Older homes on deep sand, and sidewalks the owner answers for.
Harrison began as a lumber town, with sawmills on the shores of Budd Lake, and it has been a city since 1891. Today it is the Clare County seat, and its housing is old. In the Census Bureau's 2024 five-year survey, the median Harrison home dates to 1968, with about 41 percent of the city's 1,213 housing units built before 1960 and about three in four before 1980. The same survey counts only 13 units built in the 2010s and none since 2020. On streets like these, our work is mostly replacing what is already there: walks, approaches, driveways and garage floors that have done their time.
Under those houses is sand. USDA soil maps for the land around the city are led by Graycalm sand and Montcalm loamy sand, with Mancelona and Grayling sands close behind, all rated well drained to excessively drained. NRCS established the Graycalm series in Clare County in 1977, with its reference site in Frost Township. Sand like this sheds water fast, which works in a slab's favor when the ground freezes. The weak point is loose sand, so we compact the subbase, add gravel bedding, and pay close attention to slab edges, where sand tends to wash out after a hard rain.
Harrison spelled out its permit setup in Ordinance 2026-05, adopted in September 2026. Clare County handles building permits and inspections inside the city, and the city does not issue construction permits. Harrison keeps zoning, right-of-way and driveway approvals, and sheds, fences, decks and garages start with the city's Zoning Compliance Form. The same ordinance added a corner-lot rule. A garage or shed may now sit between the house and the side street, provided it stays at least 25 feet back from that street and no closer to the front street than the front wall of the house.
Sidewalks are on the owner here. Harrison's code makes owners keep the public walk along their property in good repair and holds them liable if someone is hurt on a section left in bad shape. Any rebuild must follow the City Engineer's line, grade and slope, and when the city flags an unsafe walk, the notice gives at least seven days to start. Winter adds its own load. NOAA recorded 12 inches of snow in Harrison during the February 23 to 24, 2012 storm, and the state code sends footings for a deck or addition 42 inches below grade.
What Harrison concrete runs into
- City notices on unsafe sidewalk sections, with as little as seven days to begin repairs.
- Walks, approaches and garage floors at homes built before 1960, about 41 percent of the city's housing.
- Loose Graycalm and Grayling sand that slides out from slab edges if the base is not compacted.
- Corner-lot garage and shed pads that must stay 25 feet back from the side street.
- Approaches along M-61 on Main Street and 1st Street, a state trunkline under MDOT.
- Deck piers on Budd Lake lots, set 42 inches below grade under the state code.
