Traverse City commissioners and planning commissioners will meet jointly tonight (Monday) to review the latest progress on the city’s new master plan and mobility action plan – two key documents expected to be finalized later this year that will guide city decision-making in the coming decade.

City officials kicked off the first phase of community engagement this fall to gather feedback on both plans. City Planning Director Shawn Winter said in October that it was “unorthodox” for a city to simultaneously undertake two different planning processes – in this case, the first complete overhaul of the city’s master plan since 2009 and the creation of a new mobility action plan, which will outline micro-mobility options and recommended steps to create a robust non-motorized network in Traverse City. But staff hope having the two plans overlap will avoid “engagement fatigue,” he said, by allowing residents to weigh in on both documents at the same time through surveys, open houses, and other forums.

Since then, nearly 2,600 community members have responded to two online city surveys, 400+ people interacted with planning staff and volunteers at 24 pop-up events between August and October, 89 stakeholders participated in focus group listening sessions in September and October, and 134 community members attended an October open house to give feedback (pictured). Several recurring themes have emerged across those public input forums, according to a report from city staff and consultant Beckett & Raeder, which is assisting with the master plan rewrite. Those themes include:

> Participants’ Ages Mirror the Community’s Age Makeup: The number of individuals representing different age brackets has closely mirrored the age breakdown of the city. “For example, 15 percent of survey respondents were age 35-44 and 14 percent of city residents are in that age bracket,” the report states.

> Protect Our Natural Resources: “Across incomes, residency, and age, caring for and protecting Traverse City’s natural resources emerged as the number-one priority for community members who participated in this first round of engagement,” according to the report.

> Manage Public Infrastructure Proactively: Consistently managing water and sewer infrastructure is also important “no matter a participant’s age, income, and residency,” the report states.

> Community Inclusivity: When asked to consider the statement “having people of all ages, incomes, backgrounds, ethnicities, races, and abilities is key to the future of Traverse City,” participants under 19 years old agreed more often than older peers. “This isn’t to suggest that only young people care about this, but does provide some insight into how the younger Traverse City stakeholders who participated are thinking about community inclusivity and belonging,” the report notes.

> Cycling Safety and Education: Focus group and open house attendees both mentioned safety as “being a key priority for the city’s mobility network. Some mentioned the emergence of electric bicycles as a challenge, as they travel much faster than regular bicycles yet still share trails with other users. Other attendees mentioned the lack of crosswalks as a major safety challenge,” the report states. Trail and road etiquette was also mentioned.

> Bike Facilities and Trails: Those attending engagement events “desired more cycling and pedestrian infrastructure within the city,” the report states. “Attendees at the focus group sessions mentioned regional collaboration as being necessary for creating additional recreational trails. Other attendees mentioned that simple traffic-calming methods such as speedbumps, narrower traffic lanes, and other devices would make traveling by bicycle safer and more appealing.” Attendees also cited a preference for protected mobility infrastructure – like separated bike lanes – along higher-speed streets.

> Connections to Daily Amenities and Recreational Destinations: Attendees cited Traverse City’s natural beauty as “one of its strongest assets and desired greater access to parks and natural areas,” according to the report. “Attendees and survey respondents also mentioned a desire to access daily amenities by foot, riding their bicycles, or taking the bus. This indicates the importance of the city’s mobility network not simply as a recreational asset but as a valuable addition to the city’s diverse transportation system, giving residents more options on getting around.”

City commissioners and planning commissioners tonight will also hear from Progressive AE, the consulting firm working on the mobility action plan. According to Winter, “much of the meeting time will be devoted to structured discussions on complete streets, with the intent of establishing our community's vision and values for our transportation network.” Traverse City commissioners recently reaffirmed their commitment to complete streets – those that accommodate a wide range of user groups – and will form a new city policy outlining specific standards, requirements, and metrics for implementing that commitment in conjunction with the completion of the mobility action plan.

Progressive AE noted in a report that complete streets “focus on the network” rather than imposing the same design on every street. “Every roadway is different” – having different lane widths, available rights-of-way, utilities, street trees, and speed limits – and therefore “every roadway cannot accommodate every facility,” the report states. Rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all design plan for every street, an “incremental building approach” is recommended to use a combination of street designs to best serve the overall transportation network. City leaders tonight will look at examples from other Michigan cities of their approaches to complete streets, and answer discussion questions about Traverse City’s vision for its streets and the city’s desired transportation and mobility values.

Following tonight’s joint session, more community engagement events are planned for this spring to continue developing both plans. Progressive AE says it’s working on synthesizing data to create a proposed transportation network map, refining the city’s vision statement/goals/objectives/success metrics for mobility, and preparing for a second community engagement meeting – likely to be held in March. A “spring engagement blitz” is also in the works for the master plan rewrite, including small-group sessions, an online survey, and one or more large-group sessions focusing on specific topics and overall goals and actions. Community members can follow the progress and subscribe to updates on both the master plan and the mobility action plan here.

Photo credit: City of Traverse City/Beckett & Raeder