TRAVERSE CITY -- A plan for future growth in six area counties will start in existing villages, preserving much of the region's rural heritage and agricultural lands.
Organizers of the Grand Vision land and transportation study Tuesday unveiled a completed blueprint for expansion throughout the next 50 years.
The $1.6 million project encompasses Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Kalkaska and Wexford counties.
The final version was chosen from among four scenarios presented last fall. About 12,000 people from the six counties scored the options, with about 55 percent preferring growth to happen in villages.
"When we think about a Kingsley or a Suttons Bay or a Bellaire, those are the communities that are important, and we should support them," Matt McCauley, of the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments, told a crowd at the State Theatre in Traverse City.
Among the characteristics of the group's vision are increased public transit, diverse and affordable housing and preserving agriculture.
"We're in an age now where everyone's talking green, and that to me means local sustainability," said Lynne Ruden, of Grayling.
She attended a regional planning meeting in Kalkaska, works in Traverse City and is planning to move here with her husband, Tom.
"I hope that people stay as energized as they have been," she added.
A big portion of the effort moving forward will focus on job growth, said Doug Luciani, president of the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce.
The old adage that employees take pay cuts in exchange for views of Grand Traverse Bay needs to be replaced by "a vision of the future here that's one of prosperity," Luciani said.
He added that today's young, educated workforce increasingly is bringing talent to the region, and they are looking for a "way of life" that the Grand Vision is capable of providing.
A number of civic leaders, representing such organizations as the Traverse City Housing Commission and the Bay Area Transportation Authority, now will work to put these ideas into place.
A recent telephone survey of 578 area residents determined that the final vision plan largely aligns with the larger community's ideas, according to results displayed on the theater screen.
More information, particularly about transportation, will be forthcoming.
"I remain hopeful that it would not just be put on a shelf," said Ruth Lenz, who has a Mancelona address but lives in Kalkaska County. "I don't like to see the urban sprawl."
