the review September/October 2015 the official magazine of the Retrofitting Suburbia Investing in Michigan: A Developer’s Perspective Newaygo – The Stream ROSEVILLE — FIRST CERTIFIED REDEVELOPMENT READY COMMUNITY THINK LIKE A DEVELOPER 33985_TheReview_SeptOct2015_R1.indd 1 8/28/15 4:06 PM Features 6 20 the review Place-Based Development: Public Spaces The official magazine of the Michigan Municipal League What Developers and Community Places Communities Want By Katherine Czarnecki By Mark A. Wyckoff, FAICP and James Tischler, AICP 24 Thank You to our Business 20 10 Alliance Program Members From Idle to Ideal: Breathing New Life into 26 Old Suburban Sites Roseville Attains State’s By Lisa Donovan First Redevelopment Ready Community Certification 10 By Rick Haglund 30 Go With the Flow Newaygo’s Positive Business Climate Inspires Innovation By Lisa Donovan 34 Saving Money on 14 Misunderstood Telecom Bills Investing in Michigan’s By Dan Aylward Future with Purposeful Development 36 By Pat Gillespie Business to Business Activity in Gratiot County 18 By Kasey Zehner 2015 Convention On the Cover: Roseville is experiencing a development boom since completing a nearly two-year process to become a certified Columns Redevelopment Ready Com- INTED O R N P munity. The time it takes to get 5 Executive Director’s Message R approval for a big development E C R 38 E Municipal Finance YC P project has fallen from six LED PA 40 Northern Field Report months to 90 days or less. The 42 Legal Spotlight pay-off includes an expansion 46 of the Macomb Mall and a new Municipal Q&A 100,000 sq ft Kroger Market- place. Pictured from left to right: Roseville City Manager 36 Scott Adkins; Ken McClure, Consumer Communications Manager for Kroger’s Michigan division; Roseville Mayor Robert Taylor; and Ed Boutrous, CEO, The Boutrous Companies 26 Cover Story (developer). 2 THE REVIEW SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015 SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015 THE REVIEW 3 One-Pager Plus the review Fact Sheets The official magazine of the Michigan Municipal League Volume 88, Number 5 We love where you live The Michigan Municipal League is dedicated to making Michigan’s communities better by Municipal Attorneys... thoughtfully innovating programs, energetically connecting ideas and people, actively serving Managers... members with resources and services, and passionately inspiring positive change for Michigan’s greatest centers of potential: its communities. Department Heads... Board of Trustees Add to our President: Richard Bolen, Mayor Pro Tem, Wakefield growing Vice President: Nathan Triplett, Mayor, East Lansing Terms Expire in 2015 Terms Expire in 2016 collection! Steven Baker, Councilmember, Berkley Rosalynn Bliss, Mayor-Elect, Grand Rapids Susan Baldwin, Commissioner, Battle Creek Dan Greer, Councilmember, Jackson Do you write one-page Bobby Hopewell, Mayor, Kalamazoo Edward Klobucher, City Manager, Hazel Park explanations of Rebecca Hopp, Mayor Pro Tem, Ferrysburg John B. O’Reilly, Jr., Mayor, Dearborn municipal topics for Mark Vanderpool, City Manager, Sterling Heights your council or staff? Terms Expire in 2017 If so, submit them to Catherine Bostick-Tullius, Commissioner, Lapeer the League as possible Kim Corcoran, Mayor, Ironwood One-Pager Plus Ken Hibl, City Manager, Clare Fact Sheets Marcus Peccia, City Manager, Cadillac Adam J. Umbrasas, Village Manager, Three Oaks William Vajda, City Manager, Marquette These one-page information Magazine Staff To Submit Articles sheets offer a clear and Kim Cekola, Editor The Review relies on contributions from municipal concise explanation of Terri Murphy, Advertising officials, consultants, legislators, League staff and others to maintain the magazine’s high quality a variety of municipal topics. Tawny Pearson, Copy Editor editorial content. Please submit proposals by send- The “Plus” is an additional Genui Forma Inc., Graphic Design ing a 100-word summary and outline of the article piece of information, such to Kim Cekola, [email protected]. Information is as a sample ordinance, also available at: www.mml.org/marketingkit/. policy, or resolution. These fact sheets are Advertising Information Subscriptions available online at mml.org. The Review accepts display advertising. $24 per year for six issues. Payable in advance by Email [email protected] Business card-size ads are published in a check, money order, Visa/MasterCard/American for details. special section called Municipal Marketplace. Express. Make checks payable to Michigan Municipal League. Phone 734-669-6371; Classified ads are available online at fax 734-669-4223 or mail new subscription www.mml.org. Click on “Classifieds.” requests & checks to the Michigan Municipal League, For information about all MML marketing P.O. Box 7409, Ann Arbor, MI 48107-7409. tools, visit www.mml.org/marketingkit/. The Review (ISSN 0026-2331) is published bi-monthly by the Michigan Municipal League, 1675 Green Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2530. Periodicals postage is paid at Ann Arbor MI. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE REVIEW, 1675 Green Rd, ANN ARBOR MI 48105-2530. Please recycle this magazine 4 THE REVIEW SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE DANIEL P. GILMARTIN The Benefits of Ever Evolving The word stagnant does not have a positive connotation. studies to be more relevant to their needs. One of our first Nothing flourishes in a stagnant environment (except events, the Suburban Summits, was held this spring and mosquitos, but nobody likes them either). To avoid featured Ellen Dunham-Jones, a national leader on stagnating, you have to continuously evolve and maneuver retrofitting who is also featured in this issue. to serve your organization, your citizens, and your team. But this type of steady evolution is difficult. It doesn’t feel We are also providing members with the opportunity to natural to change what you are doing or how you are bring other community leaders (business leaders, civic doing it right after you’ve spent a few years getting a leaders, etc.) to our events so that the momentum gained at great program or product up and going and it’s finally League events can be better maintained back at home. In clicking on all cylinders. It has to be intentional. However, fact, we’re offering a special promotion at our Annual when you think of the things that you’ve been really Convention this year—each member who registers can impressed with, or made a mental note to revisit in the bring one community leader (non-municipal official) FREE. hopes of replicating, it’s probably something that is new We hope this will help spur better dialogue and a more and different. No one walks away from hearing about a meaningful experience for everyone. program that is 10-15 years old and thinks “wow, that’s pretty creative.” Therefore, it’s imperative for all of us to I hope the examples in this issue serve as inspiration for the intentionally seek the opportunity to continuously change challenging task of continual evolution. It’s different (and what we are doing and how we are doing it. It breeds more meaningful) than “change” because it’s a process that excitement, motivation, and learning opportunities as shouldn’t end. We shouldn’t make one adjustment, build people fail and adjust. It makes us better. It makes our one pocket park, or retrofit one strip mall and check the box. communities better. It makes our culture better. The best outcomes come from places and people who are challenging themselves and trying new things perpetually— In this issue we’re highlighting projects, programs, and to stay relevant, to stay competitive, to stay meaningful; to people who have achieved success by transforming their be aspirational. businesses, their programs, or the physical environment. Certainly one of the best examples of this is the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s (MEDC) Public Spaces Community Places crowdfunding matching grant program, which over the past year has become one of the most popular programs it has ever rolled out. We’re thrilled to be partners in that program and impressed that a state agency had the courage to be so creative. Additionally, we highlight the city of Roseville, which jumped in head first to the Redevelopment Ready Community certification program (also through the MEDC) and is now seeing the benefits of improving and streamlining their process for development. At the League, our programs and structure are always Daniel P. Gilmartin morphing. I firmly believe that is the only way we’ll League executive director and CEO continue to offer quality products and opportunities. One 734-669-6302; [email protected] of the most recent ways we’ve done this is through our new educational opportunities—the Summits. We believe a better way to educate leaders is to group them by similar characteristics (suburban, urban, college town, waterfront, etc.) so we can better tailor speakers and case SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015 THE REVIEW 5 Loft apartment as part of a mixed-use development in Pontiac, MI. Place-Based Development: What Developers and Communities Want By Mark A. Wyckoff, FAICP and James Tischler, AICP emographics are changing, markets are changing, Placemaking Required to Create and communities are changing. Talented workers Quality Places have skills that are in high demand, and they can live D Placemaking is the process of creating quality places where anywhere they want. They will not choose your community people want to live, work, play, and learn. There needs to unless it is a high quality place with a lot of amenities. Jobs be several quality places in each region for the region to be increasingly locate where there are an abundance of talented economically competitive. Creating quality places is a constant workers. Thus, creating a quality place is the first step to talent process of placemaking that focuses on public spaces and the and job attraction and improved economic competitiveness. interface of private spaces with public spaces (building façades, But developers will not build what is needed unless the com- “build to lines,” height, and parking especially).