This summer, we had the opportunity to meet with county employees who head the planning staffs in three counties of the Grand Traverse Region, including:

We began our discussion asking these planning professionals about the purpose of a land use plan and what they do as planners. Later we talked about the nature of development in our region and the concerns that rapid growth generates. The following text provides short excerpts from our discussion.

YOUR PLACE: What is a master plan or a comprehensive plan?

John Sych:  Well, it probably means different things to different people, but generally it's a vision for the future that the community develops; whether at the county level, or a township or city level - or a regional level. It gives an indication of what the community desires for the future, primarily dealing with land use. Although, if you're talking about a comprehensive plan, you're talking about a greater range of areas; whether it gets into utilities or transportation or natural resources.

YOUR PLACE: Does Leelanau County have a comprehensive plan?

Trudy Galla: We call it the Leelanau County General Plan. It is a document that was done in the early 90's and the last update was done in 2005. We have plans to guide and manage growth. In fact, the General Plan says it's a tool for managing growth. It's a document to help out communities, help out their planners and public officials in looking to the future

YOUR PLACE: And what about Kalkaska County?

Jack Kelly: We have the Kalkaska County Master Plan promulgated in November 2003.

I've heard it said that people don't plan to fail; they fail to plan. As John and Trudy have said, the Kalkaska County plan seeks to embrace those things that we hold dear Kalkaska County; to plan, to try to figure out where we might be 20 years down the road and how to get there. It contains 13 guiding principles, not the least of which is to retain a lot of the recreational character of the Kalkaska area; while planning and taking into account that growth is a certainty and how do we best plan to accommodate that growth without losing the basic nature of our community.

YOUR PLACE: As the lead planning staff person for the county, how would you describe your job?

John Sych: My overall job is to be a facilitator. I look at it in two realms. One, perhaps the most obvious, is working externally. Working with cities and townships and various agencies within the county. But I also have another aspect of my job, working internally with the administration of various departments within the county. ... As far as my role in those, it's probably helping to facilitate the planning of those entities, guiding them, making sure that they're developing good decisions based on sound planning ideas and principles.

Trudy Galla: I guess I look at myself as a resource person; someone that the township officials and county board can come to on any of the projects. Someone that can help guide them or head up a project for them and get it done. ... You know, the roles have changed over the years. We used to a lot more with reviews and getting projects completed. But we really have turned into more of an office for resources, educational materials, teaching and so forth. Anything we can do to help out the communities.

YOUR PLACE: It sounds like working with townships and cities is an important part of what you do.

John Sych: Absolutely. Relationship building is a key piece to a county planner. Obviously, we're limited in the amount of budget resources and staffing resources. So, to work within the community, we have to develop relationships. ... It's become more prevalent that local units of government understand that they can't do it alone. They're going to need to relay on other resources. So, that's a key approach to how we work.

Jack Kelly: One of the main differences of my job [from the others] is that we have twelve townships in Kalkaska County, four of which have their own zoning, and the other eight townships fall under county zoning. In the case of Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties, there is not a single township that doesn't have its own zoning. So, I'm the zoning administrator for eight of the twelve townships in Kalkaska County. ... it's a totally different job, altogether.

Trudy Galla: We don't play a role in enforcing zoning in Leelanau County. I just want to say that the zoning administrator's position is probably the most difficult position in planning and zoning, because that's enforcement and that's a tough issue, a tough thing to do. Where we get involved is that we make recommendations and provide advice to the villages and townships. So we give them information and try to make suggestions on how they can improve things. We advise them on changes that they are making to their ordinances and plans. We do the best we can to give them the information they need to make the tough decisions.

Listen to this part of the interview: RealPlayer | Windows Media | MP3 (66 MB)

YOUR PLACE: There is quite a bit of concern over balancing growth and development with the protection of cultural an natural resources in our area. How does a planning commission address this?

John Sych: The county planning commission is always kind of questioning what is happening and what's going on. And trying to understanding the different trends as far as development.

YOUR PLACE: Is urban sprawl the issue? Is that a legitimate term.

John Sych: To me you can never get your hands around any issue like that. When someone says land use is the issue, or transportation, or urban sprawl. You've got to kind of dissect it a little more. People tend to draw their own conclusions based on their own ideas and thoughts based on a magazine article based on what they read in a national magazine and then they apply it to here. What we have to do as planners is identify what really IS happening in our community and develop mechanisms to monitor the trends.

One of the things that is happening in [Grand Traverse] county is - I wouldn't know if I'd call it a crisis - but it is the issue of affordable housing. It tends to drive a lot of these factors of where people live, where they work and so forth. And with a kind of gentrification of Traverse City, a lot of people are looking outside the urbanized area where they can afford a home and that's producing all kinds of other issues based on those choices. And there are a lot of other ramifications to that.

YOUR PLACE: Trudy, what would you call affordable housing?

Trudy Galla: We use a standard in the county basically of three times what your annual income is. So, if you're talking about a family that's making $30,000, they should be in a house valued at somewhere around $90,000 or $100,000; and that's just about impossible to find in this area. Certainly, you're not going to find anything in Leelanau County in that range or very little.

We try to use the term family housing. Because that's really what we're thinking of in Leelanau County. We're looking for areas where young families or single parents can move in and raise their kids, find a job, and so forth.

We're also very concerned with economic development. Not only do they need a place to live, they need a decent job. And that cannot be just a part time job or seasonal job. They need something close by that will pay them a decent wage so they can stay there and raise their families.

YOUR PLACE: Do we have enough jobs?

Jack Kelly - My experience with Kalkaska County over the past two and three quarters years is that a lot of the people work there. We do have a number of firms that are located along US 131, primarily between Kalkaska and Mancelona, for instance. We have an oil and gas industry that, perhaps doesn't exist as much in some of the surrounding counties, is undergoing a resurgence with the high price of oil. We also have a lot or people that are just eking out a living as best they can, working out of their homes and plying a trade.

When you speak about the whole issue of affordable housing, [there is] one thing that I've come to recognize - I've said this for quite some time - I view Kalkaska as a sort of a burgeoning, growing bedroom community of Grand Traverse County. I spoke with a realtor recently who was asking whether or not duplexes, for instance, were allowed in Kalkaska. I said according to our zoning ordinance right now, you can put a duplex pretty much anywhere, in almost all zoning districts. The real estate agent was flabbergasted. She said, "Do you know that we can't find a small lot on which we can put a duplex in Grand Traverse County for less than $50,000." And for the first time since I've been there, Kalkaska County is now in the process of building a 48 unit apartment complex. It has been a long, long time since any apartment complexes have been constructed. ... To me it's just a reflection of the growing importance that Kalkaska might be achieving in the years to come ....

YOUR PLACE: Apparently, your three counties have some of the fastest population growth in the state. Is that why we need more housing?

John Sych: I think what the housing issue does is it alters the pattern of development. I mean people will find housing. But what distance are they going to drive out from the urban area or from where the job centers are at to find that housing? There are not a lot of alternatives for living close in that is going to be affordable to any given family. ...