New Luggage Cart Ordinance Could Change Island’s Freight Operations

By Ryan Schlehuber

Ordinance amendments drafted by City Council would ban the use of hand-pushed four-wheeled luggage carts on city streets and restrict all commercial freight deliveries to horse-drawn drays. Under the draft provisions, no more than one cart will be allowed to be towed behind a dray, and garden carts will only be allowed for personal use. A size limit on garden carts is proposed, but not yet specified.

The amendments are being proposed to address Council’s continued tinkering with street congestion in the downtown area and, if adopted, they could have profound impacts on the way people do business on Mackinac Island. Luggage carts, borrowed from the ferry companies and pushed by hand, are used frequently to move personal belongings and store inventory in the downtown area. They will be banned from such use. Dock porters, who have earned extra money making small deliveries for the elderly and others unable to retrieve parcels from the docks and stores, could be prohibited from such practice. Garden carts, even when attached to a bicycle, can no longer be parked on the street when not in use. And the proposed ordinance amendments seek to put a stop to a recent practice by Shepler’s and Arnold Transit of using luggage carts to make quick deliveries of perishables to downtown restaurants. The amendments propose that all commercial freight be made only by dray. Restaurants could, however, pick up their food at the dock, if they need it before the dray can deliver it.

Hotel dock porters can still deliver luggage by personal cart. Dock porters can also still deliver freight and luggage by bicycle, as long as it does not impede the porter’s view of the road or control of the bicycle.

Hotels and Mackinac Island Service Company, the Island’s only commercial dray operator, will no longer be able to hitch multiple luggage carts to the back of a dray. Only one cart will be allowed under the propsals being discussed.

City administrators fret when they see drays pulling chains of two or three luggage carts through city streets, like a slow-moving freight train that impedes traffic. City Attorney Tom Evashevski said restricting the number of towed carts to one will reduce property damage and even injuries. When making their sweeping turns, the long trains have, at times, bounced over curbs, knocked over parked bicycles, crushed flowers gardens, and startled pedestrians on the sidewalks.

Members of the city’s Street and Sidewalk Committee met with Police Chief William Lenaghan Wednesday, January 19, to discuss details of the draft ordinance and are expected to have more public discussion on the matter before it is ready for adoption by the city council.

Mr. Evashevski, in a memorandum, stated that the city’s efforts are to strengthen regulations of commercial freight operations on public streets and sidewalks and to relieve congestion and avoid traffic accidents by not allowing people to push luggage carts down city streets.

“We have had discussions, and even public hearings, about banning luggage carts entirely, licensing the same, and limiting the number allowed on public streets,” he wrote. “I believe the only action we have taken in the form of an ordinance is Ordinance No. 336, which attempted to address the issue of carts being left on the public streets and sidewalks.

“The ordinance created a right on behalf of the city to impound these carts and charge a fee prior to the release of the same. I am told that after 10 years, the problem has only gotten worse.”

With the new ordinance, said Mr. Evashevski, the city can improve summer traffic, avoid the problem of unattended or abandoned luggage carts, improve transportation and street traffic safety, and control illegal transportation of hazardous materials, for example, propane canisters that require certified transport.

In response to the proposed amendments, Star Line General Manager Tom Pfeiffelmann said banning the use of luggage carts on the streets will create a hardship for residents and businesses. He believes the city should allow people to push the carts by hand, but restrict the hours they can be used.

“I have probably pushed luggage carts down the street about 10 times this year myself,” he said, “because half the time you cannot get a dray. As the draft is written now, it would be hurting Island businesses tremendously, and for what purpose?”

Mr. Pfeiffelmann believes if the city enforced existing rules, such as fining anyone who abandons a luggage cart on city streets, there would not be any traffic congestion problems or accidents.

“I say don’t put in another ordinance if you’re not enforcing existing ones,” he said. “The city can fine us for leaving carts unattended, so fine us.”

Star Line and Arnold Transit representatives said they were never told by the city that the amendments were being discussed.

“I don’t know anything about it,” said Mr. Pfeiffelmann, when first asked to comment on the proposals. “I think the city is forgetting who butters their bread. They hold these meetings without informing those who are most affected. That’s just not right.”

Arnold Transit General Manager Bob Brown said that while he, too, was not aware that regulation of luggage carts was being discussed, he agrees that the use of luggage carts needs to be enforced.

“We lose a lot of carts that are hand-pushed by people,” he said. “They are only designed to go on and off the boats. I think this draft places a safeguard for the traffic on the streets.”

Of the three ferry companies, Arnold Transit is the only one that has enough room on its dock to store freight and luggage until it is picked up by dray. Mackinac Island Service Company’s freight office is even at the end of the Arnold Dock.

Shepler’s must load and unload freight and luggage at the curb, which the City contends adds to the congestion on the street. Council has imposed tighter restrictions on Shepler’s freight business for the past several years and the company now is allowed to move freight in the summer only during early morning and late evening hours.

Representatives from Shepler’s could not be reached for comment on this story.