Thriving Communities
We are sending out some kudos this week to Emmet County for the very impressive Comprehensive Plan its board of commissioners approved last month....
Over 60 people filled the PRA Bingo Hall, as it’s known in Benzie County, on a blustery Saturday to discuss ways to mend and build relations among county and township governments....
A costly legal battle between a big-box developer and Emmet County’s Bear Creek Township is winding down, and the news is mixed....
Traverse City’s Division Street is well named....
Nearly a year ago, we reported on the significant cultural and political divides in Benzie County that have led, in part, to two townships pulling out of countywide planning and zoning....
In two head-turning reversals, Benzie County has fired its zoning administrator, Craig Seger, and revoked its earlier decision to eliminate longtime county planner Dave Neiger....
A newly elected member of the Benzie County Board of Commissioners says the next couple of months will be a critical time for countywide planning and zoning in Benzie, and he also thinks it’s likely that longtime county Planner Dave Neiger is likely to stay on the county payroll despite previous attempts to oust him from his position....
Longtime Benzie County Planner Dave Neiger now has a job for at least a couple more months, but questions continue to surface about the future of county-wide planning and zoning in Benzie County....
We are looking far into the future, so don’t let current master plans, zoning, or political bickering hold you back....
Benzie County Zoning Administrator Craig Seger apologized to the planning commission Tuesday night for the furor caused by his role in the ouster of longtime Benzie County planner Dave Neiger....
Big things are happening in a small office in Houghton, Mich., on the campus of Michigan Technological University, and they are affecting kids in classrooms across the state, as well as citizen planners literally around the world....
Since starting my new job last week as a policy specialist with the Michigan Land Use Institute, I have gained a unique, inside view of the good work that is coming out of this shop....
The next Grand Vision workshops on March 20th at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center are all about regional transportation solutions for the future. ...
Those are all big changes if they are affecting your child – but the decisions about closing schools have much broader implications for the entire community....
“Handstands will help bring about world peace, for it is when we are upside down that we can best understand an opposing viewpoint.”...
With more than 1,700 local units of government, Michigan is not a state that readily embraces regional planning. Local control is fervently defended. No big government bureaucrat will tell us how to plan our communities....
I want to like Meijer. They are a Michigan-based company. They even sell fruits and vegetables grown by local farmers. But they flat-out refuse to respect Acme Township’s right to manage growth and maintain small-town character....
Nearly two years ago, 34 people, including yours truly, formed a new community group with a big mission: launch a Land Use and Transportation Study that would allow people in the Grand Traverse region to work together to figure out how they want the area to grow in the coming decades....
You know that sinking feeling we get driving by our favorite orchard and seeing rows of new houses replacing cherry trees? Or when we shop at ugly, new, big-box stores for low prices even though we know we are helping to drive small, local stores out of business? Or when we find ourselves stuck in long lines of traffic just trying to get home for dinner—or take the kids to the beach?...
