You know what’s really, REALLY great? When things work out how we hoped and – dare we say – planned.
Though the first task of this collaboration was centered on the writing of master plans, the overall goal was always much bigger: for the communities that make up this beautiful region to find opportunities to work together and meet everyone’s needs better as a team than we could individually. And as we are edging toward the finish line on that first task (really! seven of the nine plans have been fully adopted!), the fruits of our labor are blossoming. Two wins for today:
- Gilmore Township has moved to enact a Blight Ordinance
based on the zoning template developed in Phase II of the collaboration. This was one of the priorities expressed by their citizens at the Visioning Session, and it is shared by four other communities throughout the region. - Manistee Township and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians have signed an agreement, facilitated by the Alliance for Economic Success, to provide sanitary sewers along the US-31 corridor. Sanitary sewers are critical to maintaining the water quality prized throughout the region, and wastewater treatment is definitely an area in which the expense and logistics require an economy of scale.
Working together to protect water quality and scenic rural character
Want to know more about what’s been getting done around here as a result of the terrific folks who are collaborating to make the region the best it can be? Check out the Farm and Food System report produced this summer, or the Arcadia-Pierport Watershed Committee page. Want to get involved? Send us an email through the Contact Us page and tell us what you’d like to work on – we’ll put you in touch.
I have to wonder why Lakes to Land is taking credit for the sewer agreement between Manistee Township and The Little River Band. The agreement is the result of hard work by the elected members of the Township Board and the late Mr. Robert Memberto of the Tribe. The Township and the Tribe have always have always tried to work together for the betterment of our community. This relationship existed long before Lakes to Land. Yes, lets celebrate the sewer agreement and the positive environmental and economic benefits of it, but it is offensive to have organizations who had nothing to do with it try to take credit for it. Further, Manistee Township is no longet part of Lakes to Land and neither is the Tribe. This agreement is not the fruit of your labor.
Hi, Linda. Thanks for your comment. We didn’t mean to take credit for this agreement specifically – the post does say that it was facilitated by AES – but rather to show some great results of collaboration among members in the region. I had not been contacted by either Manistee Township or the Tribe to request any kind of dissociation from the Initiative (both still get regular Leadership Team communications from me), and so we shared your good news as our good news. So sorry for the confusion!