Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation from state Senator Jonathan Lindsey seeking to properly map and finalize the border between Michigan and Indiana.
Lindsey, of Coldwater, told us back in October the effort has been going on for years, never quite being resolved. It all goes back to the days before Michigan was even a state.
“A lot of people are surprised when they find out that that border hasn’t been really officially fully surveyed and monumented since the early 1800s, and that’s been an ongoing problem,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey says the state Legislature in 2022 approved a bill that outlined Michigan’s responsibilities and provided funding to complete a joint effort between the two states to verify the border. However, unexpected delays mean the state commission set up to oversee the process will soon expire. Lindsey’s bill gives it another four years.
Lindsey didn’t expect the border project to result in any major changes.
“Most people with a lot more expertise on it who’ve worked in that space believe that it’ll be more about establishing this firm line and having it all recorded so that there are no questions going forward. The expectation is not that it ends up with large changes that are super impactful with loss of lands.”
Lindsey says legal issues, property disputes, Great Lakes preservation responsibilities, and even traffic enforcement have been complicated by the unclear state lines and jurisdictions.
In addition to extending the mandate of the state border commission to resolve the boundary questions, Lindsey’s legislation creates a mechanism to push resources down to county-level monumentation programs to do the work. He says those county offices are the real experts in determining property questions.
