The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Officials take steps for joint planning
Benefit of regional planning and zoning under consideration
By Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers
PUBLISHED: March 22, 2007
Members of the Southwest Washtenaw Council of Governments agreed March 14 to take the next step in establishing a true regional planning and zoning authority for the four local townships and village of Manchester.
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The group, known as SWWCOG, comprises elected and appointed officials from Manchester, Bridgewater, Freedom and Sharon townships, the village of Manchester and Manchester Community Schools.
They have been studying ways of combining planning and zoning tasks that currently are being duplicated in each of the municipalities. The group is led by consultants with the Land Information Access Association.
SWWCOG members have been inching toward a joint planning agreement in every meeting for the past several months, and they finally have reached a critical point.
In February, they decided to look at three options: first was to set up a joint planning commission that covered the entire area within the boundaries of the four townships; second was to consider an "urban growth boundary" roughly encompassing the village and the surrounding area; and the third option was to do nothing and keep the status quo.
During the March meeting, LIAA Executive Director Joe Vander Meulen presented examples on how other municipalities across the state have approached such joint planning issues.
"We need to find a way to work across jurisdictional borders to address common challenges and problems," Vander Meulen said.
He gave several examples of intergovernmental cooperation that work well, such as public safety and public utilities, but that success does not seem to translate well in land-use and planning issues.
"Cooperation on land use and government management is different; personalities, history and a long list of things get in the way," he said.
Recent state statutes have been enacted to make it easier for communities to enter into joint planning arrangements, and Vander Meulen recommended that SWWCOG take full advantage of them.
An essential part of the joint process is to coordinate land-use plans and zoning across the region to be more legally defensible if a developer whose project had been denied went to court claiming exclusionary zoning.
Manchester Township Supervisor Ron Mann told the group that they already had a blueprint for joint planning.
"Let's get together and look at our regional plan and see if it's still viable," he said, referring to a master development plan put together several years ago but not yet implemented by the SWWCOG municipalities.
"We wrote that regional plan with things from our own master plans; we're 95 percent done."
Mann's Sharon Township counterpart, Supervisor Gary Blades, agreed.
"If we make our township master plans exactly like the regional plan, where is the problem?" he said.
He added that his township had prevailed in a developer's lawsuit, and didn't see the need for a new regional agreement.
SWWCOG Chairwoman and Village President Pat Vailliencourt questioned Blades' confidence in the existing regional plan.
"But are you sure you don't need that additional protection (given by a joint planning agreement) from future lawsuits?" she said.
But Blades stood firm in his conviction.
"Nothing protects you from future lawsuits –– nothing," he said.
The group voted to continue on the path to forming a regional planning commission, with Blades the only dissenting vote
Wireless Washtenaw
In other business, Ray Berg with the county's Wireless Washtenaw project reminded the group about the public forum scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Manchester High School auditorium.
Berg said similar question-and-answer sessions about the wireless Internet service will take place at various sites around the county in the coming months.
"I am pleased they Manchester for the first one," he said. "I badgered the heck out of them."
The point of the forums is to give Wireless Washtenaw and 20/20 Communications officials the chance to explain the engineering behind the wireless system, which is designed to bring high-speed Internet access to rural areas of the county, as well as the schedule of availability and the cost.
Berg noted that there will be demonstrations of the system and laptop computers will be on hand for people to try it for themselves.
"We're expecting a large turnout," he said.
Edward Freundl is a reporter for Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at 428-8173 or efreundl@heritage.com.
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