East Bay Township is preparing to undergo a major public visioning process and marketing/branding project for the township’s US-31 corridor, also called the East Bay Beach District.

In addition to pole banners – like those seen in downtown Traverse City – and a new website and marketing materials to promote businesses along the corridor, the Beach District will soon have a vision plan that outlines desired public improvements, conceptual renderings, and timelines and funding mechanisms for placemaking projects. The goal is to move away from the feeling of “just a highway with hotels,” as Traverse Connect’s Warren Call recently put it, to a corridor with safe pedestrian and cyclist crossings, vibrant public spaces and parks, and the redevelopment of vacant and underutilized properties.

Township trustees recently approved a not-to-exceed $97,215 contract with consulting firm Beckett & Raeder to lead the visioning process for the East Bay Beach District, which covers US-31 between Three Mile and Holiday roads. The township secured two federal grants to help with corridor improvement efforts, including a $74,250 grant from Michigan’s Coastal Management Program and a $94,000 grant from the USDA’s Rural Development Program. The first grant requires a $74,250 match, while no match is required for the USDA grant. BATA – which operates its popular free Bayline route throughout the corridor – will chip in $4,000 for the required match, with the township covering the rest, according to Township Director of Planning & Zoning Claire Karner.

The total $242,500 in project funds will cover Beckett & Raeder’s contract, as well a second contract for a firm to develop a marketing/branding strategy and promotional materials for the corridor. Four firms responded to a recent request-for-proposals (RFP) for the marketing contract, with a recommendation likely coming to trustees in February for approval, Karner says.

Under the visioning contract, Beckett & Raeder will lead an intensive public engagement process this year that will include meetings with business owners and stakeholders, community input sessions, and a multi-day design charrette. Those sessions will likely begin in late winter or early spring, Karner says. The goal is to create a new vision for the corridor – complete with visuals, one reason Beckett & Raeder was chosen from among the four companies that submitted RFP bids – showing infrastructure, streetscaping, lighting, crosswalk, water accessibility, and other placemaking improvements.

The township is also working with willing private property owners along the corridor open to public input on the potential redevelopment of their sites. Having more mixed-use developments, public or “third” spaces where residents can gather and hang out, expanded outdoor dining, enhanced access to Grand Traverse Bay, and safer sidewalk and trail connections are all goals identified in recent township planning. The East Bay Beach District vision will include an “implementable action plan” that identifies specific goals, timelines, and funding mechanisms for projects, according to Karner.

“The financing piece is really important, to figure out how we’re going to pay for these improvements,” she told township trustees. A project implementation team with 12 members – including business owners and other stakeholders along the corridor – will work to ensure the plan is “implementable and achievable,” according to Karner.

A recent assessment by Traverse Connect outlines some of the possibilities in the corridor. As part of its economic development contract with East Bay Township, Traverse Connect analyzed the East Bay Beach District as well as East Bay Corners (the commercial district on Hammond Road between Precision Drive and Vanderlip Road). In both districts, Traverse Connect found “there is a need for more public spaces and resident recreation spaces,” “several underutilized locations identified that are primed for mixed-use development,” and opportunities to promote more public usage and activity by improving connectivity.

In the Beach District specifically, Traverse Connect highlighted an opportunity to partner with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians to redevelop a tribal beachfront parcel west of Mitchell Creek. The Band has expressed a willingness to explore potential uses – such as some type of park or public access – for the site that could fill “both the goals of the tribal nation and Beach District visioning goals,” Traverse Connect President and CEO Warren Call said. As the Michigan Department of Natural Resources makes improvements to the State Park – including a planned new access road and headquarters – Call said the township should try to work with the state on potential new sidewalk/trail along the access road or on the park’s eastern boundary. That could help link the TART Trail to the pedestrian bridge over US-31, providing better north-south connectivity. The state will also be redesigning the Three Mile/US-31 intersection in 2026, with pedestrian improvements included in that project.

Four Mile Road has a small public access point on a waterfront “dead end” parcel, Call continued, which could benefit from beautification and placemaking to encourage more use. “It’s frankly a beautiful spot,” he said. Another recommendation is for the township to consider acquiring property owned by the Grand Traverse County Road Commission at the corner of Three Mile and US-31, which – while “not huge” – could be used as a public park or square, Call said.

Sites that could benefit from mixed-use development – keeping ground-floor retail but adding upper-floor residential – include parcels east and west of Walgreens, Bayside Market, and the building housing Einstein Cycles. East Bay Township could also consider creating a special “Wharfside” zoning district in the future for the property currently home to the Harbor Brook Hall conference center and adjacent parking lot, Call said. That uniquely situated site could host a mix of uses, like first-floor retail, event space, upper floor condo/hotel units, and elevated boardwalks along the bay and creek, Call said. He cited as an example Fisherman’s Village in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Karner says Traverse Connect’s report serves as a useful “launching off” point for the visioning process for the East Bay Beach District. Both business owners and the public will have numerous opportunities ahead to weigh in on what they themselves want to see in the corridor. While that process is unfolding, whichever film is hired to work on branding/marketing in the corridor will simultaneously be helping the township develop a new website to promote US-31 businesses, marketing materials for hotels and restaurants to share with guests, and designs for new banners planned to go up later this year. “The feedback we received from the business community was that was low-hanging fruit, to have the banners and have a cohesive feel for the district,” Karner says.