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Panorama of Marquette Park from atop Fort Mackinac, with the Round Island Channel in the background and downtown Mackinac Island to the left.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Update, 6/11/2015: Clerical error forces re-do on historic districts
MACKINAC ISLAND, MI — Every summer, visitors from near and far load onto ferry boats bound for historic Mackinac Island.
Upon arrival, they file off the boats and, in most cases, immediately begin spending money at the numerous bike rental facilities, fudge and gift shops, hotels, and restaurants that line the island’s historic downtown streets.
But, what are these visitors looking for? What do they want out of their stay? Why did they choose Mackinac Island over Traverse City, Grand Haven or any of the other resort towns along the Michigan shoreline?
Those questions are at the root of an impassioned debate on the island about the preservation of historic buildings, which is culminating on Wednesday, Jan. 9, when the island’s city council decides whether or not to create a pair of protective historic districts that proponents say are necessary to maintain the island character.
“People come here because of our authenticity, not because somebody built a new hotel,” said Nancy May, a third-generation island resident and vocal proponent of creating the districts as a means to regulate commercial development on the island.
“You can have all the zoning and guidelines you want, but none of them have the teeth that a historic district does,” she said.
Although the entire island is a National Landmark — one of the first places to achieve that status — historic preservation advocates say no specific rules govern historic renovation and preservation of existing structures.
The National Park Service put the island on a 'watch list' in 2008 due to concern that commercial development could threaten the landmark status. Between 1970 and 2000, more than 100 buildings were reportedly torn down.
But it was the announced demolition of the 120-year-old McNally Cottage in 2009 that galvanized the city into organizing a group, Save Our Island, which lobbied the city into starting the historic preservation district process on the island to ensure the protection of historic assets.
Ira Green, a Petoskey developer who has invested millions in several island businesses — most notably the new three-story Bicycle Street Inn & Suites hotel development built atop the former McNally Cottage spot — incurred the wrath of many islanders for tearing down the cottage in 2011.
The Bicycle Street Inn & Suites,AA a new three-story, 36-room neo-classical looking contemporary lodging spot and mixed-use shopping center.
The Bicycle Street Inn is the first new hotel in a decade for the island, where city leaders have tabled site plan review for another proposed three-story, 36-room hotel with retail space on the Arnold ferry line dock, as well as a new two-story bed & breakfast that would involve a tear-down on Market Street.
Green, who is co-developing the Arnold Dock project, said the McNally Cottage was “economically obsolete,” lost money for years under previous ownership, and suffered from lack of care and maintenance when he purchased it in 2008.
Simply put, nobody wanted it, he said, making it a poor choice to pick a historic preservation fight over.
“We didn’t want to demolish it,” claims Green, who said he advertised the structure for free in the local papers for six months and promised $25,000 to help move it. No takers. Before that, Green said he offered the city an option to buy the property from him at his original purchase price, which he declined to disclose.
“There was no way to use this property in the middle of a commercial development,” he said. “It was economically obsolete. The market didn’t want it. The neighborhood didn’t want it — if they did, they didn’t want to pay for it.”
“For some of us, that’s offensive.”
That last bit boils down to a bottom line for Green on the proposed historic district ordinances, which he characterized as unnecessary due to zoning laws already in place, and unpopular among a majority of downtown business owners.
In a July letter to the city, Island House Hotel owner Victor Callewaert, who opened a controversial Starbucks coffee shop downtown in 2007, said the proposed districts would compromise the ability of downtown to change with the market. Several other downtown business owners quoted in the Mackinac Island Town Crier echoed those sentiments.
Green, who feels much of the historic district push stems from insular local politics and fears over competition, said property owners already take great care to upkeep buildings that are historic, not simply old. He said tourists coming to the island are looking for modern conveniences and want to have an experience. Whether or not lodging sites are historic, “I don’t think the consumer cares one way or another.”
He said the city has already zoned against buildings taller than three stories, and “formula food,” which would keep out a McDonald’s or similar fast food chain.
“Where’s the slippery slope?” he said.
If zoning laws were enough, then “he wouldn’t have been able to tear down a building people cared about,” said Rhonda Baker, historic preservation specialist with the city of Grand Rapids, where historic preservation has been used for decades as an economic development tool.
Historic rehabilitation is still taking place in once-vacant downtown structures like the Kendall Building despite the loss of the state historic preservation tax credits in 2011 under Gov. Rick Snyder's sweeping tax reforms.
Baker said historic districts allow for demolitions in a highly regulated form that involve multiple public meetings and lots of scrutiny.
As regulated by federal standards, building owners seeking demolition must demonstrate the building either poses a public safety hazard not brought on by neglect, the structure is a deterrent to a major improvement project with significant public benefit, or they are shackled by undue financial hardship beyond their control, she said.
Baker said that without historic districts, developers tend to take out buildings here and there, which “may not seem like much when it’s one developer with one building, but it can snowball pretty quickly.” Before you know it, you can have more and more new buildings and less and less historic ones.
“That can have a dramatic effect on a tourist destination like Mackinac Island,” she said. In a community more than 200 years old, which essentially froze time in 1898 by banning automobiles, “you have to be very careful. Every building can have an impact in a place that size.”
The 6-member city council could table the vote at Wednesday’s public hearing, said Kelly Bean, assistant to Mayor Margaret Doud. The committee that studied the districts made their recommendation to adopt them in October. The proposed districts encompass much of downtown along Market and Main Streets, and some of the west end between French Lane and the school.
For Green, “it’s not that we don’t believe in or value history, but you can’t require one person or a few people to bear the cost for others.”
For May, passing the district “certainly wont stop development. It will manage it. And that’s what we’re asking for. It has to work and fit in.”
Email Garret Ellison or follow him on Twitter.