Survey Results Call for More Cultural Activities
Pickford
By Amy Polk

Pickford is a small, yet growing community where residents say they enjoy the local services, small businesses, sense of community, and open spaces.

According to the Pickford Citizen Input survey, however, residents also want more cultural activities, better cellular telephone and Internet service, and more senior citizen housing and services. Residents would like to see some growth, especially in the job market. Most of the respondents, in fact, say Pickford needs to grow, with 69% saying there is too little development in the township.

The results of the survey will shape a land use plan and possibly ordinances that will help preserve strengths, while encouraging development. The participants in a May 15 community meeting, where the survey results were presented and discussed, believe Pickford has the foundation of an even stronger town, and is in a good position to welcome growth.

"Pickford really has a lot to offer, with convenience and proximity of stores and facilities to one another," said resident and business owner Dick Taylor. "You can park in one place and walk to the bank, grocery, restaurants, and other stores. Not all small communities can say that. We already have a leg up."

Some people think the poor state economy and high gasoline prices may encourage shopping locally and spending more time in Pickford.

"The more we talk about this, the more it seems we should go back to the way things were," said resident and Pickford Historical Society member Jaynce Leach. "At one time there were 25 businesses in town, and five blacksmith shops. A lot of shopping was restricted by travel, and people couldn't get out of town to shop like they can now."

Adding to the discussion, Dave Firack cited a community that introduced a "local bucks" campaign to encourage local shopping. Shoppers, for instance, could redeem $100 in real cash for about $110 of local "money" that could be spent at local stores only, he said.

"It got people to start thinking about doing their shopping locally," Mr. Firack said.

Traverse City uses a similar system called Bay Bucks, in which more than 50 local businesses use and exchange the local currency among each other. The cash is only redeemable at the participating businesses, and was started to create a small business commerce in the region, and a preference for it among consumers. Other communities use "shop locally" campaigns to offer coupons only redeemable at local businesses, or shopping events that qualify the consumer for incentives. When DeTour Village hosts its Village Christmas, shoppers must visit a minimum number of stores to be entered in a raffle.

Additional suggestions from the surveys include offering tax incentives or credits to people who want to locate a business in Pickford, giving incentives to fill vacant buildings downtown, and seven more suggestions to create a "buy local, think local, support local" campaign.

Answering a state mandate to update the township's land use plan, the Pickford Planning Commission also surveyed residents on their opinions about community character, land use, open space, adequate facilities, and what businesses and services people would like to see, among dozens of other questions.

The commission will have another community meeting in June or July to continue the process of updating its land use plan, which Pickford Zoning Administrator Larry Kyle said dates to 1993.

"We need to update our land use plan at least every five years," Mr. Kyle told residents at the meeting, "and we needed citizen input to update the plan, and this was one way to do it."

Another concern cited by participants at the May meeting, but not mentioned in the survey responses, was Pickford Township's need to align community planning efforts with Marquette Township. The Pickford community has the distinction of straddling two townships, in two counties. Pickford Township is in Chippewa County, and Marquette Township across M-129 is in Mackinac County. People and businesses in the northeast section of Marquette Township consider themselves part of Pickford, and the two townships share ambulance and firefighting services. How to coordinate land use objectives across the two townships may be a challenge, owing to different goals, plans, and laws in each municipality.

"How do we get Pickford and Marquette townships to plan together?" Mr. Firack said. "If you're truly going to look at what we're going to look like 20 years from now, [Marquette Township] needs to be involved too."

"We're building a community, and it's not separated by M-129," said Jim Hammons, a local pastor and former Arizona resident.

Planning commission chair and local business owner Dick Morrison cited other reasons planning commissioners want to update the land use plan, including an influx of construction, a handful of new businesses, and billboard signs that have prompted residents to question the kinds of zoning laws Pickford Township has.

"We're all living here together, and we want to make this the best place possible to live," Mr. Morrison said.

The major reasons survey respondents said they chose to live in Pickford are the small town feel and sense of community, quality school, privacy, air quality and scenery, quality of neighborhoods, and low crime rate.

Commenting on responses that seem to contradict each other, like appreciating the small town feel yet wanting growth, Mr. Morrison thinks the planning commission will have some challenges translating the results into a land use plan.

"These are issues some people downstate are really wrestling with now, but they are not questions we're accustomed to answering," Mr. Morrison said.

He was encouraged by the responses, noting the township received a 30% response rate, considered a good response by statisticians. Some respondents took the opportunity to air unexpected opinions, including one three-page response with specific ideas on how to address blight, township appearance, road and sidewalk conditions, youth activities, and traffic around Pickford Public Schools.

"I thought that was a wonderful addition to the township survey," Mr. Morrison said.

Mr. Firack pointed to the "tremendous resource" in the 80% of respondents who have post-secondary education, and suggested the community find some way to channel their educational experience into future community planning and improvement efforts.

Future meetings will include setting planning goals, making a "wish list" of township priorities, guest speakers, and discussing land use ideas. Everyone is invited to attend meetings and provide input. The planning commission includes Mr. Morrison, Merlin Galer, Larry Hagen, Irene Nettleton, and William Raynard.

Mr. Morrison is compiling an email database for people who are interested in the planning process and other township activities. Anyone who wants to be on the list can send e-mail to Mr. Morrison at rbmorrison@lighthouse.net.