To help ensure continued public access to lakes and streams via road ends, and to avoid a potentially lengthy and costly lawsuit, Emmet County has agreed to purchase waterfront property owned by Ralph Reisinger, who sued other landowners for control of a popular public access site next to his parcel at the end of Headlands Road, near Mackinaw City.

To settle the dispute, Mr. Reisinger offered his land, next to the Headlands Road access point, to the county for $50,000. The county board of commissioners agreed to purchase Mr. Reisinger's parcel at its April 10 meeting to avoid any future private landowners there from raising the same issue later.

The case has been delayed while the details of the purchase are worked out.

The dispute pitted Mr. Reisinger against several entities, including the Michigan attorney general's office.

"Basically, I am just tired of this whole mess," Mr. Reisinger told The St. Ignace News. "It was apparent that the county was going to fight me on everything I was going to do with that property. It doesn't seem worth it, given the position of the county."

The county's position is that, no matter how the case was resolved, the property should remain in public use, said Jim Tamlyn, who chairs the Emmet County Board of Commissioners.

Mr. Reisinger sought to control illegal partying and littering at the end of the road, which he contends carried over to his parcel in Mackinaw Headlands Subdivision. Denying public access was never his goal, he said.

Mr. Reisinger has owned his plot since 2000 but has not built on it. He will likely purchase property elsewhere.

Residents and many visitors from across the state are familiar with the site and its open view of the Straits of Mackinac. With public access in question, letters and telephone calls flooded Emmet County demanding continued public ownership of the land, Mr. Tamlyn said.

The county board's stated policy is to oppose closing road ends when doing so would deny public access to lakes or streams, said Emmet County civil attorney Kathleen Abbott.

"If the township, county, and state were to sit by and not pursue this aggressively, not only would this road end close, what would happen when the next [similar case] comes along?" she asked.

The lawsuit was unlikely to be decided in Mr. Reisinger's favor, Mr. Tamlyn said, and if it had, the county would have sought to take over the land through the law of eminent domain.

Eminent domain gives governments the right to take over property when doing so is in the public's best interest.

If the settlement is agreed to by all six parties in the land dispute, the county will maintain public access, ensure proper policing of the property, incorporate it into its park system, and probably place a historical marker there, Mr. Tamlyn said.

"One thing I found out in this matter was the historical value of the property," he noted. "We will keep that history alive."

References to the spot can be found in historical French, English, and American documents, some of which reference longstanding Native American use of the site.

Emmet County already has one deputy sheriff whose primary duty is to police county parks, such as where Mackinaw Historic Village is, and extending the patrol should not be a problem, Mr. Tamlyn said.

Headlands Road forms part of the village's western border, and the nearby Mackinaw City Police Department will continue oversight of the area, said Chief Patrick Wyman.

In response to the allegations of illegal activity at the site, Mr. Wyman combed 9-1-1 files dating back 10 years. There has never been a call to the police complaining about activity at end of Headland's Road during that time, he told The St. Ignace News. Mr. Wyman, who lives nearby, said he has not encountered excessive littering or partying there in the past 18 years.

"We're hopeful that the case can be settled quickly," Mrs. Abbott.

Even with the purchase agreement, a speedy conclusion to the case is in question. All parties must be satisfied, and there are six attorneys involved, representing Wawatam Township, Emmet County, the Department of Natural Resources, the county road commission, Mr. Reisinger, and other property owners in the subdivision.