City Officials’ Mission: Clamp Down on Temporary Motorized Vehicle Permits
By Ryan Schlehuber

With summer approaching, the pressure to complete construction projects increases for builders, as does the number of requests for temporary use of motorized vehicles to the city. City officials are on a mission to clamp down on the use of motor vehicles this spring and next fall, the Island’s traditional construction seasons.

Mackinac Island Mayor Margaret Doud and City Council plan to find ways to improve the city’s review process of temporary motor vehicle applications, weeding out many loose ends and the unique requests that council sees routinely.

Despite a ban that has existed since 1898, many motor vehicles can be seen on Mackinac Island today, especially during the fall/winter construction season. The arguments of necessity for the use of motor vehicles is increasing, say city officials, leading them to try to steer that trend the other way.

Under council scrutiny is the use of utility trucks and small tractors, two vehicles community members say have been misused. Also, city officials are hoping to avoid granting annual or extended permits.

In 2003, there were a total of 212 requests for temporary use of a motor vehicle. Last year, there were 151. So far, 31 requests have come before council this year.

Nineteen permits were approved at the city council’s regular meeting Wednesday, April 13, and one was denied. Bill Wild’s request to use a 55-horsepower tractor for annual care and maintenance of his yard was denied. He was allowed to use the tractor last fall up until April.

Mayor Doud said she hopes to conduct joint meetings with Mackinac Island State Park officials to find ways to strengthen the dual effort of protecting the ban.

Mackinac Island’s long history of banning motor vehicles began with the introduction of the “horseless carriage” in 1898, when a car roared passed horses, spooking them. The ban was passed shortly thereafter. It is now enforced and upheld by both the Park Commission and the City of Mackinac Island.

Today, many vehicles have slipped under the ban, such as winter utility trucks for State Park employees, SBC Ameritech, and Edison Sault Electric workers who are responsible for sites throughout the entire island, electric carts on golf links, electric wheelchairs for the disabled, and riding lawnmowers. Both the SBC and Edison Sault are given permits at no charge.

Those vehicles are tolerated for the most part by community members and city and park officials. What has drawn the most concern recently are the many applications for construction vehicles that are stated as necessities to perform a landscape or building project, but are considered by city officials as conveniences, or are misused.

City officials have conjectured that utility trucks and tractors have long been misused. With the eyes of the community upon them, workers have been spotted driving trucks to lunch destinations or dropping other workers off at the dock or airport after a day’s work. Tractors have been seen doing tasks off site, pulling boats out of the water from the shore, for example.

Heavy construction vehicles have contributed to deterioration of roads within the park, initiating the State Park Commission to implement steeper fees to cover the cost of repairing the roads.

“These roads were not built for heavy traffic use,” said Park Director Phil Porter. “They were made to handle bicycle traffic.”

Requests for annual permits for use of a vehicle for more than a month are becoming too commonplace and need to be eliminated, said Mayor Margaret Doud.

“There should be no more annual permits; that is something that will certainly be revisited,” she said. “Permits should only be valid on a day-by-day basis, or no longer than a month.”

According to the city’s motor vehicle permit fees regulation, the maximum life span of an annual permit is only 30 days. Permits are given in periods of one-to-three days, four-to-six days, seven-to-15 days, and 16-to-30 days.

City officials have urged contractors and workers to adhere to the Island’s ways –– bike it, walk it, cart it, or dray it. Requests for use of motor vehicles are denied when council feels the task can be performed by horse and dray.

Permit applications used to be reviewed and approved by the city’s administrator, a position that no longer exists. Now that council is once again in charge of it, aldermen have reinstated the hard line on vehicle use requests.

“We want these contractors to think of using motor vehicles as a last resort, not a convenience,” said Mr. St. Onge, referring to specific projects that can easily be done without the use of a motor vehicle. “It’s time we stop bending over backwards.”

“I would like to see people use motor vehicles for only a specific project, not for a block of time, like the whole spring season,” said Alderman Ellen Putnam. “People are using motor vehicles for other reasons. That’s something we don’t want to see happen.”

“All of this revolves around our mission to preserve our heritage,” said Alderman Armand “Smi” Horn. “I understand that the window of construction opportunity is small, but builders are just going to have to plan more.”