Council Declares West Bluff Rd. Officially Private
By Karen Gould

It took a half-century to make the road in front of Grand Hotel private, but the official decertification process was completed in September, and some 838 feet of West Bluff Road are no longer the responsibility of the Michigan Department of Transportation or the City of Mackinac Island.

The hotel has been under the assumption that the road was decertified in the 1950s, even though the city has been paid by the state to maintain it.

In May, the Mackinac Island City Council agreed to decertify the 838 feet, and the process was finalized with the state last month in a letter Council received at its September 12 meeting.

For the city, decertification of the road means it will receive less state-allocated funds for road maintenance. The city has not maintained the road for years, believing it already was decertified. For the hotel, which has maintained the road, the decertification allows it to continue to charge a $10 fee to those wishing to travel in front of the structure or to access its 660-foot front porch. The fee is not charged to hotel guests.

The misconception that the road already was decertified came to light following a citizen complaint over the fee, which restricts use of the road that leads to the West Bluff and Annex areas of the Island, said Candace Rosebrugh of the Asset Management Division of the Michigan Department of Transportation,

In reviewing state records, maps revealed that the road was the city's responsibility, although city plat maps noted it as a private road. The city was under the impression the road had been decertified in the 1950s, said city engineer Dennis Dombroski. He said records show the process to decertify the stretch was begun, but it was never completed.

Through the years, Grand Hotel has paid for repairs to the passageway, although the state continued to provide maintenance funds to the city. The state appropriates the funds for community road programs from motor vehicle fuel tax and vehicle registration taxes. The total amount of funds distributed annually across the state fluctuates and is based on miles of roadway in a municipality, the amount of taxes collected on fuel sold over the previous year, and vehicles registered with the state, said Ms. Rosebrugh.

The state allows a municipality to decertify a road with a resolution and the completion of paperwork, she said. No public hearing is required. The city also could recertify the street with the state in the future, she explained, if it chooses to take over the roadway.