Restrictions Affect Properties Near Mackinac Island Airport
Authorities Report There Are No Plans To Expand Runway
By Karen Gould

Mackinac Island residents continue to speculate that homes may need to be torn down and that ongoing tree and brush removal at the airport is being done to accommodate larger and more aircraft. While Mackinac Island State Park authorities deny these accusations, they do say that aviation regulations could affect private land development in the western approach to the airport runway. Just how, they don't yet know.

Surveyors and engineers are now finishing work on a report that will identify the building height limitations in the approach area, and could reveal that some developer-platted lots are not buildable. That the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations were misplaced by the state park four years ago, and not passed on to the city, has fueled the anxiety now expressed by property owners in the subdivisions near the airport.

During a tense, three-hour Mackinac Island State Park Commission meeting attended by more than 20 people Friday, September 22, at Fort Mackinac, residents from the Sunset Forest Association, which includes Woodbluff and Stonecliff Manor housing developments, sought answers to growing speculation that some Island homes will have to be torn down.

"There are lots of rumors out there," said Mackinac State Historic Parks Director Phil Porter. "Most of them are not true about what's happening at the airport. There is no plan to expand the airport. There is no plan to bring in larger planes. There's no plan to increase the number of planes that do come in. There are no plans to tear down any buildings out there, at all," he said. "All of this has to do with public safety."

Mackinac Island State Park commissioners agreed to push planned agenda items to the end of the meeting, as Mr. Porter explained to an audience that spilled out into the hallway that sorting out the land restrictions in the airport approach zone now is his number-one job priority.

"The fact is, the property has always been restricted," said Mr. Porter. While the state park staff awaits the final survey report, they do not know how many lots will be affected, he said.

Mr. Porter said the Park Commission, as the airport manager working with the Michigan Bureau of Aeronautics, along with Island land developers, are to blame for a communication breakdown that has left some Island property owners unaware of longstanding building height restrictions on lots near the airport's west landing approach area.

"The law has always been there," he told the group; "it is not a new law."

Woodbluff property owner and pilot Dr. Robert Spitzer said he has been researching the subject and agreed, "In fact, the current status is no different than it has been for some 20 or 30 years."

Four years ago, a packet of information from the Bureau of Aeronautics was sent to the state park which contained complex drawings about building and tree height restrictions at the airport. That, and a letter advising that the information be shared with the City of Mackinac Island and its planning agencies, was simply filed away by park administrators, said Mr. Porter, who discovered the file three days before the September 22 meeting. He could find no evidence that a copy had been given to the city and said the park received only that mailing, with no follow-up, and that the annual airport inspections made no mention of the potential problems with the housing development in the area.

The height restrictions imposed by the FAA would normally be incorporated into the city's zoning ordinance, but they were not.

The situation unfolded last year when the park received a safety improvement grant of $20,000 from the Bureau of Aeronautics to cut trees on the east and west approaches to the runway. Part of the approach area is on private property and the park has been communicating with those owners to get their permission to cut trees outside the park's easement.

Despite the misfiled safety plans, the Park Commission isn't accepting full blame for the confusion.

Park Commissioner Karen Karam questioned Mr. Porter on the developer's responsibility to investigate height restrictions before platting lots, and Mr. Porter replied, "Lots were platted on the flight path to the airport on land that is merely a stone's throw away from the runway. I think the developer should have paid better attention to statutes controlling lands so close to the runway."

No homes have been built on the land in question.

Commission Chairman Dennis Cawthorne added, "As a lawyer, I find it astonishing that the developer did not exercise due diligence. He was platting below an airport and one of the first things you would do, it would seem to me, would be to establish the buildability of the lots."

The landing approach and the runway protection zones are set by the FAA, explained Mr. Porter, and include the park's airport easement area. Ideally, the runway protection zone should not have any structures in it so as to protect people who would otherwise live in those houses. In addition, an approach zone has height restrictions calculated by distances and angles. The Bureau of Aeronautics, working with the park, has hired engineers and surveyors to gather the data needed to advise individual

property owners where they are in relation to the restrictions, said Mr. Porter.

The "bigger question" has to do with whether the lots in the runway protection zone are buildable, he said. There are no structures already built in the runway protection zone that would have to be torn down, however, he added.

Area resident Bart Huthwaite Sr. asked for a public meeting on the issue, but Mr. Porter said the first priority is to work with individual landowners who are hearing rumors that their homes have to be torn down, and to reassure them that is not the case.

Property owner and president of Sunset Forest Association, Steve Rilenge, said he has been communicating with Mr. Porter, but the rumors continue to be troublesome for his family. He said the day before, his children had come home from school crying, saying their friends would have to move because their homes were being torn down next week.

He also said he is concerned that property values could fall because of the restrictions imposed by the FAA.

Mr. Porter explained that if a piece of property is not buildable because of the FAA regulations, it would be appraised as though it could be used for a home, and the owners would be compensated at that price by the federal government.

"Through this project, staff has become aware of FAA guidelines that restrict tree growth and, potentially, residential land use in key areas surrounding the airport," Mr. Porter said. He explained that park staff is working with the Bureau of Aeronautics, which is representing the FAA. They also are working with airport engineers, land owners, developers, and the Mackinac Island zoning administrator.

The survey report is expected in the next few weeks, said Mr. Porter, and he will then notify affected property owners.