Committee Tackles Street Congestion, Motorized Tractors in Use on Island
By Jessica Delaney

The Street Committee came to a startling conclusion at its meeting Tuesday, July 12, when members realized that the city is not aware of all of the tractors currently in use on the Island.

Recently, the committee added a new weight stipulation for lawn tractors, saying that they can’t weigh more than 1,000 pounds to qualify for a tractor permit. Some tractors, however, were brought here before the ordinance revision, and the city now wants to know where they are.

“We need to know who’s got what on this island,” said Alderman Mike Hart. “We have no idea. We need to do an inventory of all the tractors on this island.”

Other committee members agreed to look into the issue.

The question of tractors arose owing to problems with granting a permit for a tractor owned by Gary Urman. His wife, Vicki Urman, was present at the committee meeting to answer questions.

The tractor did not fit into any of the categories which the city has for motor vehicles. It operates as a maintenance tractor and snow removal vehicle for the Stonebrook subdivision, but the city does not have a category for either vehicle type. Because it is stored in a residential area, it cannot receive a permit for a commercial vehicle.

In the past, exceptions have been made for snowplowing vehicles, but under the current system, the tractor would have to be removed from the Island when not being used for snow removal. According to Mrs. Urman, it would not be possible to take the vehicle off the island, because the couple has no place to store the tractor there. She said they would have to sell it, which would leave Stonebrook without a snowplow during the winter.

Further complicating the issue, the committee had received a letter of complaint from Mackinac State Historic Parks regarding the use of motor vehicles at Stonebrook, specifically to pull boats out of the water and crossing M-185, which is a state highway. Mrs. Urman assured committee members that boat removal could be achieved through a way other than with the tractor.

The committee did not take issue with granting a permit for the tractor as a snow removal vehicle, but did have a problem with using it for regular maintenance work.

“We’re an island where we don’t allow motor vehicles, except on a case-by-case basis,” said city attorney Tom Evashevski. “It is important for us to be consistent.”

Mrs. Urman argued that other entities on the Island have large maintenance vehicles, including the school, Carriage Tours, the city, and the golf courses. Alderperson Jason St. Onge argued that all of those groups owned large parcels of land, and that if the Stonebrook Association were asking for a permit for all of their land, then it might be possible to grant the permit, but not as an individual asking for a permit.

Mr. Evashevski added, “The question is, can it be done with a dray? It seems that this is a situation where it can. You can’t reasonably keep a golf course going with a riding tractor, it’s just not realistic. You need a [larger] machine. I’m not sure that’s true for a subdivision.”

Alderperson Armand “Smi” Horn suggested tabling the issue for 30 days while committee members look into developing new categories, both for snow removal vehicles and maintenance vehicles. Mr. Evashevski suggested that the category for snow removal vehicles might allow them to remain in storage on the island during the summer.

The committee also returned to the question of issuing trailer permits, which allow people to haul a pre-packed highway trailer without having to remove the contents to a dray. Mr. Hart suggested that an application form be developed and that it include a declaration of the vehicle and the weight of its contents from a sate weigh station. He said that in addition to helping the city decide whether a trailer is permissible, it will also insure that the trailer can be safely pulled by dray. A dray is a horse-drawn farm wagon used on Mackinac Island to haul freight.

Mr. St. Onge agreed that some stipulations must apply to trailers, including a time limit and on-island storage . He suggested the committee should be more lenient for Boy Scout and Girl Scouts troops who come to the Island and haul their gear and food behind drays each week.

“The scouts are paying to come here to clean up litter on our streets,” he said. “To me, that’s a group that’s doing nothing but good for Mackinac Island.”

Mr. Evashevski suggested that the city is currently making it too easy to use trailers on the Island, saying that they should always be discouraged from being the first option, and that a dray should be used when possible.

“Currently, there are no fees for trailers,” he said. “It takes money for a dray to be licensed, but not a trailer. There are no rules on the size of trailers, but there are on carts and drays. We’re almost encouraging people to use trailers.”

Mayor Margaret Doud pointed out that motor vehicle licenses are a joint issue between the city and state, and said that the city needs state input on the issue.

Police Chief William Lenaghan was present at the committee meeting to report on street congestion. There have been numerous complaints about the amount of congestion at the intersection of Astor Street and Main Street. Police have moved back city trash cans to make more room and keep people from leaning against them. He advised city officials to extend the no parking areas on the corner another three feet on either side of the street.

“This way there will be no jamming up on corners because there will be no bikes there,” said Chief Lenaghan.

It was also pointed out that “no parking” areas had been added near the French Outpost, which significantly cut down on street congestion in that area, although it is still busy.

City engineer Dennis Dombroski was asked for his input. He responded, “We can’t yellow curb all of downtown, but some of these corners might warrant that action.”

Committee members agreed to take the issue to the next city council meeting.

The committee also discussed general congestion on Main Street, specifically in front of bike rental businesses. No decision was reached on action to take against the general congestion problems.