Fact Sheets

Most Special Reports are provided in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. PDF allows you to view these publications exactly as they looked in print, as well as to save for later viewing and share with friends. Click the "PDF" links for these files, or visit Adobe's Web site to download the free Acrobat Reader software required for viewing these files.

State's Proposed Crystal Lake Boat Launch: Three Ways to Make it Right | PDF The state DNR has proposed a new boat launch for Crystal Lake; the Institute has three recommendations that would make it right.

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Transportation Fact Sheets | PDF The Institute's Michigan Transportation and Land Use Coalition has published four new fact sheets. They describe in clear terms where state transportation policy has taken a wrong turn, and how to get it back on track. The fact sheets are designed as tools for activists and citizen groups to understand how to overcome the state's primary obstacles to better transportation choices in Michigan.

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10 Ways to Increase Michigan's Prosperity TEXT The Michigan Land Use Leadership Council presented the Legislature a bipartisan plan to improve the quality of life, job security, and economic opportunity. The Michigan Land Use Institute and United Cerebral Palsy identified 10 of the council's recommendations that if enacted will produce the greatest results.

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Smart Roads: Grand Traverse TEXT | PDF Traverse City area residents joined with the Institute and the grassroots group Coalition for Sensible Growth to develop an innovative, citizen-led program to meet the Grand Traverse region’s transportation needs now and in the 21st century. It’s an alternative to the costly and destructive Traverse City bypass proposal.

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Smart Roads: Petoskey TEXT The Michigan Department of Transportation is proposing to build a $70 million highway bypass in Bear Creek and Resort townships near Petoskey. The Institute is working with township officials and community groups to promote less expensive and more effective solutions to the summer traffic problem in the area.

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Drain Code Fact Sheets (see Unfair Drainage Laws – 5 pdf docs) TEXT Citizens across suburbanizing areas of Michigan organized in the late 1990s to stop property destruction and environmental damage from large-scale stormwater drainage projects. They discovered that citizens paid for these projects even though they primarily benefit and foster sprawling subdivisions and strip malls. The Michigan Drain Code is the outdated law that allows county drain commissioners to take citizens’ property and destroy habitat and water quality largely on behalf of private business. The Institute’s Public Trust Alliance joined with other grassroots groups to reform the Drain Code and make it subject to the checks and balances citizens expect in a democracy.

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Natural River Fact Sheets (4 in set) | PDF Learn how communities and public policy makers can use the Michigan Natural River Program to protect some of the state's most treasured natural features and most valued natural resources.

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