County Planning Commission Gets Fact Book Chapters Started
By Ryan Schlehuber

The Taylor Creek Farm, owned by John and Julia Kronemeyer of Marquette Township, is 1,200 acres, making it the largest dairy farm in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. A new 10-chapter fact book will provide many facts and figures about Mackinac County. It is the first step in making a master plan for the county.

The Mackinac County Planning Commission met with representatives of U.P. Engineers & Architects to review the first few chapters of the county’s new fact book at a regular meeting Wednesday, June 1. When completed, the fact book will include 10 chapters on topics such as historical and archaeological significance of the county to its land use, population, agriculture and natural resources, and economic composition and infrastructure. It is the first step to complete a new county-wide master plan for future land and economic development.

U.P. Engineers & Architects of Sault Ste. Marie was hired to research and organize information for each of the 10 chapters. The firm is completing drafts a few chapters at a time and then presenting them to the board for approval. At last Wednesday’s meeting, John Rowe and Tim Pace presented four rough draft chapters to the board that included land use, population, housing, and economic development.

The land use chapter, said Mr. Rowe, particularly zoning in the county, will be explained mostly by maps that have yet to be finished. The board requested the firm acknowledge all cemeteries in the county by proper name and township. The draft chapter recognized 24 sites, however, board members said there are a few missing from the list.

Information for the chapter on population, said Mr. Rowe, came from 1990 and 2000 census data.

Board members agreed that along with school populations, there should be information or graphs referring to the decline or increase of enrollment in the county.

“Declining enrollment is an important issue, especially for schools in the U.P.,” said Chairman Ken Drenth, former superintendent at Les Cheneaux Community Schools.

Board members also requested that the chapter include information on the number of children who are home-schooled within the county, though Mr. Drenth said it may be hard to come by since that type of information is usually not recorded. He said, though, from what he has seen in his area, the trend of home schooling is growing.

Board members asked that the number of foreign nationals working in the county be included in the chapter on economic development. Michelle Walk, director of the county’s Michigan State University Extension office and a member of the board, said the fluctuation of seasonal employment should also be noted in that chapter.

The chapter on Mackinac County’s history, said Mr. Rowe, is being revised and condensed to two pages.

He said the book is ahead of schedule and should be finished by late June or early July.

The chapters to be presented at the Wednesday, July 6 meeting are history, human services, and infrastructure and the board is expected to review the revised chapter on land use.

Here are some figures gathered by the firm in the first few chapter drafts:

• In 2002, there were 76 farms in Mackinac County totaling 20,410 acres, according to the Census of Agriculture. The average size of farms in the county is 269 acres, slightly larger than the state average of 190 acres.

• From 1990 to 2000, the county’s population increased 11.9 percent, from 10,674 people to 11,943. In the state, population increased 6.9 percent. In 2003, the county’s population declined to 11,470.

• The county’s population is almost equally split between males (5,963) and females (5,980) with 40 percent of the pupulation comprised of people age 25 to 54.

• From 1990 to 2000, Newton Township’s population increased by two people, from 356 to 358.

• According to the 2000 Census, there are 1,022 square miles of land in the county and 9.2 housing units per square mile, which is far below the state’s rate of 74.5 housing units per square mile.

• The majority of housing units in the county have between three and six rooms, with one or fewer persons per room.

• The median income in the county is $33,356. Even though it has steadily increased from 1980, it is still more than $10,000 lower than Michigan as a whole.