At a special public hearing last night, a company hired by the city of Mackinac Island recommended that the city be divided into two historic districts, commercial and residential, in the downtown area. But the committee charged with studying how to preserve historic buildings on the island took no action on the recommendation.
Some islanders worry that creating an official historic district would allow Lansing and Washington D.C. to get involved in renovation and construction of their buildings. Others said it was important to put regulations in place to prevent buildings from the early 1800's from being ruined.
Steve Moskwa, who serves on the Mackinac Island Historic District study committee, say the island has done just fine so far on its own.
"We're evolving," he says. "Hotels have been built. Inns have been built. Restaurants have been built. Shops have been built. They're all in good character. The right taste. I don't know who on the outside decided we're losing something. They've never showed us how that's arbitrarily decided."
The National Park Service has the Island on a watch list over its status as a National Historic Landmark.
"What does a watch list mean? I've never seen anything written down. These are outside bodies, telling us how we are supposed to survive here. We've survived 230-some years. We have a living, breathing, sustaining community, many generations of family and summer workers. It's a great place. There is nothing wrong with what we do here!" Moskwa says
But fellow committee member and City Councilman Mike Hart says the threatened demolition of an historic building downtown called the McNally Cottage is a warning:
"The essence of the island that brings people here is the authentic and true, rather than artificial step back in time," he says. "It's not just a slogan.
"If we, having presented ourselves as this, if we suddenly or over time, by steps and starts, develop away from that authenticity, then one day we'll all wake up and it's no longer that. Then we become a lie. And lies are hard to sell."
The committee says it will continue to look over the recommendations. An emergency moratorium on demolition on the island runs out on July 15th.