The eight-person Mackinaw City Planning Commission will ask the village president and council to fill an empty seat on their board, after a tie vote at their June 12 meeting stalled a recommendation on four unzoned waterfront parcels in the village. At their Thursday, June 26, meeting, they said they would like the seat filled before the issue comes to a vote again.

The zoning will impact the land's value and future development. Two of the unzoned parcels are owned by Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry and two are owned by the village. A motion to zone the land marina commercial, which would prevent construction of more motels on the waterfront, failed in the tie vote.

The planning commission provides the Village Council with recommendations on land use and zoning.

The open seat was vacated by Jerry Prior in October 2007, and the term will expire in September. Appointments are made by the village president and approved by the village council.

"Obviously, if there was a full board sitting here, we would not have had a split vote," said Jeff Hingston, who represents the Village Council on the commission.

"It's now been nine months," he said referring to council's failure to approve filling the open seat. "We need a full board on this commission."

Commission Chair Robert Most said he had asked Village President Ron Wallin to take his time before making another appointment.

Commissioners decided at their June 26 meeting to consider all possible zoning designations before making a recommendation on the unzoned land. This is a deviation from their previous meeting, when they limited their considerations to zoning the property either marina commercial or making it part of the business district. The new plan is based on the recommendation of village attorney Tom Evashevski, who was unable to attend Thursday's meeting, although he provided planners with a confidential letter on the matter.

Fundamentally, the zoning decision will come down to what uses the commission sees for the land and what building dimensions fit best, based on zoning options, said Village Manager Jeff Lawson.

A zoning map approved in 1988 and again in 1994 failed to designate a land use for the four parcels.

When zoning property, a municipality is required to be consistent with the long-term needs of the community as they are determined in the master plan. Former commission member Peg Smith questioned whether the village has a current master plan, as state law requires it be revised and adopted every five years. The last plan was adopted in 1997, said Mr. Lawson, and a committee is in the process of updating the document.

Property owner Chris Shepler, who attended the meeting, said while his family owns the waterfront land, they have no intention of building a hotel on the property. He objected to a headline in The St. Ignace News that suggested his family's company wanted to have the site designated as a business district to allow them to build hotels. In fact, he had told the village that zoning the property marine commercial would decrease its value and, thus, his equity in it.

"We're ferry boat people," said Mr. Shepler. "We, as a family and as a business, have absolutely no desire to put a hotel on that property."

The commission's next regular meeting is Thursday, July 24, at Village Hall.