TRAVERSE CITY -- For about a year, area residents have weighed in on what they want their communities to look like years down the road.
Organizers of a regional planning process hope they don't stop now.
Four possible scenarios will be unveiled this week as part of the Grand Vision project, a $1.6 million transportation and land use study that uses community input and growth trends to plan for the future.
The final draft will be based on responses that come from these sessions.
"It's going to be an ongoing process," project manager Doug Christensen said. "This will be the groundwork."
Organizers will hold a regional kickoff Tuesday at the State Theatre, where the four drafts will be unveiled for the first time. No seats are available for the Tuesday session; by Friday afternoon all tickets had been snatched up.
Individual sessions in each of the six participating counties -- Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Kalkaska and Wexford -- will follow.
The four scenarios will reflect a variety of possibilities, Christensen said. One will model growth under current patterns, while another anticipates more growth in rural areas than cities.
Two others emphasize growth in the more densely populated areas, particularly Traverse City and Cadillac, with one especially focused on encouraging such development.
The final version will be drafted throughout November and December, and organizers plan to return to the community after the new year, Christensen said.
Implementation could begin in 2009.
"We're crafting the final vision based on what we hear from the folks in the region," Christensen said. "If you don't speak up now, then your voice isn't going to be heard."
After Tuesday's kickoff, scorecards will be available online and at locations throughout the six counties for residents to pick up.
Organizers hope 15,000 people respond.
Even though only about 3,000 people attended workshops, Christensen said he thinks drawing five times as many people now is "a very attainable goal."
Yet a handful of residents polled Friday in downtown Traverse City said they hadn't heard of the project, or didn't know enough about it now to participate.
Charles Hatcher received a card in the mail advertising the project, but said he and his wife, Judith, have not followed it closely.
"It's a good opportunity," said Hatcher, of Williamsburg, who would consider offering feedback. But first, they have to "make ourselves a little more aware of what's going on."
Still, Christensen said, the scorecard should take no more than 30 minutes to complete, and residents can submit them at the same places they received them.
"Their feedback is important," he said. "This vision is really going to be selected and created by the citizens of the region."
Get involved
The Grand Vision project regional kickoff event Tuesday at the State Theatre sold out, but space remains for five more county kick-offs throughout October.
Tickets are not required for the remaining kickoffs. Each of the events will feature presentation of four scenarios developed through previous workshops to accommodate growth in the region during the next 50 years. Attendees will be asked to score the characteristics of each growth scenario. All meetings run from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the following locations:
Thursday, Kalkaska High School.
Oct. 13, Cadillac High School and the Michigan State University Horticultural Research Station in Leelanau County.
Oct. 14, Shanty Creek Resort and Benzie Central High School.
For more information visit www.thegrandvision.org.
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