Presentation Hints at Improvements in City Development

A map of proposed land uses from the City of Three Rivers Master Plan.

Following a regular meeting of the Three Rivers City Commission Tuesday night, representatives of several city boards and staffs held a joint meeting and presentation on current planning and development activities in the city. The meeting is required going forward as part of something called the Redevelopment Ready Communities process (RRC), which is a program of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).

The RRC process is designed to help municipalities around the state improve their processes, laws, and planning documents to better facilitate and manage development. Among other activities, it requires the city to review, revise, and update its Master Plan, work to improve zoning and code language, make development services and processes easier to access and follow, and prioritize redevelopment sites in accordance with community-defined goals.

In exchange for engaging with the process, the city remains eligible for a variety of MEDC grants and services that have, in the past, driven several key development projects in the historic downtown as well as other parts of Three Rivers. Through its current participation, the city is on track to become a certified Redevelopment Ready Community, which makes it eligible for a higher level of assistance from MEDC that includes more intensive work with developers, potential developer networking, project costing and design assistance, and other services.

Tuesday’s presentation meeting was the first of what is to become an annual occurrence. It is a part of the RRC process meant to keep the city’s various boards and commissions aware of, and coordinated with, one another. In its effect, the idea is to ensure that development processes are as smooth as possible.

City Manager Joe Bippus and Geographic Information Systems Coordinator John Beebe led the meeting and presentation. Mayor Tom Lowry provided comments, while with work and progress summaries and updates came from various city departments involved in planning and development. They included members of the Planning Commission, Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Executive Director Tricia Meyer, and the City Clerk Melissa Bliss. Although it plays a role in development processes for the historic downtown, members of the Historic District Commission did not attend or speak.

Bippus, Beebe, Bliss, and Meyer described their broader duties and work in the city while alluding to or describing their roles in the development process. Through a series of slides, Beebe provided greater detail on some of the components of the development process and where they stand.

Beebe discussed his role as the city’s staff liaison to the Planning Commission. That board’s chair, John Kish, also briefly spoke. Beebe spoke about his and the Planning Commission’s responsibilities for things such as zoning language and petitions, site plan review, meeting and communication requirements, and business permitting.

Bliss provided an update on new rules and changes pertaining to the Open Meetings Act as well as other issues of public participation and transparency. Both of those qualities, she said, are a “huge component” of the RRC process, which involves a variety of standards and procedures for how public participation in development processes take place.

Meyer spoke about the DDA’s efforts at placemaking, or emphasizing and defining marketable local character, through her agency’s seven-year participation in the Michigan Main Street Program (MMS), a function of MEDC. MMS provides technical assistance and other support, guided by historic preservation as a means of maintaining assets, to downtown revitalization programs. Meyer’s presentation included an update on current-year projects, which included a multi-pronged effort to support businesses impacted by the ongoing pandemic.

Meyer also discussed future downtown goals, which pertain to business recruitment, housing development in the upper floors of storefront buildings, development of more social, outdoor space, and taking advantage of recent changes to state rules that allow controlled, outdoor areas for alcohol consumption. She said she is also excited for the possibility of new programming with the library and the Carnegie Center for the Arts.

“One of the things about these excercises is that you get to review how much we’ve done. That’s easy to forget,” Lowry said. Lowry said he celebrated the arrival of the Three Rivers Public Library in its new buildings downtown, as well as other recent city projects such as the Memory Isle bridge replacement, the Armstrong Youth Sports Complex, and the continued addition of new businesses in the U.S. Highway 131 corridor.

The RRC process began a few years ago with a self-assessment completed by a variety of city stakeholders, from which MEDC issued a baseline report showing all of the development areas that needed improvement. Beebe said the city has since been addressing that report through real-time process improvements, formal process changes, and the development of a new Master Plan for the city.

Beebe said he believes the process is on track and hopes the city will receive its Redevelopment Ready certification in 2021. “It’s not just a matter of checking boxes,” Beebe said. “All of these steps make a concerted effort in the right direction for enhancing Three Rivers for economic development, prosperity, and thriving as a whole.”

Mayor Lowry, along with Commissioners Carolyn McNary, Pat Dane, and Clayton Lyczynski II thanked Beebe, the Planning Commission, and other staff, volunteers, and organizations for their work in the RRC process. Lyczynski said the work “helps to lay the foundation for people like me who are excited and wanting to do something to be able to jump in and start filling gaps.” Planning Commission member Chuck Friese called Beebe a “detail guy” and thanked him for his leadership in the process.

Master Plan Discussed and Filed

Prior to the presentation, at the regular business meeting of the City Commission, commissioners voted to receive and place on file the City’s new Master Plan, which was recently adopted by the Planning Commission. The plan was compiled by consulting firm McKenna Associates. That firm’s Paul Lippens led the project.

On Tuesday, Lippens said he was proud of the work his team and the staff and volunteers from Three Rivers did in creating the Master Plan document. Lowry said the “assessment of the community was right on in so many spots.” Lory said it was nice to “see the data all in one spot,” as well as the bigger-picture view afforded by the document, along with its suggestions for future development and growth in the city.

“Hopefully we’ll consider doing some of those in the next few years. Some are lower cost than others,” Lowry said. Lyczynski said he appreciates seeing various, pertinent statistics and figures that provide development direction for the city, and that he is “looking forward to being a part of going toward those goals.”

Bippus thanked Lippens for his guidance in the process. Bippus said Lippens “knew how to relate to us,” that his report is significantly clearer than the document it replaces, and that he appreciates both the finished product and working with Lippens.

Zoning Change Approved

Also at Tuesday’s regular City Commission meeting, commissioners approved a change to the city’s zoning language to allow certain conditional and special exception uses in the I-4 industrial zoning district, which falls within the Airport Industrial Park (AIP). The additional uses are already permitted in the I-2 district, and come at the request of Taplin Group, LLC., which is exploring the possibility of building a waste treatment facility.

Beebe said although the AIP exists primarily to support aviation uses, it has been largely vacant for many years. He said the changed zoning language opens up the possibility of more flexible development, and creates more avenues for the city’s zoning contractor, SafeBuilt, to approve certain kinds of use applications. Lowry said the language leaves open a wide range of wholesale and manufacturing uses, but Beebe said the change limits the language to the most common types of such uses.

According to a flowchart Beebe supplied for Tuesday’s meeting, the conditional uses currently allowed in the I-2 district and newly adopted for I-4 include a range of sales and storage functions, and the special exception uses include a wider range of options including communication towers, parking, contractor’s offices, solar energy farms, wind energy conversion systems, and sexually oriented businesses.

Also under City Commission Business:

  • The new City Master Plan was adopted by the City Planning Commission on October 26, and this evening, City Commissioners will vote to place the document on file.
  • City Commissioners will also vote on the appointment of Josh Simmons as the County Designated Assessor, as described above under county business.
  • Pumps at the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) require periodic maintenance, and commissioners approved of a $24,997 quote for that work from Hamlett Environmental Services.
  • Also approved for the WWTP was a bid for biennial cleaning of sludge treatment tanks from Taplin Group, LLC in the amount of $17,372.
  • Commissioner Pat Dane said she had several constituents recently noticed a strong odor emanating from the WWTP. Plant manager Doug Humbert said the smell resulted from the failure of a critical part of the plant’s infrastructure. The parts were backordered for two weeks, and the failure happened to occur during a warm weather period, but the repair has since been made and the affected equipment is now back in service.
  • City Attorney J. Patrick O’Malley said he has drafted a proposed marijuana ordinance for adoption by voters next year as promised in previous discussions. He hopes to have City Commissioners and the Planning Commission discuss it for ballot approval in the near future.
  • In an announcement separate from Tuesday’s meetings, City staff announced that City Hall and other city buildings will be closed to the public through December 8 in compliance with a pandemic-related health order by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. City business will still be conducted with the public remotely by email or telephone.

Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.