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Common
Ground to hold meetings on land use, sustainable
development
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The mouth of the
Montreal River is an area of the
Keweenaw Peninsula that many
residents would like to see kept
open for public access and
fishing. Land use planning is
needed to assure protection of
such areas now that many lakeshore
properties are being sold for
residential real estate. (Photo by
Lori Hauswirth)
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HOUGHTON ’Äì The Common Ground Initiative ’Äì a
group of local leaders concerned with issues of
economic vitality and land use ’Äì will hold two
community meetings on land use planning for Houghton
and Keweenaw counties. The first meeting will be
held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, December 5, in the
Houghton High School Auditorium. Houghton County
residents and local government representatives are
encouraged to attend this meeting to become
proactive about planning for the community’Äôs
future.
The Common Ground meeting for Keweenaw County
residents, originally planned for December 6, is now
being planned for January, 2001; but all are welcome
to attend the December 5 meeting, according to
Christa Walck, chair of the Core Group for Common
Ground and President of the Keweenaw Land Trust,
which is a sponsoring organization for Common Ground
along with the Keweenaw Industrial Council.
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Christa Walck,
chair of the Core Group for Common
Ground and President of the
Keweenaw Land Trust, looks up from
her work for a moment in her
office at Michigan Tech. She is
also a professor of management in
MTU’Äôs School of Business and
Economics. (Photo courtesy
Michigan Technological University)
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"We postponed our planned meeting in
Keweenaw County because we thought it came too close
on the heels of the Public
Access meeting (December
4)," Walck said. "Even so, we invite
Keweenaw County residents to attend the Houghton
County meeting and work with us toward a Common
Ground meeting in Keweenaw County in
January. At this point, we are really open to
suggestions about how Common Ground should
proceed."
Walck said Common Ground members will meet with
Keweenaw County representatives after the December 5
meeting to schedule the January meeting.
Common Ground began as a workshop to bring local
leaders together to talk about their interests,
concerns and dreams for the community, particularly
with respect to a sustainable economy and land use.
One result of this workshop was the agreement by
participants to keep the dialogue going, broaden the
circle of participation and begin planning for the
future.
"When we started Common Ground last
April, it was to keep the idea of the need for
community planning that was consistent with
sustainable development alive," Walck said.
"People were talking about it, but no
one was organizing around this issue, so
Keweenaw Land Trust and Keweenaw Industrial Council
decided to seek funding to do this. Since then,
the need for community planning has become a
front-page story; and people's awareness of the
impact of unplanned development on land use and land
access has grown dramatically."
Walck noted community awareness has led to
efforts to encourage and support planning, but what
is needed now is coordination of these efforts so
that the most efficient use of resources can be
brought to bear on planning.
"It's easy for people to burn out if they
are spread too thin, and we don't want to duplicate
efforts. We need to work together," she added.
"One of the things we would like to do at the
Common Ground meeting in Houghton County on Dec. 5
is to lay out the resources available locally and
initiatives underway in the region and determine how
we can best coordinate these activities."
Each community meeting is intended to be "an
informational forum where participants will begin
building a vision for the community, learn the
basics of the planning process and identify local
resources available to support planning.
Participants will have an opportunity to share ideas
and organize local efforts," Walck added.
In late October, 2000, the Americana Foundation
awarded a $15,000 grant to the Keweenaw Community
Foundation on behalf of Common Ground for the
purpose of supporting land use planning in Keweenaw
and Houghton counties. In addition to the upcoming
public meetings, the grant will fund a document to
be published as an insert in The Daily Mining
Gazette next week.
According to Lori Hauswirth, associate planner
for the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and
Development Region (WUPPDR), who will be offering
technical assistance to Common Ground, the document
will be published in advance of the public meetings
to provide information on land use planning.
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As this diagram
indicates, the planning process
requires public input at several
stages. The Common Ground meetings
are intended to provide for that
input in coordinating efforts
toward land use and sustainable
development planning in Houghton
and Keweenaw counties. Diagram
courtesy Lori Hauswirth, associate
planner for the Western Upper
Peninsula Planning and Development
Region (WUPPDR).
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"It’Äôs going to include some background on
planning and on the Common Ground group and an
overview of the basic steps in the planning
process," Hauswirth said. "It will also
have some contacts and resources for local
planning."
Hauswirth, who plans to attend both Common Ground
meetings, said the group is inviting speakers on
such topics as economic development, environmental
resources and cultural/heritage resources. The names
of speakers have not yet been confirmed.
Hauswirth noted Common Ground’Äôs planning grant
also enabled Kristine Bradof, community programs
coordinator for the GEM Center for Science and
Environmental Outreach at Michigan Tech, to obtain a
matching grant of $7,500 from the National
Environmental Education and Training Foundation to
develop GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
planning maps for each township in Houghton and
Keweenaw counties. The maps provide such information
as watershed boundaries, roads, lakes, streams, land
cover and topography. Bradof will also develop maps
to include additional information related to
drinking water. Eventually these maps will be
available on the GEM
Center’Äôs Web site.
Walck noted the original vision of the Common
Ground Initiative was a model that worked for
Cedarville, Mich., residents who created the Les
Cheneaux Economic Forum. The forum had a steering
committee and multiple task forces working
on land use planning, tourism and workforce
development, downtown revitalization and natural
resources management. Representatives from that
forum spoke at a League of Women Voters land use
forum in Houghton about a year ago. Despite the
success of that model, Common Ground participants
have headed off in different directions in response
to particular problems and pressures in Keweenaw and
Houghton counties, Walck added.
"Maybe it's time to come back together
and have representatives from the various groups
that have emerged form a steering committee to
act as a clearinghouse for information, and
consolidate resources in task forces working on
issues such as community land use
planning, public access, watershed management
and sustainable development," she said.
For further information about the Common Ground
Initiative contact Christa Walck at (906) 482-5019
or cwalck@mtu.edu.
- Michele Anderson
November 20, 2000
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