Community Adaptation Strategies and Best Practices: Part 1
The COVID-19 pandemic presents unchartered territory for communities and planning professionals. The American Planning Association (APA), Michigan Association of Planning (MAP), National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), and the International City Managers Association (ICMA) are updating their resource libraries with a diverse set of tools and data to guide the reopening of businesses and the development of safe public spaces. Giffels Webster is tracking recommendations from leading case studies and land use organizations to help communities respond to the unprecedented times with resilience and equity. This newsletter is first in a series that summarizes these recommendations as strategies for today and ideas for the future. We will explore senior adult challenges, transportation and public engagement strategies in our next issue.
Communication is first and foremost. As your community begins to reopen, consider creating accessible space such as a dedicated webpage for the crucial, credible information that residents and businesses need. Posting regularly on social media in conjunction with a frequently updated webpage builds trust among citizens and instills a confidence in the community’s preparedness.
Zoning Law Update
MMMA Primary Caregiver
Recently, the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled in the case of DeRuiter v Byron Township that the 2008 Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA) does not nullify a municipality’s ability to regulate medical marihuana primary caregivers under the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act, as long as municipalities do not prohibit or penalize the cultivation of medical marihuana, and as long as regulations are reasonable and consistent with those established by state law. This MI Supreme Court’s ruling was a reversal of lower court decisions that local zoning regulations were preempted by the MMMA for otherwise compliant primary caregiver operations, finding that since enclosed, locked facilities may be found in various locations on various types of property, a zoning ordinance that limits the location of caregiver cultivation does not directly conflict with the MMMA.
This is an important law update for any community dealing with primary caregivers. As the MMMA is silent on zoning implications, many communities until now have understandably not pursued any significant land use restrictions on primary caregivers. This has left little in the way of these operations, which may have up to 12 customer patients, from locating in the middle of a residential subdivision with no local zoning consideration.
This no longer has to be the case if desired. Now, communities that have been hesitant to regulate the location of primary caregivers can have confidence to pursue reasonable location-based regulations. What this looks like for individual communities is a policy decision and may range from allowing caregivers only in industrial areas, to requiring caregivers operate as a home occupation at a primary residence, as is required Byron Township. At the very least, this is a reminder to verify that reasonable permitting and fee structures are in place to process and track the location of caregivers allowed by-right or with local restrictions.
Exploring our Changing Reality
Recovery Plans. The APA started a ‘Road to Recovery’ web series providing interviews with various community stakeholders. People experience the pandemic with a wide variety of hardships and perspectives. Small business owners and low-income people are disproportionately affected by the virus and its economic fallout and may require additional support. Typically, the primary source of income for communities is sales tax, gas tax, and property tax. Stay at Home orders and fears of contagion have severely decreased tax revenues while job losses have spurred spending on unemployment benefits. This is why creating a sense of safety by the leadership is essential for residents to contribute to economic growth.
Recovery plans vary. At Giffels Webster, we created two teams, short-term recovery and long-term recovery, to anticipate possible roadblocks and create a phased plan for getting back to “normal”. The teams collected employee input through a brief survey and used feedback to lay out a plan to reopen in-office operations which included options for employees with different limitations and perspectives. This created a sense of overall comfort. The same would apply to communities.
Today. Each community should have a recovery team, adopt a recovery plan and provide clear guidelines to all businesses involved. As one example, the City of Jackson, Mississippi created a long list of guidelines and restrictions for each type of business and public gatherings. These include limits on occupancy, frequency for sanitizing, requirements for face coverings, among others. They also created standard signage for all local businesses, to use and to reopen with confidence. This clarifies expectations for residents in your community and ensures public health protocols are met.
Future Idea. Develop a community resiliency plan for future emergencies and shocks; these may include external shocks related to weather, public health or the economy. Communities should consider lessons learned to better prepare for the future.
Restaurants. As communities and businesses begin to reopen, restaurants have utilized new techniques to meet physical distancing protocols while accommodating on-site dining. Parking spot conversion is a popular tactic that allows local businesses to expand outdoor dining and retail sales into the street with proper buffering from vehicular traffic. Dining parklets offer restaurants the ability to safely serve customers in accordance to physical distancing while creating a more pedestrian-oriented experience. Legislative changes are in progress to amend liquor laws to help bars and restaurants hurt by the coronavirus. HB 5811 allows licensees to fill and sell containers with alcohol for consumption off premises and allows delivery. HB 5781 allows local governments to establish social districts for the sale of alcohol. Both bills have passed and have been signed by the Governor.
Today. Check out NACTO’s Guide to Parklet Design or Ground Play, and Giffels Webster’s recent blog post to learn more about getting a parklet program started in your community.
Future Idea. Explore additional conversions of “automobile-spaces” to “people-spaces.” This type of transformation, especially near denser residential areas, can offer new places for people as well as mitigate the appearance of empty or under-used parking lots and businesses. It can also reset priorities for use of public right-of-way.
(Source: Unilock)
Giffels Webster News
2020 Inspiring Planning Project Award. Giffels Webster’s ‘City of New Baltimore Wayfinding Sign Plan’ has won the 2020 Inspiring Planning Project Award from the American Planning Association’s Planners Private Practice Division. Way to go Team!
Congratulations Meghan Cuneo. This spring, our staff planner Meghan Cuneo graduated from Wayne State University with a Master’s of Urban Planning (Housing and Community Development). Congratulations, Meghan!
Welcome Sri Ravali Komaragiri. We’re excited to welcome senior planner Sri Ravali Komaragiri to our planning team! Sri previously worked for the City of Novi’s Planning and Community Development Department. Sri has Bachelor of Architecture and Master of City and Regional Planning degrees. Welcome Sri!
Giffels Webster has been dedicated to making communities better for over 65 years by specializing in community planning, civil engineering, landscape architecture, GIS, traffic engineering, and surveying.
Giffels Webster will help you identify and leverage your unique resources to improve the assets and attractiveness of your community.
For more information, please call Giffels Webster at 866.271.9663 and visit www.giffelswebster.com.