Traverse City commissioners tonight (Tuesday) will hear the latest on the city’s strategic action plan, which will look ahead to the next decade and “guide city programs and investments over the coming years,” according to the city’s website. Commissioners will also consider giving conceptual approval to a proposed peace monument and vote to allocate more than $285,000 in federal funds to local organizations to address housing and homelessness issues.

Strategic Action Plan
Residents wanting to learn more about the city’s strategic action plan will have two opportunities to do so today: at a public roundtable session at West Shore Bank on East Eighth Street from 1pm to 3pm and at the 7pm city commission meeting at the Governmental Center. Consulting firm Future iQ will present updates at both meetings on the community-driven plan, which is intended to “build on the city’s current achievements while setting a sustainable path for the future,” according to the city. The plan will look out a decade to 2035.

The planning process kicked off last fall with Think Tank workshops in which participants “explored macro trends and their potential impacts on Traverse City." In November, over 200 community members contributed feedback during community visioning sessions that will help “shape the foundation of the plan,” the city states. Moving now into the second phase, Future iQ will release a Think Tank report summarizing key findings. The report shows that when presented with different potential scenarios about Traverse City’s future, most participants preferred an “equitable and sustainable” one focused on building the economy through regional cooperation, creating welcoming and supportive spaces for all people, and guiding development and solutions through a values-based approach.

Future iQ noted that getting to such a future by “reorienting the current trajectory will require significant community engagement, communication, and leadership in the city.” While residents can sometimes see the “distant future vision” as unattainable or unrealistic, “this underestimates the progress that can be made during the intervening years and the cumulative positive impacts of change,” the firm wrote. Participant data shows a “significant appetite for change” and willingness to look at “bold thinking and new ideas,” according to Future iQ, adding that “telling the story of why the City of Traverse City needs to pivot in its trajectory will be an important part of how change will be made.”

A community survey for the strategic action plan is available online now through February 14. The survey is geared toward city residents and “individuals with a direct connection to the community,” according to the city. Additional in-depth focus group workshops are planned for February 18-20.

Also at tonight’s city commission meeting...
> Commissioners will consider granting approval to a request from Veterans for Peace to install a peace monument in a city park (pictured, conceptual rendering). The final design and location are still to be determined and will be subject to approval by the Parks and Recreation commission, which greenlit the concept earlier this month. Tim Keenan, president of the local Veterans for Peace chapter, previously told The Ticker. He hopes to raise about $30,000 for the monument’s creation and installation. He anticipates a committee regularly adding names to the monument, potentially around three per year. The city’s monument policy limits the size of monuments to four feet wide by three feet tall (12 square feet), while its naming policy states that an individual must be deceased for at least two years for a dedication. Veterans for Peace is seeking a variance on both those policies, which the Parks and Recreation commission supported waiving.

> Commissioners will vote to allocate $285,512 in federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to four local nonprofits to address housing and homelessness needs. The commissioners discussed the funding requests at their January 6 meeting but had several questions about the proposed spending, ultimately tabling the item. Staff have tweaked the funding recommendations to include the following allocations:

Goodwill Northern Michigan: $69,725 for HVAC/Bike racks at East Bay Flats
Northwest Michigan Supportive Housing: $65,787 for boiler, water heater, roof replacements at Three Mile Road four-plex
Central United Methodist Church Outreach Program: $50,000 for director/kitchen/janitorial/security staffing services
Safe Harbor of Grand Traverse: $100,000 for parking lot paving and other improvements, including a generator

> Commissioners will consider a request from In Front Hospitality LLC for a development district liquor license for 115 East Front Street. As previously reported in The Ticker, Red Spire Brunch House owners Chad Hall and Joshua Anderson have purchased the former Green House Café building and are planning to open a new restaurant there. In addition to the liquor license, Hall and Anderson are also seeking several permits that will allow them to sell alcohol at the Old Town Playhouse. The permit application was bumped from the commission’s January 6 agenda to tonight.

> Finally, commissioners will discuss a process for completing annual performance evaluations for City Manager Liz Vogel and City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht. Employment agreements for Vogel and Trible-Laucht stipulate they’ll both receive an evaluation by June 30 of each year. The city has a process it usually follows with a facilitator that includes gathering feedback from commissioners and select department heads. However, the commission this year will discuss implementing a more “full, comprehensive assessment,” according to a memo from Mayor Amy Shamroe and Mayor Pro Tem Mark Wilson. That process could include a 360 degree review with feedback from all department heads, including from the Downtown Development Authority and Traverse City Light & Power.