Talk:Higgins Lake, Michigan

Article trimmed

I decided to trim a lot of irrelevant information from this article, because a lot of it seemed to pertain to other information besides the community itself. There was too much information written about the state parks, irrelevant subdivisions, and the lake itself. The community has no defined boundaries, so it is difficult to say what subdivisions are technically part of the Higgins Lake community. The Higgins Lake 48627 ZIP Code is one of the smallest and effectively obsolete ZIP Codes in the state. Of course, ZIP Code boundaries do not define unincorporated community boundaries, but the Higgins Lake ZIP Code does not extend into Gerrish Township. The former version of the article read as follows:

Higgins Lake is a small unincorporated community along the southern and western shores of Higgins Lake, a recreational and fishing lake in Roscommon County, in the U.S. state of Michigan. Higgins Lake is the name of the post office for the area, with ZIP code 48627. This ZIP code includes several other small communities and locales along the shores of the lake, including (moving counter-clockwise around the lake) Hillcrest, Lyon Manor, Detroit Park, Cook Corner, Sharps Corner, Almeda Beach, Oak Grove, Ritz Corner, Pine Bluffs, and Cottage Grove. Since all have Higgins Lake as a postal address, they are often all considered as part of the Higgins Lake community. The lake is situated on the boundary between Lyon Township on the west and Gerrish Township on the east. US 127 passes on the west side of the lake while I-75 and M-18 both pass a few miles to the east. Houghton Lake is just a few miles to the south.

The area has two state parks, South Higgins Lake State Park and North Higgins Lake State Park, located, as might be expected from the names, on opposite ends of the lake. Both provide public boat launches and camping, and are very popular in the summer months. The south park is older, larger, and more developed. The north park is located on what was once the world's largest seedling nursery. The 9900 acre (40 km²) lake is known for its deep, clear waters and is named after Sylvester Higgins, Michigan's first chief of the topographical department of the Michigan Geological Survey.

Beginning in the early 1990s, Higgins Lake has been at the center of a statewide debate in Michigan regarding the use of public road ends for the sunbathing, picnicking, lounging, and the placement of boat hoists. Riparian property organizations want to curtail the use of road ends by the general public. They are being challenged by public access advocates and state legislators.

There is also a Higgins Township in Roscommon County adjacent to Gerrish Township on the east.

Higgins Lake is one of the deepest inland lakes in the United States outside of the Great Lakes.

The 48627 ZIP Code does not, in fact, go around the lake and include any of those communities listed in the previous version. Since there are no defined boundaries for Higgins Lake, it is impossible to list neighborhoods or subdivisions. I mentioned the state parks as being in close proximity to the community, but no other information about the parks is necessary for the Higgins Lake community article, nor is any extra information about the lake itself included. I also do not see the relevance in mentioning the "use of public road ends" in the article. I like the area and visit there several times a year, but there really is no valuable information available to make the article any longer than what I rewrote. There are no credible sources online, and I think the only reason this community exists and has fringe notability for an article is because of the post office. This was a long and pointless explanation to a very low importance article, but if someone wants to complain or contest my edits, here you go. —Notorious4life (talk) 17:17, 19 January 2020 (UTC)