Sherman Township to hold public meeting on land use planning During the Sherman Township Board's April meeting, Ed Kraai, left, chair of Sherman Township's Land Use Planning Committee, and Sherman Township Supervisor Dudley Martin show Township Clerk Adeline Schmidt how overlay maps Martin created display their data collection on transportation, building activity, CFR and residential use. At the Sherman Township Public Meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 19, the committee will explain land use planning and why it is being done. (Keweenaw Today file photo) ALLOUEZ ’Äì The Sherman Township Land Use Planning Committee will hold a public meeting for all township residents and interested persons at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 19, in the Sherman Township Community Hall in Gay. The group recently sent a Land Use Questionnaire to all township taxpayers asking them to express their views on such issues as public access, commercial development, areas for preservation and the possibility of a township park. Township Supervisor Dudley Martin said he has received four or five replies a day since mailing the questionnaire on July 2.   ’ÄúI’Äôm pleased with it,’Äù Martin said on July 17 at the Joint Township Planning Committees meeting in Allouez. He noted residents’Äô replies reflect ’Äúthe desire for the tranquility and the remoteness to remain but (for) very controlled economic development if there’Äôs a place to fit that in.’Äù   Land Use Planning Committee Chair Ed Kraai said the public meeting will include explaining what the land use planning process is about and why it's being done. The committee will also show the video, ’ÄúManaging Community Growth,’Äù which shows how people in rural areas have dealt with growth and development issues similar in some ways to those Keweenaw County is now facing. Discussion of the questionnaire will follow, and the committee will ask for public input and questions. Kraai, who chaired the July 17 Joint Meeting, said he would be working on a county-wide survey with the help of Christa Walck, co-chair of Common Ground, a planning initiative for sustainable development compatible with environmental and historical protection for the Keweenaw Peninsula. Common Ground held two workshops on sustainable development and planning (Dec. 5, 2000, in Houghton County and Feb. 5, 2001 in Keweenaw County) with funding from the Americana Foundation. Walck said recently that Americana will allow Common Ground to use the remainder of the grant funds to assist Keweenaw and Houghton county townships in their land use planning.   Kraai has requested that Keweenaw County township planning committees send him questions addressing their individual township concerns so that these may be incorporated in the county-wide survey.   Coming meetings of the planning committees are as follows:   The Grant Township Land Use Planning Committee will meet at 7 p.m. Friday, July 27, in the Copper Harbor Community Building. The Allouez Township Land Use Planning Committee will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 7, in the Allouez Township Hall in Mohawk. Eagle Harbor Township's Land Use Planning Steering Committee will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 7, in the Eagle Harbor Township Hall. The Eagle Harbor committee will hold a second Public Meeting at 7 p.m. on July 31 in the Eagle Harbor Community Building.   Click here for a summary of public meetings held recently in other Keweenaw County townships ’Ķ     Watch for an article on the July 17 Joint Meeting, coming soon ’Ķ                                                                                       ’Äì  Michele Anderson                                                                                         July 18, 2001