New master plan on the horizon

HARRISON TOWNSHIP — In the works for almost a year, the future of planning in Harrison Township is almost here.

Already sent out to surrounding communities for review, the Resilient Harrison 2040 Master Plan aims to define planning rules for the township while setting up guidelines for how the township can position itself amidst a changing world. The plan was funded in part by a $30,000 Michigan Department Environment, Great Lakes and Energy grant that promotes building resilience toward risks facing coastal communities.

“The township knew we wanted to work on an update to our master plan since it had been such a long time since the previous one had been adopted,” said Adam Young, a senior project manager at engineering firm Wade Trim. “The current master plan obviously did not think about something like COVID or the housing market that we’re in or people working remotely instead of going into the office. So much has changed since that time, so we knew that we wanted to do this master plan update. We came across this funding opportunity through EGLE, and we also know that Harrison Township has dealt with issues like coastal flooding. We tied the need to do the master plan with the EGLE’s program’s goals to help improve community resilience and sustainability and coupled those together to create this master plan project.”

Young says this plan takes a more holistic view of the township and its needs rather than focusing on the typical narrow land use and development scope master plans tend to have. Land use certainly has its role in the plan, but it shares time with assessment of community vulnerabilities and a circulation plan, among other subjects.

The master plan is a forward-looking document in so far as it sets some hard limits on future development while providing guidance for anticipated yet still hypothetical scenarios. Regarding the circulation section, the plan specifically calls for the township to reduce the maximum planned right of way for Jefferson Avenue and North River Road and South River Road from 120 feet to 86 feet. The township will also coordinate with Macomb County to establish a regional rail line along Metropolitan Parkway should a railway transit system be proposed.

“It’s a future plan probably to be implemented next year, and what that means is we have it on the shelf ready to refer to when we build new buildings or if somebody wants to come in and add a rail system,” said Harrison Township Trustee Paula Rose, a volunteer on the master plan project. “We thought it out. We thought about the traffic flow. We thought about what it would do to the economy if we had X, Y or Z.”

Creating the plan was not only a task for planners and professionals. Public participation was encouraged throughout the process starting with a best practices forum on Nov. 28, 2023, and followed by presentations, questionnaires and a survey. Residents and community members made use of these opportunities to provide information about the community and offered input about what they would like to see from the plan.

“One of the things we heard was that people were not interested in more multifamily residential, like the traditional apartment complex-type development,” Young said. “People said that we have enough of that already, so that’s something we incorporated into the plan. You’ll see different sections and statements in there about how we have a sufficient amount of (apartment complexes) and we’re not looking to expand that.”

While the name master plan may give the impression of an all-commanding document above all documents, it will have little effect on day-to-day life and will not be felt in the short term.

“It’s a longer-term perspective into the future, and the goal of this plan is to be implemented, but we know that will occur over a longer period of time,” Young said.

Approving the plan is expected to take time. The state-required 63-day period for the county and surrounding communities to review the draft master plan is underway. The Harrison Township Planning Commission is expected to hold a public hearing for the plan during a regularly scheduled meeting in October, and Young says approval will not be far off once it passes from the Planning Commission to the Harrison Township Board of Trustees.

“The Planning Commission adoption could occur any time after Oct. 17,” Young said. “And then if the Planning Commission adopts it, it will go to the township board where they would adopt it at a regular meeting.”

The current draft of the Resilient Harrison 2040 Master Plan can be found at harrisontownshipmi.gov/residents/master_plan.php.