Ice Storm 2025 Update #4

A storm like several days of hurricanes....

Eight days after the ice storm hit, we’d say a week, but even one day is a long time without power or heat, we’re grateful.

When fire consumes your town, you’re left with ashes, standing chimneys, and little else. The same with tornadoes, with no ashes or chimneys, but the same landscape, often described as a war zone. Since the last war on American soil was in 1890 at the Battle of Wounded Knee, our experience of war zones is only from television, but for disaster zones, an ice storm is unique.

Fittingly, a unique event for a unique town.

For over a year, we’ve heard a big reason we, on both sides of the aisle, care about the zoning code is to preserve and protect our uniqueness, the things that make us special.

When ice consumes your town, you are left with … downed wood, downed power lines, and other problems that are real and costly both in time and money, and even life-threatening. Yet, what we also see is a catastrophic event that didn’t cause any loss of life, or relatively speaking, a lot of significant structural damage to homes and buildings.

Even at the local gas station, two workmen said they’d seen so many near misses, inches between a tree and a roof line, or a downed telephone pole and a garage. They said it was uncanny.

In a way, the storm was Mother Nature forcing all of us to spring clean and start anew. She took down our deadwood in a way no legislation or environmental warnings could, yet with a gentle touch. Today we’ve seen people from six to eighty-six outside filling wheelbarrows, picking up stick by stick, and helping their neighbors do the same. No demographics about an aging population speak as loudly as what we see when we work together.

We’ve spent the past year persevering, together laboring through so many issues, to come to where we are today. Grateful, united, and looking forward.

Tell us about what is being done for many in the community, now 8 days still in the dark cold.

The Brief

• Full or part-time residents should sign up for www.smart911.com to help emergency services in the future. This provides Emmet county with key information about you for notification, evacuation and other emergencies. It is designed to help 911 wherever you live.

• Emmet county is coordinating by official communication emergency services across the region. BeAlert Emergency Notification System: Sign up at www.cce911.com. Emmet County website: www.emmetcounty.org Facebook: CCE911, Emmet County Sheriff’s Office, Petoskey Department of Public Safety, Emmet County.

• The City Facebook page, HS Police Facebook page, Petoskey Facebook Page, and the City website provide updates when they can.

• Non-Emergency Citizen Requests: 211 or (231) 348-1704

• For the latest updates, visit www.gtlakes.com, follow us on Facebook, or call 1-888-485-2537.

• Sign up for the City Emails to stay up to date or text HARBORSPRINGS (in CAPS) to the number 91896 to receive updates on your phone. Remember to confirm YES when asked to reply.

  

  The Winding Road to Home

Help Needed and Help Offered

Big picture Michigan

The bigger picture in Michigan - Over the course of a few days, Northern Michigan’s maple syrup industry suffered one of the worst natural disasters in its history—and most people don’t even know it happened. Fellow sugarmakers need our help restoring their woods after the ice storm. Those in need include Troy Richard (Gaylord), Steve Olds (Alba), Currey Farms (Charlevoix), 4D Acre Farms (Hawks), Maple Dale Farm (Atlanta), Christi & Todd Petersen (Maple Moon Sugarbush/Petoskey) - plus many moreplease help if able: https://gofund.me/d6f17920

Food

• Please donate & help available at Manna Food Project: https://www.mannafoodproject.org/about/

• Please donate & help available at Harbor Springs Food Pantry: https://www.facebook.com/HarborSpringsFoodPantry/

• Pick up food at the local groceria’s - they may have free food available to help.

People

• If you cannot find help (non-emergency) feel free to reach out to weloveharborsprings@gmail.com, and we will try to track down some answers. We have volunteers that can help you or drive you to Walgreens, Kebel or to the phone stores to re-up your monthly plans.

• Nate Graham is coordinating extra help for people cleaning up yards, who need extra food, or need small repairs. Please text him on his mobile, and he will coordinate help: (231) 838-6254. There are many able-bodied young people and contractors willing to help.

Clean-Up

• Debris Management: On 4-5-25, Emmet County Emergency Management added three additional debris drop locations for Emmet County residents. For more information: Debris Drop-off Locations. EOC reminds citizens these sites are only for tree debris. Thank you to the Little Traverse Bay Conservancy.

• Storm Damage Assessment – Your Help is Needed Damage assessment teams have begun their work, utilizing both ground and air teams to ensure a comprehensive evaluation. This process will continue over the coming weeks as we gather critical information and assess the full extent of the impact. If you have experienced damage to your home or property, we kindly ask that you report it through the link below. Your input will be invaluable in ensuring that resources and assistance are directed to those who need them most.

  Self-Reporting Survey: Complete Damage Report

• Storm Damage Clean Up and Repair: Residents are encouraged to use caution when obtaining services related to storm damage. Residents are encouraged to:

  • Get in touch with your insurance company,

  • Speak to a local licensed professional

  • Review credentials and references

  • Get more than one written estimate

  • Ask for a contract and read it carefully.

  • Avoid paying in cash, and do not pay the full amount until the job is completed to your satisfaction.

• Generators: For those on portable generators that now need to get your furnace or water pump running, don’t hack the generator connection into your panel. Electricians have some ways to help wire the generator safely without causing risk for those rebuilding the power system. Call an electrician!

Construction Resources /Permit Process

For residents of Emmet County seeking clarification on permitting requirements for damage repairs—especially those involving structural or electrical elements—please be assured that the Emmet County Construction Resources Department is fully engaged in providing essential services to support the safe repair and reconstruction of affected properties.

The Department is pleased to inform the public that building permits related to storm damage will be issued at no cost to homeowners and licensed contractors. This initiative reflects our commitment to alleviating financial burdens during recovery, and we strongly encourage all repair and reconstruction efforts to be properly permitted to maintain public safety. Information can be obtained on the Emmet County website, link below. Should you require additional information or assistance with the permitting process, please do not hesitate to contact our department (231)348-1735 or email pzcr@emmetcounty.org. We are here to assist you throughout this recovery phase. https://www.emmetcounty.org/departments/construction_resources

Shelters Offering Vital Support:

Warming shelters remain operational and are ready to assist with food, water, and medical care. Location status and hours will be changing and updated daily

Updated For April 6, 2025:

• Odawa Hotel: 24 hours, 1444 US-31, Petoskey, MI 49770

• Pellston High School: Closed, 172 Park St. Pellston, MI 49769

• Resort Township Hall: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. 2232 Resort Pike Rd, Petoskey, MI 49770

• Bear Creek Township Hall: 24 hours, 373 N Division Rd, Petoskey, MI 49770

• Petoskey City Hall: closing after 4-4-25,101 E Lake St, Petoskey, MI 49770

• Petoskey Genesis Church, Monday 4-7 to Thursday 4-10, 9am to 5pm on 4-4-25, 1124 Northmen Dr. Petoskey, MI 49770

• Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic Church: 24 hours, 150 W. Main St, Harbor Springs, MI 49740

• Church of the Straits: CLOSED, contact Bill Doest 269-650-1642 for assistance

• Springvale Twp. Hall: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. , 8198 E. Mitchell, Petoskey MI 49770

• Cross Village Community Center: 24 hours, 5949 Wadsworth, Cross Village MI

• Bliss Township Hall- 24 hours, 265 W. Sturgeon Bay Tr., Levering MI 49755

• Center Township Hall- 12pm to 8pm , 981 W. Van Rd., Pellston, MI 49769

• Epsilon Community Church- (10am – 8 pm) 8204 E. Mitchell, Petoskey, MI 49770 (hot showers and Laundry Facilities available) bring your own detergent. Call 231-348-8432

Resources

• Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation has launched an Emergency Response Fund to support local recovery efforts. Their intention is to keep this open for future emergencies.

Letter

April 7, 2025

The Honorable Mayor Tom Graham

City Manager Victor Sinadinoski

City Councilperson Micheal Behrmann
City Councilperson Jaime Melke
City Councilperson Kathy Motschall
City Councilperson Wendy Reeve
160 Zoll Street

Harbor Springs, MI 49740

Dear Mr. Mayor, Victor, City Council Members,

Thank you for the leadership over the past week since the ice storm brought everything in the city to a standstill. We appreciate everything you and all the city employees have done to restore both power and a sense of getting back to business.

As you know, we as a city have many important issues coming up for review and decision-making, including a published meeting schedule for the zoning code revisions, the 45-day public comment period on the electric bond $10M proposal which ends in early May, and the performance review of the City Manager.

All of these issues depend on input from the community-at-large, which right now is a community fully involved in dealing with a catastrophic event. As much as people care about setbacks, short-term rentals and substations, city officials and residents focus in the near future will be on the safety, security and restoration of their homes and businesses.

Assistance from county, state and federal sources will be available and will require time-consuming paperwork to apply. Our already busy city staff will be tasked with these extra time-sensitive projects, which will take time away from longer-term issues.

We are asking that you, the City Council, and the City Manager agree to pause and re-set the timelines for discussion on the zoning code revision, the City Manager’s review, and extend the 45-day electric bond comment period.

Extending the time frame for these important items by 30-45 days will give everyone time to deal with storm-related issues and give full attention back to the city’s administrative and planning processes. We are concerned we allow ample time for property owners’ comments and for the inclusion of all voices to be heard as we extend our community input into the upcoming summer months.

Thank you again for your leadership during this challenging week.

Sincerely, We Love Harbor Springs on behalf of the comments and concerns relayed to us.

A Final Thank You

Thank you for reading our We Love Harbor Springs newsletter and, more importantly, for loving Harbor. Our 51^th newsletter just came out on Substack, with our first one published May 9, 2024. We started by focusing on the zoning code and how to increase communication between the city, property owners, and residents to find the best path forward. We’re well along that path.

We invite you to take a few minutes to look through the earlier newsletters as they are an excellent resource for information and education on the many topics that have been raised. They’re an easy place to catch up on what’s been done, what’s next, and where we need your voices going forward.

To see the archive of past newsletters:

1. Open your newsletter email and scroll all the way to the end

2. Click RESTACK, CANCEL

3. Past articles will all come up (we hope…).Updates via text, phone, social media, website, and email? Wherever you are, we’ll try to reach you.

More Pictures

The tops of trees, and at the bottom of trees is standing water from all the rain. Next to Boyne Highlands entrance these linemen stand in 4 foot of water while their mates re-establish the connections.