The Leelanau County Road Commission partially abandoned Whittaker Road in Bingham Township, meaning they will no longer pay to maintain it and it will become privately owned. Township resident Renn Cheadle requested they abandon the road at the edge of his property, where the road terminates, at the road commission meeting Tuesday.
In a short video presentation to the board, Cheadle said he hopes moving the end of the road off his property will reduce the number of people who pull into his driveway before realizing they’ve reached a dead end and turn around. He said that farmers who own adjacent lots already have a hammerhead turnaround here, which they sometimes use for their farm equipment.
The road commission also considered a second abandonment petition for part of Lawrence Road in Bingham Township, which would require the road commission to install a cul-de-sac. The road commission tabled this request, however. They hoped to gather more information and have the petitioner, Sherry Lall, attend their meeting to make her case for abandonment.
Their next meeting will be held at the Suttons Bay garage Nov. 5 at 9 a.m., which will be the last time they meet in the morning this year. They will switch to their winter schedule and start meeting at 1 p.m. Nov. 19.
At their first meeting next month, the road commission will consider adopting a new permit fee schedule recommended by the Michigan County Road Association. Road Commission Managing Director Brendan Mullane said these represent a 10% increase to fees — for example, a permit for a residential driveway with one to two homes would go up from $50 to $55.
In his report to the board, Mullane said he would meet with staff from the Department of the Interior and the Grand Traverse Band to review progress on the culvert replacement on County Road 675 over the Crystal River – where kayakers used to “shoot the tube.” This meeting was rescheduled to 11 a.m., which is about when this edition went to the press.
Road commission crews finished work on Traverse Lake Road Friday, as part of a costshare agreement with Cleveland Township. Mullane said that township officials want to lower the speed limit on this road to the default of 25 miles per hour.
Since the road commission has received similar questions about the default speed limit on other roads, Mullane reached out to the Michigan County Road Commission Self Insurance Pool for an official ruling. As of the Oct. 15 meeting, they were still waiting for a response.
Mullane also said that he plans to comment on the road commission’s cost-share policy at a township supervisors meeting hosted by Midge Werner, supervisor of Bingham Township, Tuesday. These changes clarified that the road commission’s contributions are limited to a maximum of a 50% match, and set a schedule showing what percentage of available funds will go to each township.
