Changing Land Use in Michigan

Adopt StatewideGoals for Land Use:

• By clearly outlining a set of goals for land use, the state would be better able to make decisions about its investments and the activities that impact farmland and open space preservation, urban revitalization, and transportation choices.
  state's goals should be crafted with input from Michigan residents and local governments and include incentives for multi-jurisdictional cooperation, land for outdoor recreation, protection for critical farmland and rural lifestyles, and urban revitalization.

Create an Office of Smart Growth:

• To act as a liaison between state agencies and local governments to maximize return on existing state investments and enhance Michigan's ability to protect natural resources, culture, heritage, and economic viability.
  
  
• The Office would function as an overlay of existing agency activities to coordinate the many federal, state and local land use policy and investment decisions that are currently taking place independently, and often at odds with one another. It would best function within the current Department of Labor and Economic Development.

Create Priority Funding Areas:

• A Priority Funding Areas program directs state resources into projects that reflect state land use goals. In essence the development projects that reflect statewide land use goals will receive state assistance and possible funding over projects that do not meet the state land use standards.
  
  
• Based on the state goals for land use, changes should be made in taxation and subsidy policies to increase the economic attractiveness for redevelopment while discouraging Greenfield development.
  
  
• Current land use planning models promote competition between municipalities over cooperation; they must "sprawl or die."

Adopt Coordinated Planning Legislation:

• To authorize coordinated planning by multiple jurisdictions to encourage regionalism.
  
  
• To provide a forum for all communities to participate in regional decision-making, help focus revitalization on stressed neighborhoods, conserve open space and limit costly new sprawl inducing infrastructure.

Create Incentives for Regional Cooperation:

• Regional Revenue Sharing- Two or more communities could agree to share a locally determined percentage of their tax base for regional planning. This would ensure less competition for new developments (commercial and residential).
  
  
• Regional Gas Taxation Authority- this would allow a region to collect a $.005 gas tax to help fund regional planning.
  
• Regional Sales Taxation Authority- would enable a larger region to collect minimal sales tax to help fund regional planning.

Adopt Flexible Road Design Standards:

• Federal legislation 23 USC 109, addresses the need for context sensitive design in the transportation planning process.
  
  
• Context sensitive design is the idea that road design should take into account the ecological, historical, cultural and social context of a community during the road design process.