The county Road Commission will keep a quiet road in Glen Arbor Township as it is – unless residents want to pay for a suggested improvement.

At its meeting Tuesday, the commission reviewed a presentation from Brooks Road resident Kip Pope on a compromise solution reached by the 11 property owners for improving the quarter-mile long dirt and gravel road off County Road 675. Pope said he would rather see the road stay as it is, but recognizing some residents would like to have something done about dust and potholes that plague the unimproved road, a compromise was crafted. Pope said the residents agreed to support the paving of a 12 foot-wide one-lane road, with turnouts for passing.

Pope, who with his wife Janet owns and operates Brookhaven Resort located off Brooks Road, said the neighborhood reached the consensus after discussing different options for improving the road. If the Road Commission was to build to its county road standards – a 22 foot-wide paved travel portion with up to two feet of paved shoulder on both sides of the road – over 100 trees would have to be removed. “We like the road the way it is and would hate to see the unique character of this road destroyed,” Pope said.

Clerk Joe Nedow said the commission has received letters over the past year from the Buit and Mathes families to improve Brooks Road to a hard surface. The property owners first explored having a tar and chip surface applied, but the Road Commission management staff cautioned them the Road Commission would not support that effort.

All three commissioners said while they understood some of the residents’ concerns on dust, the commission would place a low priority on improving the road given its limited use.

“Everyone knew what kind of road this was when they bought their property. We have limited resources and I can’t see us putting any funds toward a project here this year or next,” said chairman Lee A. Bowen.

Member John Popa said the commission would consider issuing a permit for a project, but he agreed with Bowen that he couldn’t see the agency supporting the compromise plan. “If they want to build a road to our engineer’s satisfaction that meets their needs, as long as they pay for it, I don’t have a problem with it. If we pay for it, we’ll build it to our standards,” he said.

Both engineer James C. Johnson and manager Herb Cradduck said there were no operational problems with Brooks Road and saw no need to make any improvements at this time.

In other business, the commission:

• Unanimously approved abandoning a 100-feet section of the Overlook Road right-of-way in Leelanau Township. The commission entered into an agreement with NM Investments to realign Overlook Road with M-22 as part of the Timber Shores development. NM Investments paid for most of the work. In exchange, the Road Commission agreed to abandon the old Overlook Road right-of-way. The realignment work was completed earlier this month.

• Heard a report from Cradduck about ongoing road improvement projects. The work on County Road 669 from M-22 south to Ryant is continuing. Cradduck said the top course of pavement should be applied no later than the first week of October, given any problems with the weather.

• Unanimously authorized Bowen to be the commission’s representative during labor negotiations with the unionized workforce. The current contract expires on Dec. 31. Cradduck said the workers authorized its union representative Ken Nash to inform the commission they were ready to start negotiation talks for a new agreement.