Planning expert says conservation design needs soil survey information CALUMET ’Äì Land use planning committee members, local officials and other interested residents spent six hours on March 1 learning about conservation vs. spatial design in planning and about the importance of soil survey information in deciding whether areas of land are suitable or unsuitable for development. Rod Cortright of Michigan State University Extension   Rod Cortright of Michigan State University Extension, who first spoke on conservation design at a land use forum in Mohawk last fall, conducted this first of two workshop sessions on land use planning under the title, "Land Use by Conservation Design Program: Better Designs for Development in Michigan," sponsored by MSU Extension and held at the Keweenaw National Historical Park Headquarters in Calumet. The first session attracted about 23 participants from both Keweenaw and Houghton counties. The second session will be held at the same location from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 22. Rod Cortright of Michigan State University Extension illustrates an example of a ’Äúmixed neighborhood’Äù design in land use planning during the first session of a workshop on conservation design held on March 1 at the Keweenaw National Historical Park Headquarters in Calumet. The second session of the workshop will be held on March 22.   Cortright began the first session with a computer slide presentation illustrating conventional, ’Äúmodern’Äù or spatial planning designs and contrasting them with ’Äúmixed-use communities’Äù ’Äì similar to older, traditional neighborhoods. Mixed neighborhoods can accommodate housing units for people of different incomes, but ’Äúthey have to be designed to fit,’Äù he noted.   ’ÄúMuch of what we’Äôve done in communities throughout the country is we’Äôve segregated people by income,’Äù he said. ’ÄúA traditional neighborhood is a strong neighborhood because you’Äôve got a variety ’Äì a diversity of people.’Äù   Doug Sherk, co-chairman of the Eagle Harbor Township Land Use Planning Steering Committee   However, Doug Sherk, co-chairman of the Eagle Harbor Township Land Use Planning Steering Committee, said lots being sold for housing in Keweenaw County now are no longer available to low-income people. An example is the new housing development known as ’ÄúEagle Harbor South,’Äù which will be located on both sides of the cut-off road between the Eagle Harbor village and U.S. 41.   ’ÄúI think it has made use of infrastructure,’Äù he said. ’ÄúI’Äôm very pleased with it, but it’Äôs not a conservation design; it’Äôs a spatial design.’Äù   Sherk said he still felt the workshop session was valuable.   ’ÄúI think it is useful (for Eagle Harbor) because the training process and the concepts will apply to many of the things we’Äôre trying to do,’Äù Sherk noted. ’ÄúIt gives us options ’Äì for development and for conservation ’Äì that we might not have considered.’Äù   Sherk said he defines conservation as ’Äústretching our resources out as long as we can and protecting them, and when we protect our resources we protect our economy and our way of life.’Äù   He made a distinction between ’Äúpreservation’Äù of wilderness ’Äì which he does not think is possible in Keweenaw County ’Äì and ’Äúconservation’Äù of resources.   ’ÄúPreservation of wilderness does not occur just by setting aside small areas,’Äù Sherk explained. ’ÄúThat’Äôs conservation ’Ķ So when we say we want to preserve our way of life we mean conservation of resources in the face of development, in my opinion.’Äù   Cortright said the hardest thing in conservation design is getting people to recognize what are the things they want to preserve in their communities. Among the many resources available for determining this, he noted, is a document that contains about 80 percent of the information needed to determine what to preserve ’Äì the state soil survey.   After introducing the concept of conservation design, Cortright, who called himself ’Äúa soil scientist by training,’Äù gave each participant a copy of the Soil Survey of the Houghton County Area, published in October 1991 by the United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Agriculture, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and Michigan Technological University. Keweenaw County’Äôs soil survey ’Äì a five-year study ’Äì is only in its third year of being compiled.   Rod Cortright uses a map from the 1991Soil Survey of the Houghton County Area, showing the area of Copper City and the border between Houghton and Keweenaw counties, for a learning exercise on soil type identification during his March 1 conservation design workshop. Each workshop participant received a copy of the survey.   To help the participants become familiar with this thick volume of information, Cortright had them do some exercises using maps and soil data in order to determine, by the type of soil in an area, whether or not it was suitable for development. He gave participants a map and asked them to use soil survey data to color in areas of developable and undevelopable land.   Eagle Harbor resident and Copper Harbor business owner Janet Shea, a member of both the Eagle Harbor Township and the Grant Township land use planning committees, said this exercise was for ’Äúsegregating land into proper usage based on the soil survey.’Äù Shea said she was pleased with the workshop so far.   Janet Shea, member of Eagle Harbor Township and Grant Township land use planning committees   ’ÄúI think we’Äôre getting a lot out of it,’Äù Shea said. ’ÄúWe’Äôre beginning to understand  some of the technical information, such as soil surveys, to help us properly identify lands that are appropriate for development and lands that should be preserved.’Äù   In an exercise called a ’Äúbuildout analysis,’Äù Shea said, Cortright asked workshop participants to study characteristics of two types of zoning from the Keweenaw County Zoning Ordinance and plan a residential and commercial development, with the highest density possible, in a given area determined by the soil survey to be developable. For the purpose of simplifying the exercise, he chose Country Estate and Commercial as the zoning categories. The exercise was an example of traditional, spatial planning.   Anita Campbell, chair of the Grant Township Land Use Planning Committee, said the ’Äúbuildout analysis’Äù is a useful exercise because it shows ’Äúwhat your county or township will look like in the future if development continues under the current zoning.’Äù   In Keweenaw County, some residents and officials believe the current (1975) Zoning Ordinance needs changing or updating. Keweenaw County is now in the process of updating the land use part of its Comprehensive Development Plan, beginning with township planning committees whose volunteer members are collecting and analyzing data for the county Zoning/Planning Commission.   However, Mark McEvers, a member of the Houghton Township Land Use Planning Committee, said, ’ÄúI think that more people need to be well versed in our existing (zoning) ordinance before they can worry about changing it.’Äù   He added that the work of data collection and analysis being done by the township land use planning committees should avoid redundancy. Much of that ’Äútaking inventory of the county’Äù has been done already, he noted, by the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region (WUPPDR), as published in the 1997 Keweenaw 2000 Economic Adjustment Strategy for Keweenaw County.   McEvers said he would like to see a vehicle for getting the township land use planning committees all together.   ’ÄúWhat sense does it make for one township to do all that work and another to do the same work?’Äù he asked.   Keweenaw County Zoning/Planning Commission Chairman James Regis, left, of Central, and Mark McEvers of Eagle River, Houghton Township Land Use Planning Committee member, discuss Houghton Township's assets and goals with other township committee members at the Feb. 5, 2001, Keweenaw Common Ground meeting in the Mohawk School. Regis and McEvers also participated in the first session of the March 1 MSU Extension conservation design workshop in Calumet. James ’ÄúReggie’Äù Regis, chairman of the Keweenaw County Zoning/Planning Commission, was the only member of that Commission to attend the workshop.   ’ÄúI really don’Äôt think it had anything to do with what’Äôs happening in Keweenaw County,’Äù Regis said. ’ÄúIt seemed to deal with the kind of development they have downstate.’Äù   Regis noted that conservation design development would only occur if Keweenaw County were to attract industry. At present the new development consists mostly of homes for retired people, many of whom desire lakefront property.   ’ÄúIndustry will never show up here. It costs too much for heat (and) for snow removal,’Äù he said. ’ÄúWe’Äôre so different from the rest of the state that we’Äôre going to have to come up with our own plans ’Ķ This area is unique.’Äù   Regis said he thought the soil survey information was interesting, and he noted he still planned to attend the second session of the workshop on March 22.   Keweenaw County Commissioner Don Keith of Eagle Harbor   Don Keith, the only member of the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners to attend the workshop, said he felt the time at the first session was well spent and he looked forward to the second one.   ’ÄúI learned something,’Äù Keith said. ’ÄúWhat you’Äôve got to do is take this back and tailor it to Keweenaw County ’Ķ My biggest wish list is that the Keweenaw County soil survey be completed.’Äù   Keith said he spent several hours looking through Houghton County’Äôs soil survey and found it to be an ’Äúencyclopedia of information that ties directly to land use planning.’Äù He added the survey is very labor intensive and comprehensive. Soil surveys for all 83 counties of the state were begun about 20 years ago, Keith explained; and, unfortunately, Keweenaw County is the last to have its survey completed.   ’ÄúWe are on schedule (for getting it completed in five years). I just wish we weren’Äôt the last county and we had (the survey) in our hands right now,’Äù Keith noted. ’ÄúIt’Äôs critical ’Äì extremely important ’Äì that we stay on schedule.’Äù   The soil survey gives planners and officials a scientific basis for coming to the  decisions that must be made, Keith said.   ’ÄúIt’Äôs just a gold mine for land use planning,’Äù he added. ’ÄúA land use plan is not something you can do overnight.’Äù   Keith said he is supportive of the grassroots efforts being made by the township land use planning committees in collecting information for a Keweenaw County land use plan.   ’ÄúIt’Äôs my intention, even though I may not totally agree with their decisions, to support the township land use planning committees and the township boards in what they recommend for their townships,’Äù Keith said.   Gratiot Lake resident Virginia Jamison, a member of the Eagle Harbor Township Land Use Planning Steering Committee, studies a soil map in her copy of the 1991Soil Survey of the Houghton County Area during an exercise on soil type identification at the March 1 conservation design workshop. The soil survey for Keweenaw County has not yet been completed. Also pictured is Houghton County resident Walt Anderson of Lake Linden. Lake Linden resident Walt Anderson, one of the workshop participants from Houghton County, also commented positively on the soil survey.   ’ÄúThe amount of information available in the Houghton County Soil Survey, a land use planning tool, is enlightening,’Äù Anderson said. ’ÄúThe survey told me what I discovered on construction jobs I've worked on over the years ’Äì that in some areas the water table is close to the ground, that some areas contain more agates than sand.’Äù Anderson said he was glad he registered for the workshop and he learned much from it, but he was disappointed so few Houghton County residents attended. He noted a 1997 survey of local residents revealed that people are interested in the future of the area, but many of them reported that they feel powerless, that they don't have a voice.  ’ÄúI was glad to see a room full of people with a keen interest in the land use process,’Äù Anderson said. ’ÄúI would have been happier to see more people from Houghton County in the room.’Äù Participation in the first session of the workshop was ’Äúa good turnout,’Äù said Ralph Duffek, MSU Extension director for Houghton and Keweenaw counties, who organized the workshop in cooperation with the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region (WUPPDR) as part of a program to assess where the six western U.P. counties are in land use planning and make available educational programs for counties that are ready to re-evaluate and update their land use plans. Lori Hauswirth, WUPPDR associate planner, is participating in the workshop since she has been offering technical assistance to the township planning committees.                                                                              ’Äì Michele Anderson                                                                                 March 4, 2001   Editor’Äôs note: Click here to comment on the workshop or give your ideas on land use planning in the Keweenaw Peninsula.