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Donald R. Huff,
Chairman
Eugene S. Fleming, Vice Chairman
Jack Demming, Member
Michael A. Roper, Managing Director
Robert M. Tholl, Office Manager |
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County vs Platted vs Private
Prior to 1932 all County roads were taken care of by
each respective Township. In 1931 Public Act No. 130 was passed and was
called the Township Road Relief Act. It is now referred to as the McNitt
Act. This act required the Counties to set up a Road Commission for the
whole County and to take over jurisdiction of 20% of the townships roads
each year, 1932 through 1936. These roads were certified with the State
of Michigan and became the base of each Road Commission's network of
roads. There were two types of roads that were not certified by the Road
Commission during these years: Private roads and Platted roads that only
existed on paper. Private roads are any roads that the right-of-way of
which has private ownership, including driveways. There are still many
platted roads in the county that have never been developed. They have
been dedicated for the use of the public by some supervisor's plat but
are no longer marked and in many cases are wooded over. The adjoining
property owners on these roads can get them abandoned in Circuit Court
or they could be improved and made into County maintained roads but most
of them just lay forgotten.
We do not have jurisdiction over Gaylord and Vanderbilt streets and
these articles will not talk about them. Act 51 of 1951 established the
funding of the State Road systems and also qualified Primary and Local
County Roads. Primary Roads are the main "farm to market"
roads in the county. Some Primary roads in Otsego County are Old 27,
McCoy Road, Mancelona Road and Dickerson Road. Local roads basically
serve the landowners in a township. They are often gravel roads and
sometimes barely navigable trail roads. Most Primary and Local roads are
maintained year round by the Road Commission. We have 186 miles of
seasonal roads that are not maintained in the winter but are open for
snowmobilers and skiers. These roads either do not have any houses on
them or are too narrow for our trucks to plow.
The Road Commission's primary concern is to keep up the existing roads,
the maintenance of which takes up the major part of our budget. The Road
Commission will only take over a new section of road when we are given
the right-of-way (80 ft width) and when it has been brought up to our
specifications (paved) by someone other than the Road Commission.
Construction on a county road (Example: Improving a trail road to a wide
paved road) by law requires us to get 50% of the funds from an outside
source. Some counties have carried this on to 100%. At this time Otsego
County requires 75% of construction to be paid by others. Anyone can
enter into agreement with us for construction but usually it is the
Townships.
We have had many people stop in who were led to believe the County would
take care of their road and after the first snowfall find out that it
was not a County Road or was too narrow to be plowed. If you are
contemplating buying a home or building on a County Road, I would
suggest that you stop in and inquire as to the status of the road going
past the house.
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