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Land-use planning first step in farmland preservation
Michigan Farm Bureau and many other interested organizations and individuals have devoted a great deal of time in recent years to a worthy cause - preserving disappearing farmland. We've all heard the figures and arguments. Ten acres of farmland is lost every hour to development, so preserving farmland will preserve the state's second largest industry.
Yet the progress on this front has proven difficult to say the least. Lack of awareness, money and a conviction that we're truly losing farmland has been a challenge. The Michigan Farmland and Community Alliance recently cosponsored an event to take the first steps in building buy-in from those outside production agriculture.
Labeled the Keystone Project, a bus tour through eastern Michigan involved the Michigan Association of Home Builders (MAHB), Michigan Association of Realtors(R) (MAR), Michigan Chamber of Commerce (MCC), Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB), Michigan Farmland and Community Alliance (Alliance), Michigan Municipal League (MML), Michigan Society of Planning (MSP), and Michigan Townships Association (MTA).
The coming land-use debate can take its queue from quality community development, which so often is the result of partnerships between government and the private sector. While the organizations may not always agree on specific steps, they can find several areas of common ground and make a difference. It all begins by better understanding each other's perspective.
MCC and MML sponsored a Lansing-area tour on "redevelopment - challenges and successes." The MML also hosted a tour in Owosso on "traditional urbanism." For its sponsored stop, MFCA teamed up with MFB for a presentation on "farmland preservation through cooperation." Stops were made at farms in Macomb County's Richmond and Bruce Townships.
In recognition of the development taking place within Michigan's townships, MTA chose Frankenmuth as a backdrop for a stop on "cooperation between city and township." The tour progressed to Canton Township where MSP sponsored a stop on "Canton's quality planning and flexible implementation." MAHB and MAR hosted the last stop near Brighton and used the Chilson Hills project as an example of "affordable housing."Each organization obviously has a different perspective on the challenges and concepts for land use. As statewide, membership-based land use stakeholders, each partner organization plays a key role in the future of land use in Michigan. The Michigan Land Use Tour is our start in building the future.
The bottom line? Agriculture cannot win the farmland preservation battle on its own. It can't just focus on Purchase of Development Rights or Transfer of Development Rights. It involves a holistic approach - one that includes revitalization of the inner city while also reconsidering the zoning practices and mentality that have gotten us where we are today.
It involves working smarter and across the board with all the interested organizations. The Michigan Land Use Tour was a starting place for a renewed look at land use in Michigan.
Sincerely,
Wayne H. Wood
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