Township Information, Forms & Ordinances

Homestead and Inland Townships
Joint Planning Committee Workshop
Homestead Township Hall
11508 Honor Highway
Honor, MI 49640
May 1, 2007 at 6:30P.M.

Members Present: Fred Poynor, Roger Hubbell, Blake Brooks, Christy Andersen, Jessica Wooten, Amanda Deemer, and Zelda Gray

Absent: Bruce Anderson and Mary Miller

Chairman Brooks called the meeting to order at 7:08pm.

A motion was made by Fred Poynor to approve the April 17th meeting minutes as amended. Christy Anderson gave support for the motion. All Ayes Motion carried

Roger Hubbell made a motion to approve the April 24th Forum minutes with support from Christy Anderson. All ayes Motion carried.

There was support from Roger Hubbell for Zelda Gray’s motion to approver the April 25th Forum minutes as amended. All ayes Motion carried.

The motion to accept the agenda was made by Christy Anderson and supported by Jessica Wooten. All ayes Motion carried.

The floor was turned over to Mr. Roger Williams.

It was discussed how the meeting dates and times could be posted on the County web once it is up and running.

Mr. Williams asked the Commission to get a copy of the Village of Honor master plan. The Commissioners asked Cathy Demitroff to get a copy. The Village of Honor will have a representative at the next JPC meeting and a copy of the joint agreement will be given to them at that time.

Mr. Williams asked the board what they want him to do. He needs instruction as to what direction to head in next. The fact that the Homestead master plan has no demographics was discussed. This needs to be in the plan by stature. Mr Williams assumes our intent is for him to write a plan, bring it to the Commission and present to the public for review. He cautions the Commission not to have to many meetings, as to not burn themselves out. The planning process always takes two or three times longer then you expect it to. Mr William takes pride in coming in under budget. His goal is to complete the plan and come in under what he said it would cost. He feels it would be more beneficial to the Commission and the Townships for him to be in his office doing the actual work.

Mr. Williams laid out a general outline:
  1. Introduction and Purpose
  2. Historical Background
  3. Social and Economic Characteristics
  4. Community Services and Facilities
  5. Natural Resources and Features
  6. Exiting Land Use
  7. Trends and Projections
  8. Goals and Objectives
  9. Future Land Use Recommendations
Gave suggestions as to how to find history, social and economic information for the plan.

The County and the Council of Governments are two very good sources.

He explained to the Commission to look back at 1988 and see what has changed between then and now. These are the types of changes that will happen by the year 2028.

The history will be the things that make the Townships unique. What happened from development of the township to what they have become today. Libraries and the Historical Society are a great source of historical information. This section must have a bibliography. Mr. Williams like to have resource book readily available for people to reference. Jessica Wooten will do the history for both Inland and Homestead Township.

Blake Brooks already has information on the demographics going back to 1990. He will take it further back to 1980, compile it in a table and e-mail it to Mr. Williams.

Things to look for with Community Services and Facilities are fire departments, campgrounds, roadside parks, the shore-to-shore trail, canoe trips, and soil maps, etc. Remember to include all County, Federal and State residing within the Townships. The State has just completed a wets map. The Soil Conservation in Cadillac would be a good source for this.

The JPC agreed to meet every third Tuesday commencing in June with alternating locations each month with a start time of 7:00pm. The May 22nd meeting will be held at Homestead Township Hall at 7:00pm.

Roger Williams will do items # 1, # 5 & # 6. Item # 4 will be lead by Christy Anderson. Blake Brooks will work on # 7, as a lot of the info he has for # 3 will roll into it as well.

The Homestead master plan is a good source for goals and objectives. The Commission needs to get hard copies of the Township maps. Mr. Williams and the Commission feel that a build out analysis would be beneficial.

Christy Anderson has a base map copied from the GIS base map that she received from the Equalization Department. She does not have the time to learn the GIS software. Crystal Surveying has 24 X 36 milar maps last updated in 1993. The maps are done in auto cad format and can be purchases for $100.00 per township. Christy will be able to update them in auto cad. Christy can use auto cad and would be able to update easily. Christy will check with Sara Merz at the Council of Governments to see if they have any maps.

Chairman Brooks opened the floor for public-input.

Judy Webber asked these questions:
  1. What are the populations of each township?
  2. How many registered voters are in both townships?
  3. How many people is “overwhelming” support?
  4. Why is there a need for another governing body when there are only 17,000 people in the whole county?
  5. What will the townships do if a developer is turned down on a project leaving a threat of suit?
Jim Olson stated it would be helpful to spend time with public to review goals and identify issues with the County. This would like to see a process to narrow the differences. He made a suggestion and request for the townships should do this. He suggested one session having a facilitator to direct and come up with a list of goals.

Bev Toomy from Crystal Lake Township, voiced concerns of splintering the county instead of joining and encouraging, reducing governments. The roads do not stop at the township lines.

Nancy Kasperzyk from Benzonia Township worries about conversations within the state with disillusion clauses of not having townships. What will happen then? She urges the Townships to keep this in mind and be prepared.

Sandy Houghtaling from Homestead Township talked to the group about her doing an opinion pole. It will be very simple, just for, against, and need more information. She would like to know if she should present it to the joint planning commission or the Township Board. Chairman Brooks suggested she present it to the Commission.

Public In-Put Closed

Homestead Supervisor, Cathy Demitroff, informed the Commission she received a phone call from Tom Campbell, Blaine Township Supervisor. He wondered if the Commission had ever discussed the possibility of another township joining. Blake stated they are welcome to attend our meetings. Cathy told them that and that the possibility had came up previously.

Meeting adjourned at 8:22PM.

Submitted by

Cathy Demitroff

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