LANSING – The House of Representatives passed a plan from State Representative Steve Lindberg (D-Marquette) that may enable property owners of "landlocked" land parcels access to their property through State owned land. It was the first bill introduced by Lindberg, a freshman lawmaker, to be passed by the House.
"Landowners should have a reasonable way to access their land – whenever the option is possible," Lindberg said. "There are many parcels of land in the Upper Peninsula that have no recorded roadway and are surrounded by state land. My bill will clarify when residents have the right to an easement over state property."
Under current law, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources "may" grant a roadway easement providing that several conditions are met, such as that there is no other access to the land, the road is made open to the public, and the construction of the road does not conflict with the management plan of the DNR. Under Lindberg's bill, the DNR "shall" grant the easement, assuming those conditions are met. The bill also requires the DNR to give written notice, with specific details of reasoning, when any easement request is denied.
Lindberg noted that in many areas of the Upper Peninsula most of the major tracts of land are owned either by the Federal or State Government. This causes an almost inevitable circumstance where access to private land might need to be over public property.
"In addition, easements to private land typically results in an increased value of the previously landlocked property, resulting in larger amounts of tax dollars to our local units of government," Lindberg said. "This is a glitch that needs to be fixed, and my bill does that. I received several letters and phone calls from constituents concerned about this problem, and I was pleased to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get my first bill passed and ease a burden on Michigan landowners."