The new pavement on M-22 through Leland was done weeks early. So why are the streets a block west, where Leland walks to Fishtown, the harbor and the Old Art Building, no closer to a fix than they were last spring?
The two answers are linked. M-22 is a state highway with a state budget and a standard repair process. Leland's older side streets fall outside that process because of how narrow they are. The township is now working on a plan for them, and that plan has slowed down on purpose.
Three weeks on M-22
The Michigan Department of Transportation put $711,000 into repaving nearly a mile of M-22 from Hill Street to Reynolds Street. The work included new curb, gutter, sidewalk, pavement markings and ADA-compliant ramps, the Leelanau Enterprise reported on Sept. 2. That report said work would start Sept. 14 and finish Friday, Nov. 13.
It finished far sooner. Leland Township's October supervisor's report says the roadwork and sidewalk repairs were completed Wednesday, Oct. 7, and all equipment was gone by Thursday. The report describes about three weeks of construction by Elmer's and calls the MDOT-funded improvements "much needed and appreciated."
So the barrels are already gone for this Friday and Saturday. Broomsticks and Bubbles, the Halloween-costume shopping evening, runs Friday, Oct. 23, from 4 to 7 p.m., according to the Leelanau Ticker's fall guide. The Chamber's Leland Fall Frenzy follows on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Why the side streets have waited
The repaving stopped at the edge of the highway. West of it are North Lake Street, South Lake Street and the short east-west streets that connect M-22 to Lake Street. Township Supervisor Clint Mitchell told the Leelanau Ticker in June that these streets are "generally in very poor condition. In some cases, they're crumbling."
He also explained why they have fallen behind. The township decides where to spend road money mostly by Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) scores from the Leelanau County Road Commission. Roads are rated from 1 to 10:
| PASER score | Condition | How the township treats it |
|---|---|---|
| 8 to 10 | Good | No treatment described |
| 5 to 7 | Fair | Kept up with, since fair is cheaper to maintain than poor is to repair |
| 1 to 4 | Poor | Costly repair |
| No score | Below code width | Maintenance is more often deferred |
That last row covers the streets west of M-22. "Some of our streets are only 11-12 feet wide, and code now is 18," Mitchell told the Ticker. "And some of the right-of-ways are also pretty narrow. So, we don't get PASER ratings for those roads." Without ratings, the Ticker reported, deferred maintenance on those streets is "far more commonplace."
The streets with the most foot traffic in the village, the ones leading to the harbor and Fishtown, are the ones the township's normal maintenance system has no score for.
What the September concepts drew, street by street
The streetscape work started with a March site analysis and a three-day stakeholder workshop June 8 to 10. The workshop included a walking tour and a wrap-up session in the Munnecke Room at the Leland Library. The Ticker listed the stakeholders as the Leland Township Board, the Fishtown Preservation Society, the Leland Chamber of Commerce, and the members of Leland's new cultural overlay district: the Old Art Building, the Leelanau Historical Society and the Leland Public Library. Several business and property owners took part as well.
On Sept. 14, consultant Nate Elkins of Influence Design Forum of Traverse City presented concepts to the township board. The concept presentation shows each street differently:
| Street | What the concept shows | Sample dimensions from the slides |
|---|---|---|
| South Lake Street | One-way northbound, organized parallel parking, new east-side sidewalk, tree lawn, bioinfiltration swale | 12-foot lane, 8-foot parking, 5-foot sidewalk, 10-foot swale |
| East Cedar and South First, the Cultural District | Defined paved parking, narrower lanes, lighting, public art, a festival-street treatment, drop-off area by the Old Art Building | On East Cedar, two 10-foot lanes, 8-foot parking, 5-foot sidewalk |
| West River Street at the Fishtown entrance | North-side parking removed for a promenade with seat walls, planting and bollard lighting; angle parking on the south side | 17-foot-5-inch angle parking, 12- and 11-foot lanes |
| North Lake Street at the Harbor Shops | Stays one-way; west-side parking removed for a seating area with lake views; east-side angle parking reorganized | 18-foot one-way lane, 9-foot seating area, 5-foot sidewalk |
The South Lake Street concept stands out. The design rationale calls for keeping the street as narrow as possible, keeping a 20-foot cross-section, removing parking from the east-west side streets, and handling stormwater with low-impact methods. On a street that cannot simply get wider, one 12-foot northbound lane leaves room for parking and a sidewalk. That answers the width problem Mitchell described in June more directly than any widening could.
The drawings also show special-emphasis crosswalks, in-street pedestrian signs, and stop signs at connecting streets along North Lake Street. Another special-emphasis crossing is marked at M-22 and Main Street, right on the pavement that was just finished. For North Lake Street, the plan raises the idea of acquiring property for public parking.
All of these measurements are planning-level estimates, not surveys. The presentation says they need to be checked by a licensed survey before final design or construction.
The questions in the room on Sept. 14
The Sept. 14 board minutes show a practical response from the audience. Trustee Steve Scales said he appreciated the creativity of the vision and asked whether the firm had done similar work in another Michigan town. The presenter named Mio as a possible comparison and noted that Leland being unincorporated adds a challenge.
Other questions raised at the meeting, as recorded in the minutes:
- Parking. Would there be more spaces? Neither current nor proposed spaces had been counted yet, and the minutes note that parking at the church is not an option.
- Purpose and safety. Attendees asked what the vision is meant to solve and how cars and pedestrians would share the space. One comment ranked parking and pedestrian safety as the top concern.
- Scale. One attendee asked whether a one-way street sign might be enough.
- Money. Another pointed out that the township cannot afford $200,000 for Oxford Drive and asked how it could pay for this.
The Oxford Drive comparison is the most useful number in the minutes. It gives a real dollar amount for one street project the township has already found too expensive. In June, Mitchell told the Ticker he expected the full village program to run "into the millions." Trustee Greg Kuntz suggested holding meetings by neighborhood, and public comments were accepted through September.
From master plan to concept
Three weeks after that meeting, the document changed its name. The Oct. 6 draft no longer calls itself a master plan. It is now a "Conceptual Streetscape Design." The introduction says that through the community discussion, "it became clear that several important streetscape decisions would benefit from additional study, community dialogue, and design development before preferred solutions are established." It also says the document "should be understood not as a final prescription for the future of Leland's streets, but as a framework for the next phase of work."
The draft still puts North Lake Street, South Lake Street and their connecting side streets first. It calls them the heart of Leland's historic commercial and waterfront areas and "some of the community's most heavily used and constrained public spaces." One guiding principle reads "Respect what already works." Another asks that improvements "feel like they belong in Leland rather than importing a streetscape aesthetic from somewhere else." The final project goal is phased work as "funding, infrastructure projects, partnerships, and other opportunities become available."
The schedule is now short. The Oct. 12 board agenda listed four action items, and two concerned the streets. One was adopting the Road and Streetscape Master Plan for Leland Village west of M-22, from Hill Street to Reynolds. The other was accepting Influence Design Forum's parking recommendations. The draft's timeline puts the final report at Nov. 1. The board's decision will be recorded in the minutes on the Leland Township page, which also links the draft and the September presentation.
Who would pay
No funding plan exists yet. The September presentation lists a cost analysis for each street, a recommended order of work, and a final report as the next steps, and gives no dollar figures. In June, Mitchell told the Leelanau Ticker that the township would first need to see whether the public is willing to pay, "because this isn't money that we have." He described a likely public-private partnership, "the combination of a millage, possibly special assessment districts, or maybe even fundraising." Those are possibilities he named, not proposals before the board. If any of them reaches a ballot or a public hearing, owners along these streets will want to read the actual terms. This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. If an assessment or millage could affect your property, confirm the details with the township and your own advisors.
I've owned and managed property in Leelanau County for a long time. Questions like who maintains a street, how wide the right-of-way is, and whether an assessment district could be formed often come up later in a sale or purchase. If you own on North or South Lake, River, Cedar or one of the connector streets and want to talk through what this plan could mean for your parcel as it moves forward, I'm glad to sit down with you. Tom Alflen. Let's Connect.
