City Quickly Remedies New Snag in Addressing Project
Discrepancy Discovered in State, County Map Overlay Compilations
By Jessica Delaney

A new snag was discovered and quickly remedied during a meeting of City Council’s 911 committee Wednesday, July 6. The committee has been working on completing a final map of Mackinac Island, which will include addresses for each of the buildings on the Island.

The committee has spent the last several weeks pouring over maps provided by Mike Lange of Lange Enterprises, who has been working with the city to provide addressed maps. Islanders, however, had difficulty discerning what precisely was on the maps. Streets appeared where none exist, and some roads ran directly through people’s buildings.

During the meeting, Mr. Lange informed committee members that he had created overlays of two base maps to produce the maps he presented to the city. He had used material from both a state and a county map, and though both were accurate in their own right, when an overlay was created, they did not match up.

The state map was geographically more precise, with main street centerlines lying almost exactly where they would appear. However, the map is older than the newly drawn county map. Since the state mapped out the island, some trails have been relocated or shifted from their original position. The state map included a road running directly through the Scouts Barracks ball field, where no trail exists, which was one of the most noticeable errors on the map.

The county map is not as dimensionally accurate as the state map, Mr. Lange said. It was created in a joint effort of the city and the county through parcel mapping, which means that sections were individually mapped and then compiled into a complete map. The county map is geographically less accurate in unpopulated areas, such as the state park land, but is still accurate in the downtown and residential areas. Also, all trail names are correct and in the correct positions on the map.

Mr. Lange encouraged committee members to come to a consensus on one map to use. But according to City Engineer Dennis Dombroski, that is easier said than done.

“The state map and the county map look the same to the casual observer,” he said, which made it difficult to determine which map should be used.

Alderman Armand “Smi” Horn was in favor of using the county map, mentioning the amount of effort expended by council members to provide an accurate map.

“It took us so long to get the names and locations of streets that we can’t change them now,” he said. “Months of work would be wasted.”

Committee members also had to consider how a decision will affect the future. They needed to choose a map which would allow them to make changes as the Island changes in the future. Mr. Lange informed everyone that changes in the future will be minimal and easy to make after an official map is decided and an addressing system created.

Mackinac State Historic Parks Director Phil Porter encouraged fellow committee members to take immediate action to approve a map and to work on problems on a case-by-case basis at a later time.

“We need a basic good map and good numbers, and then we can work together on that draft until it is finished,” he said.

Questions were raised about the accuracy of the county map, since its centerlines were not as accurate as the state map. Mr. Dombroski, however, reminded committee members, “We’re not flying air strikes over here. We need a map that’s within meters of the exact physical location.”

Committee members ultimately decided to use only the county map as the base material for the new map, which will include street addresses. In addition to the decision on which base map to use, the committee had two other issues to deal with, including unnamed streets and the addressing of landmarks.

Mr. Lange raised the question of whether to name the sidewalk running between Market Street and Main Street, that passed between the Carriage Tours ticket office and the tourism bureau. Mr. Lange mentioned the existence of public restrooms at the area, and asked whether 911 would require a street name to register calls there. Bryce Tracey, 911 coordinator for Mackinac County, said that 911 can assign calls on the sidewalk to either Market or Main Street, and that the actual sidewalk does not require a name to be picked up by Enhanced 911.

The same rule would apply to trails, said Mr. Tracey. When a call is made from a cell phone along one of the state park’s trails, it will read on the dispatching screen as being on a road, between two intersecting roads.

“The reading for cell phones will be within 0.5 miles,” said Mr. Tracey. “But we need to remember that cell phone accuracy is going to take 30 to 40 years to be pinpoint accurate.”

Landmarks have also received individual addresses and numbers, although on a map they will only be labeled by words. The complete map, then, will label places such as Arch Rock and Sunset Rock, although in the records they will have addresses. Similarly, every undeveloped parcel has received two addresses, one for each side that the parcel is on. Thus, when a house is eventually built on a lot, it will already have an address, regardless of which street the driveway comes out on.

Prior to the meeting, committee members had poured over and edited the maps which Mr. Lange had previously presented them, and sent back an edited copy, although many of the corrections will no longer be needed, since they were based on the state map overlays.

Committee members are hopeful that the next map they receive will be the last one, and that they will soon have a finished map of the Island, complete with the addresses Mr. Lange has provided. Addresses will not be immediately available to the public, however. Because of the unique nature of many of the buildings on the Island, many of which include both a shop and a residence, or multiple residences, a simple building number is not sufficient. Any place that has a phone line needs an individual address.

“There are things we haven’t finalized with respect to individual apartments and stores,” said Mr. Dombroski. Committee members have not yet decided how to address individual apartments within a building.

The remapping of the Island complete with addresses was necessary to install the Enhanced 911 emergency telephone service. Once addresses have been reviewed and finalized by the city committee, property owners will be informed of their definite new address. Following the completion of addressing, each telephone number must be matched to its address and be entered into the Enhanced 911 dispatching computers in Negaunee.

Enhanced 911 allows the address of the caller to come up on a dispatcher’s screen, even before the caller has given an address. Not only will this allow emergency vehicles to respond more quickly, it will also make it possible for units to attend to a situation where the caller is unable to speak.