Public Interest in Straits Access Draws County, Twp. Into Case
Headlands Road in Mackinaw City
By Paul Gingras

Even in heavy snow, the end of Headlands Road is a popular site to access the Straits of Mackinac near Mackinaw City. Pictured here at sunset Thursday, April 3, car tracks lead almost to the water's edge. The end of the road is the subject of a lawsuit in which an adjacent landowner seeks to take control of the site, which has been used heavily by the public for decades.

Access to the beach and water at the end of Headlands Road near Mackinaw City is being contested in a law suit that could have precedent setting ramifications for public access throughout Michigan. Nearby property owners Ralph and Kelley Reisinger contend ownership is not clearly defined there and are suing other property owners in their subdivision for control of the property. They say littering and other problems need to be controlled.

Representatives of Wawatam Township and Emmet County are fighting the move in court, and news of their appeal has prompted a flood of letters and telephone calls from residents across Michigan to Emmet County, showing public support for keeping the land open.

The area at the end of Headlands Road is an important historical site for Michigan as well as a popular public access point that must be preserved for public use, said Wawatam Township Supervisor Roger Moore and Emmet County Commission Chairman Jim Tamlyn, both of whom have filed to intervene in the case on behalf of their municipalities.

A hearing is scheduled Monday, April 21, regarding which parties will be involved in the case, said Emmet County civil attorney Kathleen Abbott.

Ms. Abbott is working on Emmet County's intervention in the case. She said a number of people who should have been named as defendants in the case were not, including the Emmet County drain commissioner. The drain commissioner should have a role in the case, albeit limited, because if the property falls into private hands, and buildings are constructed, changes in the landscape could affect water runoff, she said.

By law, the Wawatam township must be the main entity to fight for the broader goal of maintaining public access, she added.

The Reisingers contend that littering, use of illegal fireworks, running motor vehicles, and other problems have plagued the land between the water's edge and the end of the road, as well as their lot in the Mackinaw Headlands Subdivision, which lies adjacent to it.

In their complaint, filed in August 2007, the Reisingers also complained of trespassing on their property.

"I have no intention of blocking off the road to anybody," Mr. Reisinger, an attorney from Grand Rapids, told The St. Ignace News. The goal of the lawsuit is to find out who has jurisdiction over the rocky beach area just beyond the end of the road, he said.

Mr. Reisinger argues that there is no established owner of the property, so no one can put up signs or call the police if illegal activity takes place there. He added that he has suggested that the county maintain it and enforce responsible use. Otherwise, he would do so.

Legal use, he contends, "should be ingress and egress for access to the Straits, swimming, walking along the water, and launching of boats and small water craft, [but] not parking and driving along private property."

He said he will preserve easement rights for his neighbors if he gains ownership of the parcel.

The Reisingers contend that, since the road does not extend to the water, it is not a public access site.

Public officials say the public right-of-way extends to the water's edge, with or without a road.

Wawatam will fight for the site to ensure that no one is kept away because the fire department may need to access the water there, but "mostly for public use," Mr. Moore said.

"It provides a nice view of the Straits and the Mackinac Bridge," he added. "It is very, very scenic, and there are not many areas to drive down and look [at the Straits] without being on someone's property."

To ensure continued public access, ownership should be firmly established by either the township or the county, he said.

In communications with public officials, Mr. Reisinger said public ownership would be fine with him, as long as the municipalities take responsibility for trash removal and maintaining order.

Maintaining public ownership is important, Mr. Tamlyn said, because new public access sites are rarely platted.

"If you lose it, it's gone," he said. "Public access is more valuable as time goes by. Blocking it shortchanges future generations. Governments should fight that."

By law, the township is leading the move to intervene in the case, with the backing of Emmet County, which has pledged financial support. Wawatam Township has hired attorney Boris Yakima of Bloomfield Hills, who specializes in land issues.

They will argue that no one has been paying taxes on that piece of waterfront, and the property beyond the end of Headlands Road has been in public use for many years.

According to the plat map, subdivision properties extend to the water's edge, and Headlands Road legally extends to the water's edge, also, Ms. Abbott said.

The county road commission is the rightful owner of the road itself. Formerly named as a defendant, the road commission has been removed from the case by a consent judgment. It has declared that it will take no further responsibility for the road, a disappointment to Emmet County commissioners because the Road Commission could have challenged the Reisingers' land claim, Mr. Tamlyn said, and the county would have helped, financially.

In correspondence supplied to The St. Ignace News, however, Mr. Reisinger implies that he is seeking ownership because he is frustrated that public agencies won't police the area.

"The purpose of getting ownership of the property is to control the illegal activities taking place and to protect my property," he wrote.

To gain control over the property, the Reisingers seek to amend the plat map that defines the subdivision's lots and roads, Ms. Abbott said.

The plat was established in 1958 at the request of the area's landowners at the time, who stated that the subdivision's roads were to remain public roads permanently, Mr. Tamlyn said.

County Commissioners were unaware of the Headlands Road case until letters of protest began to appear in area newspapers, Mr. Tamlyn said. Since news about the issue was published, Emmet County has received a flood of letters and phone calls from residents throughout Michigan who demand that the site be kept open to the public.

Proper procedures to establish official ownership of the land have not been followed, Ms. Abbott said, and local, county, and state officials were not named as defendants in the Reisinger suit, as required by law.

County and township representatives point out that if the road is abandoned or the plat amended, the township would be the property's first rightful recipient, by law, followed by the Department of Natural Resources.

If the Reisingers take control of the land beyond the end of Headlands Road, "there will be a hemorrhage of road-end accesses lost around the state to selfish landowners, using [the Reisingers case] as a precedent," said Tim Calloway of Harbor springs, in a letter to the editor published in The St. Ignace News Thursday, April 3.

Precedent setting is a real possibility in this case, Mrs. Abbott said.

The case may also be challenged by the Michigan Attorney General's office, which says it should have been named as a defendant in the case, Mr. Tamlyn said. It may file to be named as a defendant or challenge whether the proceedings were proper, once the case is decided.

There is no doubt that this is an important historical site and public access area, he said.

"We can clearly show that site has been in use by Native Americans and Europeans since before the American Revolution," Mr. Tamlyn said.

Poring over documents related to the spot at Mackinaw City Village Hall Thursday, April 3, Mr. Tamlyn pointed to documents showing that the Headlands Road site is one of the first two land claims by Europeans in Northern Michigan.

An early map from the late 1700s or early 1800s reveals only the Headlands Road site, owned then by Patrick McGulpin, and old Fort Michilimackinac after the fort had moved to Mackinac Island.

A survey by Aaron Greeley for the United States federal government in 1808 shows the land claim, and it appears on an 1857 map designed when Mackinaw City was incorporated as a village. Eventually, the McGulpin home was replaced with McGulpin Lighthouse.

The maps and documents reveal use by both the McGulpin family and Indians at the site, also pointing out an enormous stone in the area used by natives to chart the rise and fall of Great Lakes water levels. The documents show the eventual development of the Headlands Road.

On February 28, the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority passed a resolution opposing the closing of the road end.

"The area is fascinating. We cannot let one landowner take it away from us," Mr. Tamlyn said. "The county board of commissioners has no intention of dropping this fight."