Master Plan Critique Reveals Need for Update, No Rewrite
By Amy Polk

Despite the age of its master plan, Clark Township will not need a new one, but must update the document to reflect modern land use issues.

The township's planner, Brad Kaye of Gourdie-Fraser in Traverse City, gave Clark Township Planning Commission the firm's critique and analysis of the existing land use plan Tuesday, June 19. His partner in the update project, Leslie Sickterman, provided a list of recommendations for the plan. The June 19 audience included residents and representatives of the Les Cheneaux Watershed Council, Les Cheneaux Historical Association, and Les Cheneaux Islands Association.

Commissioners can update the old plan, Mr. Kaye and Ms. Sickterman said, with new language, statistics, maps, traffic counts, and inclusion of new facilities and recreation and watershed management plans.

Commissioners should also address issues like "keyholing," a form of land use that allows several people access to the lake. Most of Clark Township's waterfront is privately owned and in high demand. Keyholing may be sought to provide those who build away from the water access to a shared piece of lakefront. Keyholing is common land use in northwest lower Michigan, where waterfront access is becoming increasingly scarce. Multiple unit developments with homes clustered upland from the lake sometimes use a keyhole design to give all the landowners in the subdivision access to a common waterfront with a beach, dock, or boat launch.

Commissioners are concerned that keyhole land use will come to Clark Township, and they want the township to be prepared if it does. The township has no guidelines for the existing arrangements that resemble keyholing, including families who share waterfront access and deeded waterfront access to landlocked parcels. Clark Township also has many resort and condominium associations that allow shared use of one waterfront, and there are a dozen "road ends" scattered around the township that provide public access to the lake. Commissioners told Mr. Kaye that people park vehicles and trailers at these access points, and local dock builders assemble crib docks there before taking them by barge to the islands.

Commissioners said they would like to see keyholing allowed in Clark Township, but with strict guidelines.

"We don't want to see tents and campers popping up on these," Commissioner Mike Miller said.

Mr. Kaye advised the commission to decide where Clark Township will allow "keyholes" and how they will be regulated. Public input should be sought at the first community forum, which will focus on waterfront land use issues, Mr. Kaye said.

"They may have ideas you've never thought of," he said of the public.

Commissioner Dave Dunning also suggested public forum discussion about guidelines for renting dock slips and providing parking on one's property. While it is a common practice in lower Michigan, Mr. Dunning said adjacent property owners in residential areas of Lake St. Clair do not like living next to parking lots and rental docks.

Other suggestions included guidelines for wind power providers and open space preservation, and encouragement for developing off the road.

Clark Township residents value open space and undeveloped woodlands, based on the documents Mr. Kaye reviewed, but there are inconsistent guidelines in the master plan. A recommendation for 10-acre minimum lots contradicts allowance for one-acre minimum lots. He recommended commissioners pick important areas in the township that should be protected, and mentioned policies like compensating landowners for their development rights if an owner wants to keep their land, among other ideas. A suggestion from the audience included giving developers who want to develop large parcels incentive for creating housing developments off the road, at the end of one private road into the woods.

Maps should be in color, instead of black and white, and should be updated based on Mackinac County's geographic information system maps, Mr. Kaye said.

The master plan should also better define community objectives listed in the plan, like a desire for "high quality jobs," for instance. Mr. Kaye suggested providing more specific definition of what those jobs should provide for residents.

"Does that mean high paying, or more year-around jobs, or more conscientious business owners? The objectives are there, but not really fleshed out," he said. "There's a lot in here that says what you want to do, but never how you're going to do it."

He suggested the township also lay out some objectives and goals for the township's visual appearance, and the specific natural features the community wants to preserve.

Commissioners and Mr. Kaye agreed the first public forum must be before the Les Cheneaux Antique Wooden Boat Show in August, so they tentatively scheduled it for Tuesday, July 31, with a Monday, July 30, alternate date.

Commissioners will next meet on the master plan Tuesday, July 17, when Mr. Kaye hopes to present early drafts of master plan text.