A grassroots force for land use reforms is gathering momentum and clout as thousands of Michigan citizens join the debate.

Following the August conclusion of the Michigan Land Use Leadership Council (MLULC) and the celebration of Michigan's Land Use Heroes (see related articles), citizens are supporting these reforms.

In the public interest, voices from every region decry sprawl
Led by the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan (PIRGIM), Michigan's environmental community reached out to more than 20,000 citizens to engage them in the MLULC process. As a result, we were together able to deliver 11,000 postcards to the governor and the Council supporting Smart Growth reforms-the largest concerted comment effort to the group. MEC's Land Use Heroes process identified organizations working on land use issues in every state House district. The 110 organizations celebrated by that project represent just a sample of the grassroots action on land use at the local level. Myriad other interests, such as soil conservation districts and Michigan United Conservation Club members who share similar goals, were not even represented in the collection.

After years of research, a Michigan Smart Growth Agenda is emerging. As a set of consensus issues draws support from such diverse constituencies as farmland preservationists and urban redevelopers, a unified call to action for the governor and the Legislature is beginning to echo across the capital.

Development lobby gears up
Perhaps the best endorsement of the environmental community's work is from the Michigan Association of Home Builders: "A look back at the Michigan Environmental Council's (MEC) agenda for 1999 reveals that the battles will continue . . . This agenda has been brewing relatively harmlessly over a long period of time, but it is now a top priority of Governor Granholm." (MAHB NewsWire, August 22, 2003)

It is not all good news. Despite budding gubernatorial leadership on the issue, the development lobby continues to have a financial stranglehold on the Legislature. According to research by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, the Builders PAC spent $128,000 in last year's elections, more than most environmental organization's budgets. The road builders and concrete pavers spent a combined $300,000. Chambers of commerce around the state gave $420,000 to campaigns, while the Michigan Association of Realtors PAC doled out $676,000.

Fighting such rich interests successfully will require a loud and aggressive citizen presence in land use debates at both the state and local levels.

One voice for ONE MICHIGAN
MEC and partners like the Michigan Suburbs Alliance have begun forming a coalition of activist organizations supporting the goals and principles articulated in the MLULC report. ONE MICHIGAN will become a roundtable for concerned organizations to identify areas for potential collaboration and to stay on top of a wide variety of land use issues. MEC plans a web launch of the citizen-organizing aspect of this coalition (called MY MICHIGAN) in late October.

The ONE MICHIGAN-MY MICHIGAN project attempts to alleviate these concerns through two dynamic communications strategies, one aimed at developing organizational capacity to collectively engage in the Smart Growth movement, the other a tool to help individuals tie their existing values and local concerns to our state policy goals.

The ONE MICHIGAN coalition reinvents a roundtable developed in the 1990s to increase collaboration on land use issues among private, nonprofit and government interests. This new iteration includes a management structure that assures diversity of opinion and an open, democratic process. It is modeled after the Campaign for Sensible Growth in the Chicago area, which has been very successful at creating a unified Smart Growth community.

The MY MICHIGAN initiative brings citizens and single-issue land use advocates under one banner that helps them to invoke a local sense of place and express their unified concern about a particular aspect of land use. It is primarily a communications project to develop the capacity of individuals to advocate for change.

The ONE MICHIGAN-MY MICHIGAN strategies are for advocates, rather than casual interests. While the communications mechanisms will provide links to information and research, the energy and direction of the coalitions will be focused on advancing public policy changes at the state level.

Get on the bus
As MEC formalizes the coalition working on Smart Growth issues, you and your organization can become an integral part of the effort to reform Michigan's land use laws. If you are interested in getting involved with the ONE MICHIGAN-MY MICHIGAN projects, contact Conan Smith (conanmec@voyager.net) or Brad Garmon (bradmec@voyager.net) at MEC, or keep your eyes on the lookout for major changes at www.onemichigan.org.