershed: 806 acres
Elevation: 930 feet above sea level
Flushing rate: Once every 8.4 years
Houses on lake: 175
Bottom sediments (mean): 85% mineral (range 76-99%)
Spring 1989 LVVQI (mean): 90 (range 81-92)
Summer 1989 LVVQI (mean): 91 (range 90-91)

PINE LAKE GEOLOGY

Local geological experts don’t know what Oakland County, and specifically the Pine Lake area, looked like before the lake appeared. But they do know that the last of four periods of glaciation that made up the Ice Age sent massive icy sheets advancing from the north and east to meet in this area. It was these colliding ice masses that scoured the Earth’s surface, leaving cleavages and kettles for lakes to form.

Experts seem to agree that it was the last period of glaciation that shaped the landscape of Oakland County. This last period of glaciation is known as the Wisconsin Glacier which probably began its trek from the Hudson Bay area of Canada and from the area that is now Greenland. The glacier was divided into two lobes or sections; the Saginaw Lobe, which moved down from the north and the Erie Lobe which drove in from the east. The glaciers were heavy and thick, sometimes as thick as four miles. It wasn’t just the bulldozing action of the ice that carved up the lakes, but also the tremendous weight of the ice actually depressing the Earth’s crust. Where those depressions didn’t rebound and rise, water filled in. These were the precursors to the lakes as we know them today. This glacial period ended about 5,000 years ago when warm periods melted the ice faster than the glacier could advance.

Pine Lake is an example of a kettle lake. (water drains from the surrounding properties down into the lake) As the glacier moved across land, it would pick up massive amounts of debris such as rocks, gravel, trees and other materials that would be pushed along with the moving ice. The glacier would push or carry this material along until the advancement stopped for some reason. The debris deposits left by the glacier are called “moraines”. As the glacier melted, materials from the melting glacier surrounded and buried the blocks of ice. Later, the buried blocks of ice melted and the materials which had buried them fell into the hole forming the existing lake basin. That is how Pine Lake was born.

Pine Lake itself has the greatest altitude of all the lakes in the area, being some 400 feet above the Detroit River. It covers 395 acres and has a depth of approximately 94 feet as its deepest spot. The location of the deepest spot in the lake is unusual in that the deep hole in the middle of the lake is in the narrowest part of the lake (just “in front” of Pine Lake Country Club). Usually, the deepest hole in a lake is in the widest part of the lake.

PINE LAKE TODAY

Pine Lake is a private, all-sports, lake in West Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, South-Eastern Michigan, in the United States. The Pine Lake shoreline is lined with homes, the Pine Lake Marina and the Pine Lake Country Club. Members pay annual dues that solely support, protect and preserve this top 5% rated lake in Michigan.
Pine Lake is managed by the Pine Lake Property Owners Association, an elected volunteer board. PLPOA manages the sheriff marine patrol and the Pine Lake Management Plan. The lake has been rated, by our aquatic specialists, as an “8” (out of 10 as the highest rating) for water quality. The PLPOA is dedicated to safety and maintaining good water quality through education, water testing, recommendations by lake limnologists, MSU, DNR and MI Waterfront Alliance and a Lake Management Plan.
Pine Lake is a “Kettle” lake which means water drains from the surrounding properties into the lake and specialists believe it takes approximately seven years to cycle into the Huron River watershed. Pine Lake is not spring fed.
Other facts about our lake can be found by visiting the West Bloomfield Historical Society. Read More
Author Eleanor Pekkala, is a friend of many and was on the West Bloomfield library staff for years. Read More
Annual Member Dues are paid yearly and dues solely support the Lake Management Plan and Sheriff marine Patrol.

PROPERTIES ON PINE LAKE

There are approximately 175 lake front homes, 13 homeowner or condominium owner associations, a country club and one marina (grandfathered) on Pine Lake and who are eligible for membership in the PLPOA. All members in good standing contribute annual dues to the PLPOA. These dues cover: Sheriff patrol, lake quality studies by our lake Limnologist, weed studies by our weed expert, treatment of invasive weeds, weed cuts and goose egg and nest remediation.

Many lake front homes also belong to a homeowners association. Lake front homeowners pay annual dues to their local homeowners association as well as the PLPOA. Other homeowners in the Pine Lake area are members of the following associations: Birch Harbor, Cederdale, Pine Lake Manor Civic Association, Pine Center, Pine Lake Estates Beach Association and Pine Bluff. These homeowners pay annual dues ONLY to their local homeowners association and their associations are members of the PLPOA (not the individual homeowner). Similarly, of the condominium developments around the lake, those condominium owners pay their regular monthly dues to their condominium association and their condominium association is a member of the PLPOA. Some of the names of condominium associations around the lake are South Shores Condos, Maple Hill Condos, Pine Harbor Condos, Pine Lake Condos and West Bay Condos.

Download the “Welcome to Pine Lake” booklet written by former Board member, John Hartwig.