Efficiencey could go a long way for land use issues

We’ve streamlined automobiles to make them sleek and fuel-efficient. Athletes, who run or ride, depend on light equipment, tailored to make their bodies like bullets to cut through the air. Heck, even fishing lures are trimmed and curved to slice through the water to look more attractive to fish.

With all this ingenuity floating around, why can’t we come up with a plan to simplify local government and the way our elected officials deal with development?

Time and money are at stake — so it should be an easy answer. At least it is to this developer. But just for the sake of efficiency, let’s see how quickly I can streamline an explanation.

Michigan is a home rule state. This means that local municipalities (cities, townships, villages, etc.) regulate development within their own borders. Usually elected and appointed officials who sit on the governing boards do so part time, often without the proper background to make development-related decisions.

For the most part they serve their communitie well by creating laws, enforcing ordinances and starring in parades; however, they may not know the difference between inclusionary zoning (regulations that provide incentives to construct affordable housing) and gross density (the rate of total residential units to total development in the area).

Instead of working with developers to come up with timely and sensible solutions, these officials micromanage plans, which in turn slows down the development for further, and in many cases unnecessary, studies. Promising projects then become mired and weighted with red tape, and developers are scrambling to make costly changes.

Without the proper incentives to become educated about land use issues and smart growth, this process will always be slow. We need to change the way we think about development. It takes experience and expertise to deal with the environmental, building and developmental regulations.

There is no reason why REALTORS® can’t work together with local municipalities. We need to take the time to educate leaders so that questions can be answered quickly, options can be explored more effortlessly, and, most of all, developments can be finished in a timely manner.

I’m not saying this is a one-sided solution. Developers should be ready for negotation and willing to compromise. With the proper education on how the system works and what a local municipality is looking for, I strongly believe that there can be win/win solutions across the board. Simply put, knowledge speeds the process and saves money.

Fast projects and saving money. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Then all of us would have more time to take those long drives in the country with our smooth cars, walk miles in the outdoors with the lighter gear, and, my personal favorite, spend more time fishing.