Cheboygan City Council votes to transfer 5-acre property to Michigan DNR
CHEBOYGAN — The Cheboygan City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to transfer a five-acre parcel of property to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
"The sale of this property occurred before I was an employee of the city," said Cheboygan City Manager Dan Sabolsky.
The sale of the city-owned property on Western Avenue to the DNR had been approved by the council in May 2021.
More: City approves sale of property on Western Avenue
Earlier this month, city staff checked to see if the city had gotten paid for the parcel. That's how they discovered the property had never been formally transferred to the DNR and the city had subsequently not received the payment.
"So, what we're doing right now is to try to finish that. We want to be able to sell the property to them, get the proper deeds done, which I believe Steve Lindsay already has everything ready to go," said Sabolsky. "Once you guys approve this, then I can move forward with the sale of that property and we will get a check from MDNR."
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The five-acre parcel was put out for bid prior to the sale back in 2021. The DNR was the highest bidder.
The city council needed to give their authorization for Sabolsky to sign any and all documentation to move the transfer of property forward, but that did not happen at the time.
Several council members said they were surprised to see this matter on the agenda again, over a year after they thought it had been finalized.
Sabolsky said city staff has been catching up on things and going back over items. They are finding some that have not been completed, and are now trying to get those things moving forward again.
Sabolsky said the matter got lost in the shuffle during the transition of city managers, when former city manager Tom Eustice retired and Sabolsky was hired.
The original piece of property on Western Avenue was just over 16 acres in size. A five-acre parcel of that property was split off for sale to the DNR, with the goal of creating a rustic campground near the North Central State Trail.
More: City tables sale of property to gather more information
Sabolsky said he thinks the city needs to look at the remaining property, along with other city-owned properties, to determine future use.
"So we have to look at that and consider what do we really want to do with that," he said. "If we do want to sell it, we're going to take some extra precautions, ensure that we can get in there quickly if there are some major issues."
Contact Reporter Kortny Hahn at khahn1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @khahnCDT.
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan council transfers five acres to State of Michigan
