News Photo by Crystal Nelson Becka Foster, bartender at the Alcona Brew Haus in Harrisville, pours a beer in the restaurant on Sept. 19.

HARRISVILLE — Sandy and Steve Arens already owned a grocery store and a laundromat in Harrisville, but have had to subsidize those businesses for the past four years because they do not pay for themselves.

Sandy Arens said that, in lieu of closing, they decided to start another business. They settled on a brewery, because it would be a reason for people to travel to Harrisville.

“People don’t come to Harrisville,” she said. “They drive through it, they drive around it, unless they’re coming to the state park. That’s really our only destination or draw.”

While their Alcona Brew Haus, opened in May, has been well-received by the public, Sandy Arens said it has been difficult to do business with Harrisville Township. She said township employees have harassed her business by, for example, stopping in to conduct a liquor license inspection at 5:30 p.m. the Friday of Labor Day weekend, when she had customers lined up out the door.

The Arens’ also claim the township has incorrectly assessed their property value and they’re being taxed at a rate that’s over 400% of their appraised value.

That kind of stuff “doesn’t entice people to come here,” Sandy Arens said.

Harrisville Township Supervisor Chad Spitznagel refused to comment on the matter.

The Arens are working to open another business in Northeast Michigan, but said it won’t be in Alcona County. Sandy would not say what that business venture might be.

“It’s sad, because we provide a lot of jobs to the county,” she said recently at her brewery. “I have about 40 employees who work here alone. That’s a very large employer for this area.”

The Alcona Brew Haus opened at a time when officials in Alcona County are working to boost economic development in the county. The county board announced in May commissioners have been working to revive its Economic Development Corp. and are working with officials from the Michigan State University Extension about opportunity zones, which are economically distressed areas that may be eligible for tax breaks.

While the Alcona Brew Haus has been successful thus far, officials in Alcona County know they need to make it easier for more entrepreneurs like the Arens to open shop. The county has struggled financially in recent years, eating up half of its cash savings in the last six years and cutting services and raising fees after voters last year twice rejected property tax proposals.

County board Chairman Craig Johnston said that, because most of the county’s economy is focused on outdoor recreation, it is largely dependent on tourism.

Johnston said that, about 30 or 40 years ago, the economy was largely driven by fishing in the spring and summer and hunting in the fall. However, Johnston says the fishing went away, as did much of the hunting, and the county was hurt by the closure years ago of the Wurtsmith Air Force Base in nearby Oscoda.

“We’re really operating on bare bones, trying to redo things to make it here,” he said. “As it hits businesses and people, it hits the government.”

Johnston said access to broadband internet is the number-one issue the public would like to see addressed. He said commissioners have “a pretty robust group of people” working on it, and he believes more widely available broadband would encourage tourists to stay in the county longer, and some might even choose to relocate to the county.

County commissioners plan to reestablish an economic development group and are taking a look at how various contaminated sites within the county might be cleaned up so they are ready for redevelopment.

The county recently received a $131,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, which will cover the cost of a baseline environmental assessment for the former Harrisville Auto and Sports Center on South U.S.-23.

DEGLE Brownfield Coordinator Julie Lowe said in an email that two new developers have plans for the property. She said Tom and Waynette Hamilton have an agreement to buy the property and would like to redevelop the property into a campground, with a campground store and recreational vehicle wash station.

Lowe said there are between 25 and 30 sites in Alcona County where contamination has been identified, most of which could be eligible for Brownfield grant funding.

“The community benefits when they use our programs to foster redevelopment,” she said. “Redevelopment of these properties help boost taxable property values, create jobs, and help to bring private investment into our communities. A developer still pays for construction and business costs, we just help with addressing the environmental conditions on the property.”

Johnston said the county is also working to determine whether there is any contamination at the former Lakeshore Terminal and Pipeline Co. property, located at the corner of Walker and U.S.-23 North.

The site used to store the jet fuel for the Wurtsmith Air Force Base, but now sits vacant and is for sale.

Johnston said the redevelopment the county wants to see is not just about the county’s bottom line and generating more property taxes.

It’s also about the community.

“If we could generate and produce and incentivize people to come here, businesses to be here and get people working, so that everybody has more money in their bank accounts, it’s going to help everybody,” Johnston said. “We want families to have disposable incomes and be able to afford things that they need to have.”

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.