Four alternatives unveiled for Port Oneida changes.

A DRAWING of the “preferred alternative” calls for a visitor center at the Kelderhouse farm.

Although it will be at least four years before any visible changes are made in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, park service officials are urging the public to take advantage of a current opportunity to review and comment on plans for the district.

Port Oneida includes 19 historic farms and more than 3,400 acres of land in Cleveland and Glen Arbor townships in Leelanau County. The district presents “an excellent opportunity to preserve a rapidly disappearing landscape associated with the heartland of America,” according to a park service study of the area.

The district is the largest of its kind anywhere in the National Park Service system. Like many park service initiatives, however, the effort to preserve Port Oneida at Sleeping Bear has been anything but “rapid.”

In August 2005, Sleeping Bear superintendent Dusty Schultz announced that the park service had begun the process of planning a “large stabilization and rehabilitation project” and an associated Environmental Assessment (EA) for Port Oneida. In April 2006, she invited members of the public to comment on what should be included in the EA.

Earlier this month, Schultz announced that the EA was now available for public review. The EA describes and analyzes four alternative locations for a visitor contact station and employee housing at Port Oneida, including a “preferred alternative.”

Map shows the Port Oneida Rural Historic District.

“Port Oneida is experiencing increased visitation and currently lacks visitor support services,” according to the EA, released last week. “Basic facilities such as public restrooms, a visitor contact station, picnic shelters or adequate parking areas are non-existent. Social trails created between farms and the beach areas are causing natural and cultural resource damage and beach erosion. Visitors frequently park along road shoulders, creating a safety hazard to motorists and pedestrians,” the study said.

Four alternatives for meeting those concerns provide for a new visitor contact station, new employee housing, and improved traffic circulation in the district. Each of the alternatives included “rehabilitation and stabilization” of historic structures and “cultural landscapes.”

The alternatives are listed in the EA based on the location of the visitor contact station and employee housing. The “preferred alternative” calls on the visitor contact station to be located at the old Kelderhouse farm while employee housing would be created by “adaptively reusing” the old Carsten Burfiend farmhouse.

Using 2006 cost estimates, the cheapest of the four alternatives would be to place the visitor contact station on the old Charles Olsen farm for $674,000. The most expensive alternative would cost $769,000 and involve placing the visitor center at the Carsten Burfiend farm. The cost of the preferred alternative would be around $754,000
Although “planning money” for Port Oneida and other park projects has been included in the park service budget for the past several years, it’s unclear when money will be included to work on the visitor center or staff housing at Port Oneida.

“The last we heard, the money may be included in the 2011 budget,” said Lee Jamison, a National Park Service facilities manager. “But the funding has slipped a few years already, so it’s possible the money for this project may not be available until sometime after then,” he said.

Jamison explained that the “Kelderhouse” alternative was the park service’s “preferred alternative” for a variety of inter-related reasons, spelled out in detail in the EA.
“The primary reasons we prefer this alternative is that the Kelderhouse farm is well located in terms of pedestrian and vehicular access,” Jamison said. “It’s accessible from M-22 but it’s far enough off M-22 to be safe for people to stop.”

Jamison added that, historically, the Kelderhouse farm was known as a community gathering place and once included a post office. Also, the “negative impact” of using the Kelderhouse farm as a visitor contact station is minimal compared to other sites because the farm has already undergone changes, notably the removal of a barn many years ago.

The contact station would include “interpretive graphics” both inside and outside the farmhouse, a staff desk, storage, and a gathering place for small groups. Parking for 10 to 20 cars would be provided in a gravel lot on the farm.

Also under the “preferred alternative,” employee housing would be provided in one of two houses located at the nearby Carsten Burfiend farmstead. The house is 2,700 square feet with five bedrooms and one bathroom.

“It could be years before we have the money do this work at Port Oneida,” said Jamison, “but now is the time for the public to weigh in on what they’d like to see happen there as we continue to move forward with planning.”

The EA is available online at www.nps.gov/slbe with paper copies available at area libraries. On Wednesday, Oct. 3, the park service will hold an open house at the Lakeshore Visitor Center in Empire from 4 to 7 p.m. including a presentation at 5 p.m. on the EA. Public comments will be welcomed until Oct. 19.