GROWTH AND INVESTMENT AREAS

To identify communities within Northwest Michigan that are prepared for new development, a community asset inventory was conducted by Networks Northwest in 2010 in conjunction with the Growth and Investment Network. The survey collected responses from cities, incorporated and unincorporated villages, townships, and planned growth areas in Northwest Michigan. Survey results were used to develop criteria for selecting areas from the region that were best positioned to accommodate future growth patterns anticipated for Northwest Michigan over the next 25 years. While many assets are needed for new growth and investment, there are five essential criteria common to communities throughout the nation that support growth and investment potential. These five criteria were used in the selection of areas for additional analysis regarding growth and investment readiness, trends, and capabilities:

1. Operational municipal water system
2. Operational municipal sewer system
3. Adopted master plan that recommends a defined higher density downtown core for development and investment
4. Zoning ordinance that codifies higher density development in the downtown core
5. Available governmental officials and staff to create effective growth- and investment-oriented policies and efficiently process requests and permits

By investing in Opportunity Zones, investors stand to gain a temporary deferral on their capital gains taxes if they hold their investments for at least five years and a permanent exclusion from a tax on capital gains from the Opportunity Zones investments if the investments are held for ten years. For more information on Opportunity Zones go to miopportunityzones.com

There are eight opportunity zones located within our Northwest Michigan region. The opportunity zones are currently each being included in a marketing packet that once assembled will outline the 37availability of development incentives for their specific geographic areas. Of importance to note, is the necessity to establish an Opportunity Fund. The Opportunity Fund once established sets the stage for use of these opportunity zones.

REMOTE WORKER STUDY

Following the pandemic and the required remote work options that many businesses and organizations undertook, the return to ‘office’ work for many companies also included allowances for remote work to remain an option for some employees and businesses. The status of remote is unknown for our region, and having an accurate understanding of the complexities of remote work is desired for inclusion in economic development efforts. A Remote Worker Study commenced in early 2025 by Networks Northwest was built around a methodology which includes direct questionnaire and focus group facilitation of remote workers from across the ten county region, while also navigating and summarizing existing remote worker research conducted within the State of Michigan and nationally to identify similar trends locally. Additionally the study estimates remote workers by industry for each county of the region utilizing statistical proportionate modeling from national studies compared against data at our local county level. The study is set to be complete by the end of 2025.

STRATEGIC SITE READINESS PROGRAM (SSRP)

Networks Northwest (NN) initiated an SSRP process in late 2024, with the majority of the process occurring during the calendar year of 2025. The process was multi-faceted, with financial support made available to local Economic Development Organizations of the Lower NW Michigan Region for activities in support of identification of sites for being made development ready. A separate set of tasks for the process was undertaken by the NN Community Development team. These separate tasks sought to perform 3 distinct functions: 1) Create a narrative of the system status and service boundary map for every publicly held drinking water and sanitary sewer system in the 10 county region. 2) Create a development site ‘Hindrance Feature’ GIS layer which identifies areas we should avoid for development consisting of steep slopes, wetlands, riparian corridors and water bodies, locations of critical dunes, high risk erosion areas, and the location of prime, unique and locally significant farmland soils. 3) Utilizing County GIS Parcel data, isolation of vacant parcels which 38are within or adjacent to infrastructure service areas and categorizing the vacant parcels by size, property classification, road frontage and value we can directly identify potential development sites for use by local EDOs and units of government.

DIGITAL COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Networks Northwest received approval from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) for the use of a Digital CEDS platform. This platform augments the hard copy regional CEDS report. The augmentation is particularly useful as it creates dynamic dataset API integration into the CEDS report, allowing the reader to adjust data inputs and view the most up-to-date and relevant information as it pertains to a County’s socio-economic profile. This effort will lead our CEDS development into a next generation of interactive and up-to-date data integration.

CHILDCARE PLAN IMPLEMENTATION EFFORTS

Regional Partners and Networks Northwest have continued to support Childcare Implementation Efforts through maintaining and convening of the NW Regional Childcare Coalition. The coalition is focused on meeting the strategies of the “Regional Childcare Plan, 2024”. Support efforts from the Networks Northwest Community Development Department continue in the space of childcare implementation, through direct response to community requests for policy and regulatory revisions assistance at the local government level, and also through discussions of focused efforts for identification of structures to support the siting of future childcare facilities in the communities which were identified as those with greatest need.

LOCAL UNIT CAPACITY PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROCESS SUPPORT

The Networks Northwest Community Development Team continues to support local planning process efforts throughout the 10 NW Lower Michigan Region. We have provided capacity and expertise for a range of processes including local unit Master Plans, Recreation Plans, Downtown Development Authority Plans, Capital Improvement Plans, and Economic Development Strategies. We will continue to offer our knowledge and expertise to assist local units of government and partner organizations with pursuance of grant funding and administration, planning processes, and project implementation efforts.