Winter weather and now spring breakup have taken a toll on Portage Township roads, and their condition was the main topic of discussion last week, with residents being assured by the township board that the additional 0.5 road millage passed last year would be put to use to make repairs. The board also approved a preliminary site condominium plan proposed by Greg Stoll of Old Hemlock Ventures on the shore of Shoepac Bay.

Mackinac County Road Commission Engineer Craig Kelso and Bill Wagner from the department attended the evening meeting Tuesday, April 12. After a discussion between the township board, Mr. Kelso, and audience members, Portage Township Supervisor Don Ferris asked Mr. Kelso to give the township a price to fix the bad areas on North Gould City Road and also to repair ditches and add gravel to McConnell Road.

Harold Reeves of the township’s emergency services department said McConnell Road and North Gould Road right now are impassable to emergency vehicles.

Mr. Kelso told the 22 people present at the meeting that both roads are considered local and he cannot get federal funding for them. Repair of those roads will be a township funding issue, he said.

Chip and seal surfacing on Long Point Road is not on this year’s road construction schedule, said Mr. Kelso. The current contract is to keep up the gravel and widen some areas. The road, which used to be impassable, now has only one spot that may need additional work owing to normal spring breakup, and the road commission is monitoring the situation.

Bob Brotherton, supervisor for Newton Township, also attended the meeting. Mr. Ferris said the two men had discussed the Norton Road access site to South Manistique Lake. Portions of the road are in each township.

Mr. Ferris provided Mr. Brotherton with a history on the project, since he just became the Newton supervisor in January. Mr. Ferris said that Portage Township had completed its part of the road project, but the area of the road in Newton Township, which is nearest the launch site, is not completed because the previous Newton board did not feel the $3,000 needed for the project was within its budget.

Mr. Brotherton said he would bring the issue back to the Newton Township Board, which was meeting the following evening. Mr. Kelso confirmed that the project could be completed this summer if the funds were approved, but the Newton board failed to approve the project the next night.

The Portage board approved $2,500 to cover its costs for the road commission to do ditching and culvert work, and to add gravel to improve drainage on Barker Road. Treasurer Nancy Kister was a descending vote. She later told The St. Ignace News that Barker is a private road and that the project will not benefit the whole community. Her responsibility is to all residents, she said.

Mr. Kelso also said that the road commission plans to continue pavement marking and is working on new ways to improve visibility to centerline and fog line marking.

The board also briefly discussed off-road vehicle traffic along road rights-of-way, which some residents think will help with tourism, but which currently is illegal in Mackinac County. Mr. Kelso said the road commission is not in favor of it because it causes damage to ditches and road edges. He said it also is a safety concern, adding an additional element to the mix of road vehicles.

Mr. Kelso said he would work with the township to provide street sweeping before the July parade.

For the purpose of assigning fire numbers to be used as addresses by emergency services, the board agreed to accept the name Wild Leek Lane for the private access road that runs northwest off Needle Pointe Road. The board noted it does not accept ownership of, and is not responsible for maintaining, the private road.

A new site condominium development was given preliminary approval by the township board. The single family home community is slated for the shore of Shoepac Bay on Manistique Lake and is being proposed by Greg Stoll of Old Hemlock Ventures.

The development was the focus of a public meeting Tuesday, March 29. The board had asked Mr. Stoll to produce a disclosure booklet, which board members did receive. The planning commission already approved the preliminary site plan.

In other business, the board approved the appointments of Jon Soder, Joe Kolder, and Gary Schupbach to the Planning Commission.

The board set the township clean-up day for June 4, limiting the amount to be taken in to one 40-yard container. John Whysall of McMillian will collect the metal.

The board discussed both the Woodlawn and Sandtown cemeteries and approved repair work and agreed to purchase flags and 50 flag holders for veterans’ gravesites.

The board agreed to have township employees take care of removing and mending the fence and repairing the signs at Woodlawn cemetery. The board also will seek bids to install a concrete slab so the sexton building can be placed on it. Additionally, they will seek bids on extending the roads in the new section of the cemetery.

The board also approved fence work and the removal of an old outhouse at the Sandtown Cemetery.

The next Portage Township meeting will be in the community building Tuesday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m.