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Opportunities: The first order of business in my mind
would be a meeting of the major players in land preservation to discuss
what are the opportunities and where each can maximize their resources.
These would include the City, the Township, the County Natural Areas group,
the Washtenaw Land Trust and the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy.
Also, if Pittsfield, Scio and Superior Townships are willing to be contributors,
they should be part of the discussion. It probably also makes sense to
have U-M involved as they have some major land holdings in the greenbelt
area (Matthaei, etc.).
If it's possible, it would be great to see some acquisitions happen in
the very near future to show voters that there tax dollars can make a
difference. There are probably already some people deciding today whether
they are going to go the PDR route. I don't know when the dollars are
going to be available but maybe we can see some bridge deals that would
allow some early successes to be recorded.
Also, I have suggested before that the City has some land holdings in
Pittsfield that would be prime for designation as permanent farmland or
conservation easements. This includes some of the land around the airport
and south of the MRF that the City owns but is still leased out for farming,
as far as I can tell. The City will have to work with Pittsfield to see
if this matches their vision. But how cool would it be to be able to go
back to the residents and let them know that a buffer has already been
established, where it can be, along the City's southern border? Of all
of the Townships in the greenbelt, Pittsfield is the most impacted by
growth and probably has the fewest preservation opportunities. But with
the establishment of the Preserve, there's a nice base to establish some
breathing space between the two communities.
Webster seems prime for pitching a new vision for growth. What kind of
technical support can the Township get to establish a vision that includes
PDRs?
Challenges: Northfield Township: I don't think I need
to go into too much detail on the problems up in Northfield. When your
Township Board is hostile to PDR and is developer-friendly, you have real
problems. I know there's a grassroots efforts in place but we really need
to provide support to those residents trying to stop really bad things
from happening. It also is going to need support from the AG community
who can talk to their fellow farmers and show them that there is a better
way through PDR.
Salem Township: Salem is facing incredible pressures from the M-14 corridor
and from sprawl spilling over from Wayne County. We really need to connect
with the folks working in Salem to see how we can assist them. I think
the real problem there is conflicting visions about where the Township
is going to head in the future. The greenbelt proposal may help them clarify
how they want to grow.
I'll be interested to see where the areas of opportunities lie within
the greenbelt. I know that organizations like the Washtenaw Land Trust
and the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy already have lands protected
within the greenbelt area. There may also be areas within the Greenbelt
that are going to be designated growth areas for the Townships, like the
areas along the east half of Ann Arbor Township. But how exciting is it
to actually be able to discuss these ideas with the knowledge that they
are something more than just wistful visions??
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