All News
Last week the Grand Traverse region took a historic step toward enhancing the region’s already outstanding water resources when local leaders voted to remove three dams from the Boardman River....
The Grand Vision has had more citizen involvement - over 15,000 residents - than any other planning process ever conducted in this region, and has engaged environmental groups, business leaders and civic organizations....
After almost 18 months of citizen workshops, interviews, surveys, and balloting involving more than 15,000 people, the Grand Vision is ready to roll out a 50-year development plan. And Mr. Shetler thinks implementing it is key to spurring Kalkaska’s turnaround....
With the votes tallied and the surveys sifted, the results of the six-county, citizen-based Grand Vision land use and transportation study indicate that residents of Benzie County and the five other counties in the Grand Traverse region largely agree on how they’d like to see the region grow over the next 50 years....
We are sending out some kudos this week to Emmet County for the very impressive Comprehensive Plan its board of commissioners approved last month....
Leaders from across the Grand Traverse region gathered last month to start looking for ways to make sure that The Grand Vision—a six-county, 50-year, citizen-based growth plan—and one of the area’s top industries—farming—work well together to strengthen the local economy while preserving the region’s rural character....
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....
“Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”—Margaret Mead...
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....
As Michigan seeks to formulate a new economy that will increasingly rely on clean energy for power and jobs, Benzie County is developing a local wind-energy ordinance that some say could help lower electricity bills and create new employment in the county.
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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....
I made my first batch of homebrew in 1975 or so. It was pretty bad....
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....
