GOAL 1 – Deliver broadband services to more residences and business throughout the region.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Follow best management practices and examples set by other rural sectors within the United States that have successfully increased broadband coverage.
- Support broadband initiatives and work-groups across the region and provide opportunities for those groups to network.
- Connect Federal, State and non-profit broadband funding opportunities to local governments and officials.
- Benchmark local communities that have shown success in broadband within the region.
- Annually update the 10-acre development potential site inventory which identifies parcels that have utilities including broadband and other infrastructure necessary to support business and industry.
- Support the emerging conceptualization of broadband as a public good. Increase competition in the sector by developing a stimulus for telecommunications companies that are currently unable to compete in the marketplace.
- Manage improvements in technology, especially AI, to avoid further gaps in technological access and its benefits.
- Hold regular meetings with business leaders to understand remote worker needs and potential improvements. Direct users to areas of existing broadband.
- Support public Wi-Fi programs in urban cores.
GOAL 2 – Develop and support programming that promotes affordable housing efforts at the state, regional and local levels.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Work on the state level to expand housing programs and develop new and innovative tax structures to encourage year-round housing development. Ensure Michigan communities have local control over their housing regulations including commercial use of former residences as short-term rentals.
- Advocate for more funding mechanisms for rural communities beyond the Redevelopment Ready Communities program.
- Update state legislation and grant programs to meet the unique housing needs in Michigan’s rural communities. These are typically smaller projects that may need utility expansion and have a higher per-unit cost but lower median incomes and a lower walk score.
- Encourage more communities to establish their own local area housing solutions teams of stakeholders who are decision makers who can take action on housing goals. Local housing solutions teams can more accurately assess the specific local housing needs and better take action to solve those issues.
- Expand Neighborhood Enterprise Zone and Opportunity Zone tools for use in more communities.
- Implement the Housing North “Housing Ready Checklist” in each community, which parallels the Redevelopment Ready Communities (RRC) program.
- Assist local communities in the region to thoroughly study their unique housing needs so that they can best implement solutions.
- Continue to raise awareness of all housing issues through housing advocates like Networks Northwest, Housing North, and local housing solutions teams such as Charlevoix County’s Housing Ready Program and Little Traverse Bay Housing Partnership.
- Support and incentivize renewable energy and energy efficiency programs for all households, especially workforce, lower-income and senior housing to help reduce long-term costs of housing and ensure a healthy safe home.
- Create more emergency shelter solutions
GOAL 3 – Utilize a mix of funding mechanisms to support local initiatives.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Support funding to local Economic Development Organizations for support of local projects and processes.
- Through collaborative partnerships, develop regionally supported projects through shared fundraising initiatives.
- Provide incentives for infill development where existing infrastructure exists. Tax abatements and TIFF programs should be explored to focus development in these locations.
- Provide recognition that many local units of government are overburdened and underfunded for maintaining of full-time professional staff.
GOAL 4 – Collaborate with local units of government to implement policies and programs that support affordable housing development.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Streamlining the permitting process;
- Work with communities to ensure local zoning ordinances support housing development. These may include:
- Allowing for higher density and infill housing;
- Allowing for more housing types that include “missing middle” housing (multi-unit houses such as duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes, town-homes, mixed-use, and accessory dwelling units);
- Creating incentives for multi-unit housing projects that reduce requirements for setbacks, minimum dwelling size, lot size, parking, and building height requirements if additional housing units are created for year-round use; and
- Allowing more senior and supportive housing opportunities within each zoning district.
- Provide more tools for local communities to create housing incentives using tax incentives as well as grant programs to create more housing opportunities.
- Support ordinances, policies and their enforcement to ensure housing is safe and adequate.
- Encourage more counties to activate a county land bank and create housing projects using those available tools. Incentivize Land Bank Authority use of Tax Increment Financing (TIFF) to create housing.
- Work with local jurisdictions to amend zoning, policies and other practices. This may include the development of regional best practices, case studies and recommendations for local units of government.
GOAL 5 – Take advantage of the region’s Opportunity Zones to spur economic growth.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Develop and circulate technical guidance to aid local units in developing opportunity funds.
- Promote opportunity zones through the ThriveNorth website.
- Make community leadership aware of the incentives provided to and by opportunity zones.
- Ensure community leaders are aware of the opportunity zones within their communities.
GOAL 6 – Provide educational and skills training opportunities that prepare individuals to successfully contribute to a diverse regional economy.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Continue to build upon trades programs at schools. Encourage collaborative partnerships between business leaders and schools, especially for skilled trades.
- Provide more career outlook information to K-12 students prior to graduation to encourage job seeking and training opportunities in industries needing talented workers.
- Assess the feasibility of locating a satellite university campus in the region – need to talk to community colleges on what’s there, what needs to improve – research, grant funding, entrepreneurship opportunities, different/increased partnerships.
- Grow the prevalence of remote learning options to impart greater access to education and skills training.
- Continue to encourage partnerships between the region’s community colleges, technical schools and high schools.
- Periodically review and adapt school curriculum’s to match industry trends, both regional and global.
- Support a range of education options including, but not limited to, public schools, private schools, arts programming, training for skilled trades, apprenticeships, co-op opportunities and other non-traditional programming.
- Link community members wanting to finish their high school degree to high school equivalency test preparation (GED) resources
GOAL 7 – Continue to grow the industries that make the local economy unique while also introducing industries that would diversify the region’s economic makeup.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Target job growth in certain industry sectors to meet local demands. An example of this would be growth in the construction industry to help meet the current housing demand.
- Continue to attract businesses that are easy to relocate, have a low impact on the built environment and pay quality wages.
- Expand the region’s economic base by developing businesses that match the region’s character or provide value added goods or services. Examples may include, but are not limited to, farm-to-table restaurants and outdoor recreation manufacturing.
- Benchmark rural communities similar to the region that have adapted well to the shift towards technology and its implications for various industries.
- Utilize business incubators as a way to support innovation in the local economy.
- Coordinate with local units of government to identify opportunities to streamline regulatory processes and increase flexibility.
- Act to remove existing constraints to the tech industry’s growth in the region (broadband, skilled workforce, affordable housing).
- Develop assistance programs for local businesses to compete with national chains.
- Expand collaboration amongst local business owners.
- Target cluster development around the region’s strongest industries.
- Offer no-strings-attached incentives to embolden businesses to relocate to the region.
- Promote industrial sector density in areas adjacent or intermixed with residential workforce housing options.
- Support industries as the global marketplace shifts to Industry 4.0. This may consist of studies and collaborative workgroups to understand how Industry 4.0 will affect supply chains, the workplace and consumer needs.
- Promote clustering of like industries to foster innovation and collaboration. (former goal 8)
- Promote density for industrial sectors in appropriate areas of infrastructure (water, sewer, broadband and transportation).
GOAL 8 – Through programming, policy updates and partnerships, ensure adequate childcare to support the region’s workforce.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Set the child care subsidy rate based on the actual costs of child care and not based on a percentage (75%) of the market rate as reported by child care providers
- Pay child care providers based on attendance (clarify – needs more flexibility for parents’ expenses).
- Assess the feasibility of making childcare a deductible expense to subsidize employees’ childcare.
- Invest in the workforce similar to bonuses paid out during the Covid-19 pandemic. Set up wage boards to establish fair wage rates similar to compensation studies conducted in the private sector.
- Implement and improve before and after school child care programs.
- Engage stakeholders to develop a vision for universal child care under the notion that child care is a public good and warrants public investment. This should be followed by a business model or action plan.
- Increase the use of contracts and grants by child care providers – Reward quality child care providers with grants and contracts.
- Support development of shared services to ensure quality care, high standards, access to other sources of funding and to take advantage of the combined purchasing power.
GOAL 9 – Attract, develop and retain a talented workforce in a diverse regional economy
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Collaborate with businesses in the region to develop employee incentive programs that may include childcare assistance, subsidized housing or skills training to improve talent retention.
- Target skill training programs towards growing industries, or those in the region struggling to hire employees.
- Create a centralized hub of information and resources for community members wanting to transition into a different career.
- Connect community members with information regarding job training and skill development opportunities.
- Provide support to community members wanting to attain a National Career Readiness Certificate or similar trainings that promote employable skill sets.
GOAL 10 – Convene the Networks Northwest Economic Development Council with county representatives to discuss lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and share the resulting findings with the regional community through various means.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Gather and interpret data regarding the impact COVID-19 had on the region’s housing market including short term rentals, home purchases and other data that are more specific than a standard census study.
- Develop benchmarks for business resilience based on lessons learned.
GOAL 11 – Plan for and implement land use patterns that are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Allow higher density housing in close proximity to employers and in urban cores.
- Support policy that promotes infill development and brownfield redevelopment.
- Community planning should look to existing development patterns, infrastructure and the availability of space within urban and suburban cores and direct redevelopment and reuse in these locations, thereby supporting higher density.
- Land use policy should direct the interaction of the built environment to the user, not direct the full separation of uses within the built environment. Land use policy should look to “form” over “function”.
- Land use policy should direct regulatory measures to support varied uses within the same building and zoning district.
- Support compact dense development over costly urban sprawl.
- Promote multi-modal transportation that includes bike routes, trails and mass-transit options to provide interconnection and transportation options.
- Utilize environmentally sensitive areas for passive recreation when possible.
- Focus planning policy on the proper interaction of areas for housing, workplace and necessary transportation infrastructure.
GOAL 12 – Support best practices and their implementation at various levels of government.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Work towards achieving a balance of regulation and development that supports business and workers, while protecting property, lifestyle and the natural environment. This should be met through policy developed within community Master Plans.
- Open dialogue and discussion with the State of Michigan RRC Program leadership in order to adjust the program to fit the needs of rural communities.
- Develop and share models and best practices for master plan policy and zoning ordinance regulation with counties and local municipalities.
- Encourage consistent communication across different levels of government and different governmental departments.
- Identify direct issues and redundancies between government levels and departments, and support policy shift to make correction.
- Provide sample walk-through development process sheets to guide applicants.
- Focus community leadership on “implementation strategies” of community plans and documents.
- Support inclusion of local units of government in MEDC’s RRC program.
- Assign responsible parties and time-lines for direct implementation of specific goals.
GOAL 13 – Plan, implement and improve road networks throughout the region.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Support replacement of culverts and bridges that have met their lifespan.
- Include road network transportation planning policy within Master Plans that coordinates with Federal, State and local transportation oversight agencies as well as the business community and residents.
- Support infrastructure improvement funding for road network enhancements.
- Institute traffic calming measures on targeted roadways, commercial corridors and downtown main streets.
- Coordinate with Road Commissions to implement transportation flow improvements that may include changes in signal timing or the addition of round-a-bouts, turn lanes and passing lanes.
GOAL 14 – Promote rail as an effective mode of transportation and commerce.
OBJECTIVES
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
TIMEFRAME
- Support efficient realignment of rail corridors to benefit efficiency and industrial users.
- Include railroad transportation planning policy within Master Plans that coordinates with Federal, State and local transportation oversight agencies as well as the business community and residents.
- Support continued funding of rail-road infrastructure.
- Support the expansion of freight rail where appropriate.
- Support the expansion of passenger rail with appropriate connections to the Traverse City, Petoskey and Cadillac regions in Northwest Lower Michigan and urban areas of Southern Michigan.
- Renovate transportation systems using best practices, innovative materials, designs and approaches to roadway systems.
- Adapt roadway systems to meet the needs of new and innovative types of vehicles such as hydrogen vehicles and electric vehicles, delivery drones, autonomous vehicles, vehicle sharing and vehicles utilizing artificial intelligence.
- Adapt app-based services to the rural settings in Northwest Michigan that provide new options for community members with limited transportation options available.
- Advocate for increased state funding to support preventive maintenance of roads, trails, bridges and dams.
- Design roadways that embrace “Complete Streets” best practices for pedestrian and non-motorized travel.
- Connect communities throughout the region with non-motorized trail connections.
- Promote development patterns that reduce the need for a personal vehicle to access points of interest and resources.
- Work with counties and local units of government to ensure that when infrastructure is developed or redeveloped that it anticipates advances in transportation technology (e.g. autonomous vehicles).
- Implement trails, bike paths, sidewalks and other transportation avenues for non-vehicular traffic that consider mobility in a context of transportation and recreation.
- Connect cultural sites, parks, residences and commercial areas through non-motorized paths.