Success stories from 35 years of planning

In our 30 plus years we have created hundreds of master plans, recreation plans, TIF/DDA plans, corridor plans and zoning ordinances. We’re planners. We look forward. That’s how we roll.

Recently, though, we pulled together several of our principal planners to look back; to see how communities have benefited from their plans. They identified four exemplary projects:

A new urbanism zoning district in Canton Township
A tax increment finance district resulting in an industrial park in Huron Township
Zoning changes that brought new life to Troy’s main street, Big Beaver Road.
Open space preservation in Scio Township.

Cherry Hill Village in Canton Township

In the 19th century, stagecoaches stopped at the intersection of Cherry Hill and Ridge Roads in Canton Township. Cherry Hill Village was the center of an agricultural community that included Henry Ford.

Canton Township planned to preserve the district and wanted guidelines to encourage development that would be sensitive to history, according to Township Planner Jeff Goulet.

They contracted with Carlisle|Wortman to develop a sub-area plan around the hamlet, designated as a New Town. It specified density, natural features and how old and new elements would blend together.

It established a block system of streets and design guidelines that were sensitive to the area but could respond to market conditions. It included single- and multi-family housing and additional commercial uses, including a theater.

Today Cherry Hill Village is 95 percent completed.

“It was the only area where we continued to build houses during the recession,” Goulet said. “The price points were right; people could get mortgages.”

Goulet said that the commercial portion of Cherry Hill Village hasn’t met the township’s objectives but the township has benefited from the overall success of the development.

Other developments have sprung up around it, including one with $800,000 homes to the north and a project on the south with some neotraditional characteristics.

Tax increment financing for a Huron Township industrial park

John Enos has been the Huron Township planner for more the 20 years. Land use there is a mix of agricultural, large lot residential and recreational – three Huron Clinton Metropolitan Authority parks cross the township along the Huron River. Most relevant, though, is the fact that Detroit Metropolitan Airport is a mile from the township’s northern border.

In 2011 CWA helped the township create a tax increment finance district (TIF) and local development finance authority (LDFA) on a 60-acre site on the southwest corner of South Huron Road and Bell Road, just off I 275. The district spent $3 million to pay for water, drains, electrical service, a rail spur and wetland mitigation.

Several years before the project began, the township presciently bought and set aside land to use as a wetlands bank.

“Mr. Enos helped with this,” said LDFA chair R.P. Lilley. “We built a new, three-acre wetland. We excavated a pond and created habitat.”

A French corporation, Plastic Omnium, built an $80 million facility that employs about 400 people. A German company, Brose, is nearly complete. Their tax abatement from the township requires that 300+ of the expected 1,000 employees be township residents.

“This used to be soybean fields with a taxable value of $500,000 or $600,000,” Lilley said. “The taxable value today is $30 million.” Based on 2019 tax rates, the property will generate more than $2 million a year in township revenue when the TIF sunsets in 2027.

Zoning changes brought new life to Big Beaver Road in Troy

Big Beaver Road in Troy is, well, big. The six-lane boulevard is lined with office and commercial buildings with acres of parking next to the road. In 2011 the city chose Carlisle|Wortman to fully revise its master plan and, with that as the base, change the zoning along Big Beaver to be more conducive to development and redevelopment.

Listening sessions during the master plan process revealed that people wanted Big Beaver to be more walkable. The city wanted a more diverse business mix, more residential, and wanted to create a 24-7 place. CWA planners recommended a form-based zoning code for the area.

Among other things, it requires businesses to be adjacent to the front sidewalk with parking in the rear. Its use-specific standards simplify the approval process for developers.

“Big Beaver is now restaurant row,” said CWA Principal Ben Carlisle. Why is that remarkable? Because the previous zoning required that all restaurants in the corridor be attached to an office building. “We couldn’t achieve the mixed-use development we are now starting to see under the previous zoning regulations,” Carlisle said.

In the last 10 years, Big Beaver has seen 452,000 square feet in new development, with a tax base that has grown by $35 million.

“The zoning was very flexible and adaptive to our needs,” said Kenny Koza of Group10 Management, which has built or is building four hotels in Troy. “They’re really looking big picture toward the future. They’re encouraging urban-style development. They’ve used flexible concessions to avoid having a sea of parking.”

Among other things, it requires businesses to be adjacent to the front sidewalk with parking in the rear. Its use-specific standards simplify the approval process for developers.

In the last 10 years, Big Beaver has seen 452,000 square feet in new development, with a tax base that has grown by $35 million.

Open space preservation in Scio Township

Scio Township, west of Ann Arbor, was in the news August 8, 2019 when it announced the purchase of a 161-acre heritage farm for $2.3 million. The township was positioned to act and had ready funds because of a 2004 vote that taxed properties an additional .5 mills to preserve open land in the township, according to CWA Principal Doug Lewan.

Carlisle|Wortman has served as Scio’s planner of record since about 1989, maintaining and updating the preservation portions of the master plan through each update. The firm provides background information on potential projects, coordinating with the township’s land trust fund consultant.

From 2005 to 2014 the township has protected more than 900 acres of land, leveraging the millage dollars with grants, matching funds and land donations to acquire land outright or buy conservation easements. They have protected mature woods, wetlands, fields and stream banks. Some of the sites are open to the public; others remain private, sometimes because they are still being farmed.