Township planning committees to hold public meetings At their May 22 joint meeting in the Allouez Community Building, Keweenaw County township land use committee members identify areas they would like preserved for public access and for historic resources. Pictured, clockwise from left, are Randy Eckloff (Allouez Township), Sherman Township Supervisor Dudley Martin, Ezra Haataja (Allouez Township), Allouez Township Supervisor Bill Luokkanen, Pauline Johnson (Allouez Township), WUPPDR Associate Planner Lori Hauswirth and Anita Campbell, Grant Township committee chair.  ALLOUEZ, COPPER HARBOR ’Äì Two Keweenaw County township land use planning committees will hold public meetings this week to inform township residents about the county land use planning effort and about the work accomplished so far by the township committees in gathering and analyzing data for the plan. Allouez Township’Äôs committee will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 6, in the Allouez Community Hall. The Grant Township Committee will hold its public meeting at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 9, in the Copper Harbor Community Building.   Both groups plan to compose a survey after receiving public input at the meetings. While each meeting is aimed at residents of the individual township, the meetings are open to the public.   The Grant Township Committee has sent a letter to township taxpayers inviting them to the meeting and explaining that the purpose of the public meeting is ’Äúto identify citizens’Äô concerns and feelings’Äù about these questions:   ¬…       What is the vision of our community 20 years from now? ¬…       Where are we now? ¬…       What are our assets? ¬…       What are our shortcomings?   The letter adds, ’ÄúThe majority of the meeting will be devoted to addressing your goals and priorities to assure that the resulting land use plan is a true reflection of our community.’Äù    A short video, ’ÄúManaging Community Growth,’Äù shown at the Eagle Harbor Township’Äôs May 1 public meeting on land use planning, will also be shown at the Allouez and Grant Township public meetings this week. The video showed how people in rural areas dealt with growth and development issues similar in some ways to those Keweenaw County is now facing.   The township planning committees are holding the public meetings in order to make community input a part of their land use planning efforts. Committee members will also present information on their data collection, map studies and research on particular development and preservation concerns in their townships. The public will be invited to participate actively in discussion of the issues presented and add their own concerns.   ’ÄúWe’Äôre going to break up into small groups to have some informal interaction, including identifying natural beauty areas,’Äù said Anita Campbell, co-chair of the Grant Township committee. ’ÄúThen we’Äôll have some discussion of economic development and tourism ideas.’Äù   According to the letter to residents, the meeting will also include an example of what kind of community the current zoning ordinances would produce in the absence of comprehensive land use planning. Grant Township committee members have been studying the Clark Township Land Use Plan (Les Cheneaux area near Lake Huron) as a planning model, since that area has similarities with the Keweenaw Peninsula in terms of tourism, preservation and economic development needs.    In Allouez Township, committee members have discussed the potential of the former Louisiana Pacific Sawmill Site in Mohawk for some sort of industrial development. However, the company has not yet completed the cleanup of contamination by pentachlorophenol used to control sap stain during the summer months over a period of about 20 years of the sawmill’Äôs operation.   Amy Keranen, environmental quality analyst for the Department of Environmental Quality Environmental Response Division, said a large amount of contaminated soil was removed last year, but residual groundwater contamination remains.   ’ÄúThey need to define the extent of the groundwater contamination,’Äù Keranen said.   She noted the company is being very responsible in their efforts to clean up the contamination. While Keweenaw County would like to acquire the site, the company would still be responsible for the cleanup if it were sold. It is the company’Äôs decision whether to eliminate fully the contamination of the site before selling it, Keranen added.   Water and sewer improvement are among the infrastructure needs the Allouez Township committee has discussed. Township Supervisor Bill Luokkanen said he recently began some preliminary talks with the local water company concerning the township’Äôs water needs for the future.   Allouez Township Committee member Jon Soper, who is coordinating the public meeting, said township maps will be displayed to illustrate the present water and sewer infrastructure.    An important preservation issue for Allouez Township is the Gratiot River Watershed. While the county is in the process of obtaining a Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund for acquiring an area at the mouth of the Gratiot River for recreation and preservation, the township committee has considered a suggestion by committee member John Griffith to designate a large acreage in the Gratiot River watershed as a watershed park to assure public access to lands set aside for commercial forestry (CFR).   Allouez Township committee member Genie Mintken, with the help of Barbara Been of Eagle Harbor Township and Barb Battersby of Grant Township, has researched scenic highway designations ’Äì both Heritage Routes and Natural Beauty Roads.   At the May 22 joint meeting of the planning groups, Mintken reported she found out recently that the Cliff Drive may not qualify for Natural Beauty Road designation because it is considered a primary road. However she and her sub-committee are continuing to research programs that could possibly provide scenic highway designations for the Cliff Drive, possibly parts of M-26 between Eagle River and Copper Harbor, and U.S. 41 from the north end of Mohawk to Delaware. The stretch of U.S. 41 from Delaware to Copper Harbor, including the covered road, already enjoys a Heritage Route designation, which provides protection from signage and building near the road. Securing such a designation for M-26 may be difficult because much of it already has too much development to qualify for these programs, Mintken explained.   Al Gunnari, Allouez Township committee chair, who has also expressed his wish to see these roads protected by a scenic highway designation, is now researching the possibility of a hiking/biking trail to extend through Keweenaw County.   Mintken also noted at the joint meeting a general concern about obtaining funding for zoning once the land use plan is complete.   Lori Hauswirth, WUPPDR associate planner, discusses  parcel splits under the Land Division Act during the May 22 joint meeting of the township land use planning committees in the Allouez Community Building.  Lori Hauswirth, associate planner for the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region (WUPPDR), who recently submitted a grant proposal for Kellogg Foundation funding of the county land use plan, said the grant, if received, will include the information needed for zoning but will not fund the actual revision of the 1975 Zoning Ordinance. However, she noted, a future funding cycle could possibly provide support for zoning.   Others, including Phil Musser, Keweenaw Industrial Council executive director, who spoke on economic development at the May 22 meeting; Jim Boggio, Eagle Harbor Township supervisor, who attended the April 23 joint planning meeting; and Tom Collins, South Shore Association president and coordinator of the Grant Township committee’Äôs June 9 public meeting, have mentioned the need to explore millage as a means to fund zoning.   Anne Boggio, standing, leads a small-group discussion during the May 1 public meeting at the Shoreline Restaurant in Eagle Harbor. Also pictured are, clockwise from left, Mid Willoughby, Robert Black, Susan Harri, Phil Medlyn and Virginia Jamison.  At the May 1 public meeting conducted by the Eagle Harbor Township Land Use Planning Steering Committee at the Shoreline Restaurant in Eagle Harbor, the audience, divided into small groups, participated actively in providing written answers to these questions:   1)     What do you like about this area? 2)     What are our assets? 3)     What are our shortcomings? 4)     What do you want preserved? 5)     What are your concerns?   In the small-group discussions, participants also identified goals, such as eliminating clear-cutting and establishing sustainable forestry laws and practices, establishing a Land Bank for land sales / building transactions and funding projects, controlling signage and architectural standards, enforcing watershed protection and generating county zoning consistent with township planning, maintaining public access for recreational purposes and achieving more communication with and responsiveness of county government.   Doug Sherk, Eagle Harbor Township Land Use Planning Steering Committee co-chair, standing, introduces questions for discussion at the committee's May 1 public meeting at the Shoreline Restaurant in Eagle Harbor.  Doug Sherk, facilitator of that public meeting and co-chair of the Eagle Harbor Township committee, was enthusiastic about the public attendance and participation at the May 1 meeting.   ’ÄúI think I’Äôve heard the most variety out of this group,’Äù he said. ’ÄúThese ideas will be used to help us set up a survey and a summer meeting.’Äù   Patty Asselin, left, lists planning goals contributed by her group during the May 1 public meeting for land use planning in the Shoreline Restaurant in Eagle Harbor. Also pictured, clockwise, are Laura Anderson, Ann Johnson, Barbara Been and Ray Quicksilver.   Several members of land use planning committees from other townships attended the May 1 public meeting in Eagle Harbor. Ray Quicksilver of Houghton Township was one of these. He noted Houghton Township residents are concerned about signage on roads and controlling road development and usage.   ’ÄúWe’Äôre working on preserving the aesthetic beauty of the area,’Äù Quicksilver said. ’ÄúI feel very comfortable working with all the other townships on their land use planning committees, and I’Äôm pleased with what we’Äôve accomplished so far.’Äù   The Sherman Township committee expects to hold a public meeting sometime in July.   In addition to the two public meetings, other upcoming meetings are as follows: Tuesday, June 5 ’Äì Eagle Harbor Township Land Use Planning Steering Committee, 7 p.m., Township Hall; Monday, June 11 ’Äì Keweenaw County Board Ways and Means Committee meeting, 6:15 p.m., Courthouse in Eagle River; Tuesday, June 12 ’Äì Keweenaw County 911 Public Hearing, 6:30 p.m.; Keweenaw County Board meeting, 7 p.m., Courthouse in Eagle River; Wednesday, June 13 ’Äì Grant Township Board Meeting, 7 p.m., Copper Harbor Community Building. Click here for detailed minutes of the May 1 Eagle Harbor Township public meeting on land use planning ’Ķ   Click here to comment on this article ...   Click here for a printable version of this article ...                                                     ’Äì Michele Anderson                                                      June 4, 2001