Road Commission Backtracks on County Road KK

The Marquette County Road Commission now has to go back to the drawing board.

Protests last night from from residents, and other landowners, were more than enough to convince them to reconsider abandoning a road in Big Bay.

In February, the Huron Mountain Club asked the Road Commission to turn part of County Road KK over to them.

That’s the access road leading to the club.

They asked in 1982 and 1986, but they got turned down each time.

However, this time, the Road Commission went along with it.

But people say they’re concerned about still being able to access land they own inside the gates.

Road Commissioner Russell Williams said the commission’s only goal was to make sure people’s easements to use what would become a private road were maintained.

He said he felt the abandonment proposal did that.

Huron Mountain Club attorney Brian Sheridan said no one was going to be denied access to their property inside the club’s gates.

Those landowners also cited a long history of harassment by club security when trying to fish in the Salmon Trout River.

It’s outside the club’s gates and County Road KK crosses it.

They also say the Road Commission never notified anyone they were going to do this, which they’re required to do in the print media.

Kaet Collins Johnson owns property on Conway Lake inside the club grounds.

She said she and her mother visited The Mining Journal in Marquette earlier in the day, and with the help of an employee of the paper, went through archives to check on whether or not there was a notice anytime in January or February.

Johnson says there was none.

The Road Commission voted to have their attorney take another look at the abandonment to see that it was done properly.