CHAPTER 4
COMMUNITY SERVICES AND FACILITIES
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One of the primary contributors to the quality of life of a community is the type and variety of services available to both local residents and visitors to the area. In many cases, a smaller community does not have the financial resources to provide all or even most of the services normally considered essential in an urban area. The more populated the community, the greater the variety of public, semi-public, and private services made available to residents.
This chapter of the Master Plan will identify the types and extent of services now available to residents and businesses in Long Rapids Township. Even though these services may be sufficient for the needs of the current population, future development may increase the demand to upgrade or expand the services and facilities the Township needs to maintain a satisfactory living environment in the future.
Township Facilities
The Township has three facilities located adjacent to each other in the community of Long Rapids. The original two-story stone Township Hall has a gymnasium, meeting rooms, full kitchen, accessible restrooms, and elevator. The hall is rented out for special events, and it is open to residents for exercise and basketball. The new Township building is handicap accessible and houses township offices, meeting space, voting facility, and fire department.
The third building was the old Township Fire Hall and currently is used to store a fire- rescue trailer and truck.
Water and Sewage Disposal
Long Rapids Township does not currently provide a public water system. Residents and business owners must rely on on-site private wells for domestic drinking water. Likewise, Township residents also rely on on-site septic systems for wastewater treatment. Health Department District # 4 regulates and maintains a permitting system for private wells and septic systems. Two important determinants for siting a septic system are soil suitability and depth to bedrock. Chapter 3 - Natural Resources discusses the geology and soils of the Township and the aquifer vulnerability to contamination.
Solid Waste
Long Rapids Township does not presently offer solid waste management or municipal waste disposal service for its residents. For roadside pick up, residents and business owners rely on private waste haulers, who must dispose of the rubbish in a licensed landfill. The private waste haulers picking up solid waste in the Township are Jewell’s Disposal Service, L&N Disposal, and John Karr. As an alternative, residents may take their own rubbish to the Alpena County Resource Center on M-32 and pay a per-bag price for disposal.
Montmorency-Oscoda- Alpena Solid Waste Management Authority provides a recycling bin located in the parking lot between the two township buildings. Acceptable items include plastic, cans, newspaper, and cardboard. Residents of nearby townships may also use the service.
Solid waste management planning is done on the county level with Northeast Michigan Council of Governments having the responsibility of preparing and amending the plans, which are developed at approximately five year intervals.
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Utility Services
Presque Isle Electric & Gas Cooperative provides electricity for most of the Township. A small area in the southern portion of the Township receives electric service from Alpena Power Company. Natural gas is available generally along the more populated M-65 and Long Rapids Road corridors. Residents may purchase liquid propane gas or fuel oil from several suppliers throughout the area, while some residents elect to heat with wood, corn, or pellets.
The primary local telephone service is provided by Verizon, while residents and commercial users have the option of choosing long distance service from several providers. Local access to high speed internet communication is provided to nearly all the Township through SpeedNet. Nearby Manning Hill, south of the Township, is the location for SpeedNet’s tower. Where cable television service is available, Charter Communications offers high speed internet service. Residents may also choose satellite or dial-up internet service.
Like natural gas service, cable television service, provided by Charter Communications, is available in Long Rapids Township along the M-65 and Long Rapids Road corridors. Residents may purchase individual satellite systems for television programming. Local channels including the major networks and public television are available with individual antennas.
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Services
Law enforcement protection for Long Rapids Township is primarily the responsibility of the Alpena County Sheriffs’ Department and Michigan State Police. The County Sheriffs’ Department, located in Alpena, is responsible for road, snowmobile, marine safety, and off-road vehicle patrols. The State Police Post is also located in Alpena and provides supplemental support to the County Sheriffs’ Department. The Alpena County Jail provides lock-up facilities for use by all law enforcement agencies in the County.
The rate of serious crime for Alpena County is generally low, as reported by the Michigan State Police web site.
The all-volunteer Long Rapids Township Fire Department, located in the community of Long Rapids, serves the Township and provides mutual aid support to all fire departments in Alpena County, as well as Alpena County Regional Airport, Hillman, Posen, and East Grand Lake (Presque Isle Township) fire departments. The fire department generally has 13-14 volunteer firefighters. Officers include a chief, assistant chief, captain, and two lieutenants. Fire department equipment includes two pumpers, a new tanker, and a fire/rescue trailer equipped for water, ice, and sinkhole rescue.
The countywide enhanced 911 emergency service, operated from the Sheriff’s Department in Alpena, is provided for all county residents. Locally, Long Rapids Township provides non-transporting ambulance service and has eight qualified emergency medical first responders, some of which also serve as firefighters.
Transportation
The major highway transportation facility that directly serves Long Rapids Township is M-65, the major north-south route. M-32 just outside the Township boundary serves as a major east-west route. Long Rapids Road is the other east-west route, running directly into the north side of Alpena. Transportation system for the Township is shown on Map 2 in Chapter 1.
The Michigan Department of Transportation is responsible for maintenance of the state trunkline in the Township. However, maintenance is often contracted to Alpena County Road Commission, which is also responsible for maintaining county primary and secondary roads. These highway transportation facilities provide a vital link for bringing goods, services, and people to and from the region.
Regional air service is available at Alpena County Regional Airport nearby on M-32. Commercial air service is provided by Northwest Airlink (Mesaba Airline), offering transportation between northern Michigan and Detroit Metro Airport, with regularly scheduled daily flights. United Parcel Service and Federal Express provide air freight service at this airport.
Library, Schools, Cemetery
Long Rapids Township residents have access to the Alpena County Library, located in Alpena. Library services include interlibrary loan, computer and internet access, reference library, DVD’s, movies, and youth reading program.
Long Rapids Township youth attend public school at Long Rapids Elementary School, and then proceed on to Alpena for junior high and high school. There are no private schools in the Township. Nearby post high school education is offered at Alpena Community College.
The Long Rapids Cemetery is located on M-65, just north of the Long Rapids community. The cemetery is operated jointly with Wellington Township.
Medical Facilities
Alpena Regional Medical Center is the main health care facility in the county and offers a full range of in-patient and out-patient services, along with specialty services such as a cancer center affiliated with the University of Michigan Health Systems, only fixed MRI in the region, PET scanner, mobile mammography unit, inpatient rehabilitation unit, only hyperbaric chamber in the region, and Health Plex. The Alpena office of the Health Department District #4 also provides limited health care services.
Recreational Facilities
Long Rapids Township owns two recreation facilities. Long Rapids Township Park, a ten acre site on M-65, just across the Thunder Bay River from the old township hall features a canoe launch, fishing, and outdoor restrooms. Gleason Field on M-65 in the southern portion of the Township has bleachers, dugouts, backstop, and a concession building. It is generally used for Little League baseball and may also be used by residents and the general public.
While not owned or operated by Long Rapids Township, Sunken Lake Campground/Park is frequently utilized by township residents. The following description of the site is quoted from the Alpena County Recreation Plan. “Sunken Lake Campground/Park is located on Sunken Lake Park Road just north of the Presque Isle County line. Although access is gained to the park from Long Rapids Township, the entire park is located in Presque Isle County on Sunken Lake. This 160 acre site is owned by Alpena County and offers fishing, swimming, and boating. A day use area has picnic tables, charcoal grills, playground equipment, a ball diamond, and pavilion. A covered foot bridge provides access to an island with nature trails. A camping area offers 55 trailer camping sites with electricity and water available. There are two bathrooms with showers, a dumping station, a fish cleaning station, and a boat ramp/dock.”
As was mentioned in Chapter 3, State forest land makes up about 16 percent of Long Rapids Township’s total area. State forest land is designated for multi-purpose recreational use by the general public, as well as for timber harvesting. Recreational use of the land generally entails hunting. Some hiking and nature observation opportunities are also available.
Two designated recreational trails run through Long Rapids Township. The Hillman-Alpena Trail (Trail #4) runs east-west along the southern boundary of the Township. This trail is a former D&M railroad grade and is designated for multiple uses, but no wheeled motorized vehicles are allowed. Snowmobiling is the primary use. Snowmobile Trail #464 runs through State land to Herron Road along the eastern boundary. This trail is a connector between the Alpena-Mackinac Trail and the Hillman-Alpena Trail.
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