National Park Service
Notice of Realty Action – Proposed land exchange between Consumers Energy and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, located in Glen Arbor and Empire, Michigan.
The National Park Service (NPS) has determined that a land exchange is necessary for Consumers Energy to facilitate a substation expansion and upgrade project to improve system delivery, and in exchange will release easement interests encumbering NPS owned property. P.L. 91-479, 84 Stat. 1075, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to make this land exchange. This notice is to provide a 45-calendar day public comment period.
NPS would convey fee simple title to Consumers Energy on a 50-foot-wide buffer surrounding their existing substation while reserving a scenic easement, containing approximately 0.52 acres, which is identified by the NPS as Tract No. 40-133A, located in Glen Arbor, MI. In exchange Consumers Energy would release easement interests in all of or a portion of an 18.77 acre parcel which is identified by the NPS as Tract No. 15-107, and all of or a portion of an 37.75 acre parcel which is identified by the NPS as tract 16-142, located in Empire, MI. For further details contact: Aaron Sandine, Realty Specialist, National Park Service, Interior Regions 3, 4, 5, Land Resources Division, 601 Riverfront Drive, Omaha, NE 68102. Phone Number: (402) 661-1966
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore land status maps titled Segments 15, 16, and 40 depict the above referenced Tract Nos. 15-107, 16-142, and 40-133A, which are the land exchange parcels. The maps are on file and available for inspection at the headquarters of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, 9922 Front Street, Empire, MI 49630 and at the National Park Service, Midwest Regional Office, Land Resources Program Center, 601 Riverfront Drive, Omaha, NE 68102. Comments will be accepted from the public at park headquarters until April 28, 2024. Adverse comments will be evaluated, and this action may be modified or vacated accordingly. In the absence of any action to modify or vacate, this realty action will become the final determination of the Department of Interior.