May 2006 Field Report - West Michigan
MAR Wraps Up Third Land Use Academy
By: Kyle Olson – West Michigan Field Director
The MAR recently held its third annual Land Use Academy, bringing REALTORS® together from across the state to hear a variety of speakers discuss smart growth and wise land use.
This year’s academy was held at the Michigania Retreat and Conference Center in Boyne City.
Attendees heard from experienced developers on successes and failures, working with local governments and those citizens living near proposed projects, and working with engineers and planners on smart growth practices. MAR Legal Counsel David Pierson also addressed the attendees on wading through the waters of local government, from dealing with personalities and procedures, to effectively winning over neighbors.
For a long time, local governments thought the best way to manage growth was to keep people spread out. The result of that policy is inefficient land use and costly infrastructure—urban sprawl. Finally, the environmental community has recognized the REALTOR® position that small lots sizes and density conserves land and enables open space to be preserved.
A growing problem these days is not necessarily the developer that carves a piece of property like a pie, not recognizing unique features such as trees and slopes, but ordinances that require minimum lot sizes and huge set-back rules. Most ordinances have not been updated to reflect new development styles that promote smaller lots and more conservation of open land and unique features.
Cluster zoning and preserved open space is more esthetically pleasing, it allows utilities and infrastructure to go to certain sections of a development—as opposed to a web to serve only a few units, and there can be less maintenance of grounds for those that want to keep that to a minimum.
Some local associations are considering a program similar to Land Use that will show local governments the value of adopting ordinances that allow for cluster zoning and other variations from the standard “cut-into-quarters” ordinances of the past.
A list of attendees is available on the MAR web site. I would encourage you to contact them to get their experience and perhaps have them give a presentation at your association.
For more information on the Land Use Academy, please visit click here. Watch your email and visit the MAR web site for information on next year’s Land Use Academy.
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RPAC Fundraising Events
Field Directors for the Michigan Association of REALTORS® are often asked a multitude of questions on the legality and appropriateness of various RPAC fundraising events. This is a good thing as it signifies that my local associations are actively engaged in fulfilling their yearly goals! However, some of the questions come after an event has been planned and last minute changes are needed. Even worse is if a fundraising event has already occurred and corrective actions are needed after the fact. While it is rare for that to happen, we at MAR want to help you avoid such inconveniences.
In order to make your event run as smoothly as possible, we ask that you put together a simple one page summary of the idea with an estimated budget and send it to your Field Director or Brad Ward in Lansing. Many of you have wonderfully creative ideas and there are ways to make almost any event work, so long as it doesn’t entail any games of chance (raffles, card games, etc…). Working through our legal experts in Lansing will ensure a successful event for everyone involved! Thank you for your commitment to RPAC.
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Bay County Hosts Membership Meeting
Recently, the Bay County REALTOR® Association held a general membership meeting with special guests, Senator Jim Barcia, and Representative Jeff Mayes. Both Senator Barcia and Representative Mayes talked about legislation that is being debated in the Legislature that affects the Bay area community, as well as REALTORS® across Michigan. One issue that was touched on was in regard to amending the Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act. Sponsored by Senator Barcia, Senate Bill 52 redefined the meaning of “rehabilitation” within the act to include additions of floor space or stories to obsolete property. This legislation stemmed directly from concerns of citizens in the area regarding the redevelopment process in Bay City.
Although the city has seen an increase in upscale housing over the last few years, commercial development has been sluggish. The city’s existing building structures do not adequately meet the needs of prospective businesses coming into the area, and the additions needed for those particular businesses did not qualify for tax incentives from the district. With the new amendment added to the Act, Bay City is sure to increase business opportunity by allowing prospective commercial clients to add onto existing structures and take advantage of tax benefits set aside for rehabilitating certain obsolete buildings.
Earlier this month, a small delegation from the Bay association joined Senator Barcia in a bill signing ceremony with Governor Granholm, creating Public Act 70 of 2006.
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