Options Considered for Bunker Lot Split Request
By Ryan Schlehuber

Mayor Margaret Doud, at a regular Mackinac Island City Council meeting Wednesday, January 31, asked city attorney Tom Evashevski and zoning officer Dennis Dombroski to discuss with Elaine and Isaac Bunker possible options they have to expand housing on their Harrisonville lot.

Mr. Evashevski explained to Council that the Bunkers' request to split their lot so they could build another home would not be feasible under the city's zoning ordinance, state law, or health codes.

The Bunkers initially asked for a variance to build another home on the lot, however, said Mr. Dombroski, that would leave no room for a septic system for both buildings and would never meet the health code.

The Bunkers then asked to split the lot, but that would not meet the city's R-3 zoning requirements, which requires a 5,000-square-foot minimum lot size, said Mr. Evashevski. The Bunkers' lot is just over 5,000 square feet now, so splitting it, he said, would make two lots that would not meet zoning requirements.

Council did not vote on the request and will most likely discuss it at its next regular meeting, after Messrs. Dombroski and Evashevski speak to the Bunkers.

Speaking to the Bunkers and explaining the options will save them from spending money on a variance request that likely will not pass, said Mr. Evashevski.

"If we allowed for that lot to be half the size, I don't know where you would draw the line after that," he said to Council. "I feel I have to say this because of the legal ramifications."

Council agreed the only way to expand housing on that lot would be to build a condominium complex, which would be much more expensive.

Council renewed a $58, two-year use permit with the Mackinac Island State Park Commission for its radio tower at Fort Holmes. The tower is used for low-band communication radio signals by the fire department, ambulance corps, and park. The Island's police department uses digital 800 megahertz radios that use a mainland tower.

All Island emergency response agencies will eventually convert to digital communication, once they secure funding to buy the equipment.

Michael Lange of Lange Enterprise in Wisconsin, who coordinated and mapped the Island for an addressing system, will be paid to add seven more lots to the addressing system. The new lots, owned by Susan Lundgren and Becki McIntire, are in the Forest Bluff subdivision at Stonecliffe. Each lot will be assigned its own address number.

The city has been assigning addresses since last year and is requiring all lot owners to begin displaying their address numbers as soon as possible, however, only a few residents and business owners have done so.

City officials have said in the past that it may resort to handing out citations to property owners who do not have their addresses displayed, however, that process has yet to start.

The Fire Department has received 25 new fire helmets, purchased by a $5,000 grant from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The old helmets were purchased in 1984 and the face shields were becoming impossible to repair, said Fire Chief Dennis Bradley. The new helmets meet National Fire Protection Association safety requirements.