Referenda on Zoning Scheduled for July 29 

Two important referenda on the new zoning ordinance and on an amendment to the existing ordinance have been scheduled for July 29. Voting will be at the Elmwood Township Hall on Lincoln Road.

Q & A on the July 29 Elmwood Township referendum votes

What are the votes on July 29th about?

On July 29th, Elmwood residents will have an opportunity to vote on whether or not to approve two recent Elmwood Township Board of Trustee measures. One referendum will be on a new zoning ordinance passed by the Board in December 2002; the other will be on an amendment to the existing zoning ordinance passed in February 2003.

What are the two referendums and why are they important?

Both the new ordinance and the amendment would have the same effect: they would open all 8300 acres of township agricultural and open space land to large-scale subdivision developments like the controversial Lincoln Meadows project. With the strong growth pressure on Elmwood from nearby Traverse City, opponents claim that developments located far from existing services and infrastructure will result in more traffic, a diminished quality of life, and higher taxes for all Elmwood residents.

What are the objections tothe new zoning ordinance?

By allowing sub-division style site condominium developments throughout the Agricultural and Open Space (AO-1) district, it is feared that the new zoning ordinance will lead to a sprawling pattern of development which will result in higher taxes, more traffic, and a diminished quality of life for Elmwood residents. Developments which are built in a sprawling pattern--set down in rural areas far from existing community centers--will sooner or later require services like water and sewer, and roads. The cost of providing these services will be borne not by the original developers, but by the taxpayers of Elmwood Township. As these developments proliferate, they will drain resources from the older, built-up portions of the township, lead to a growth in the size and cost of township government, and aggravate the traffic bottleneck at the intersection of 72 and 22.

What is the amendment and what are the objections to it?

When the petition drive to bring the new zoning ordinance to the ballot succeeded, the township board decided they needed another way to allow high density development in the agricultural and open space District. They proposed an amendment to the existing zoning ordinance which would also allow sub-division style development throughout the AO-1 District, which is now limited to densities of one unit per ten acres.

What's the alternative?

Elmwood we needs a zoning ordinance that encourages development first and foremost in the areas that have already been zoned for this kind of development--the high and medium-density zoned districts and second, in those parts of the AO-1 District that either have or which can have services like water and sewer extended to them. We also need real clustering in which usable open space is preserved, not the subdivision-in-a-hayfield model which creates no genuinely usable open space. None of these features are in the zoning ordinance to be voted on on July 29.

The township claims that without these measures Elmwood will have no zoning ordinance, or only a very poor one. Is there any merit to this argument?
No. While it can be improved, the existing ordinance provides protections against bad and rampant developments and guidelines for good ones.

How about the argument that without high-density development throughout the township, ten-acre lots will eat up all the township's agricultural and open land?

Nothing could more certainly guarantee the speedy disappearance of agriculture and open land from Elmwood than an unrestricted market in subdivision-style developments, which is what the new zoning ordinance and the amendment would create. The township already has thousands of acres of land zoned for medium and high-density residential development. Sound land use and smart growth policies dictate that new subdivisions should be built in those areas, or as natural extensions of them, not randomly scattered over the rural hinterlands of the township.

What will happen if the new zoning ordinance and the amendment are defeated by Elmwood Township residents on July 29th?

The existing ordinance will remain in effect. The township's land use policy and new zoning ordinance should be reconsidered in a process characterized by early and frequent public input, sound planning, and reference to our Master Plan. Such a process would yield a new and improved zoning ordinance that would protect the interests of both large landowners and the general public. It should promote real clustered housing and channel developments toward those areas of the township which either already have the infrastructure to handle them, or to which services like water, sewer, and roads can easily be extended. Together we can prevent the kind of sprawling development that we have seen in locales like Garfield Township.   Together we can preserve the character of Elmwood Township and protect the interests of its residents and taxpayers.