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LATEST NEWS
Harbor Lights’ Report on November 20th, Planning Commission Meeting.
After the holidays, we will provide context. If you have questions, contact us. Thank you. Planning Commission stands behind zoning code recommendation as sent to City Council HARBOR SPRINGS By Harbor Light News Staff on November 26, 2025 By Kate Spaulding Harbor...
Not Overlooking Community Input and Visualizing Future Consequences
A kind of Lecture: https://www.cityofharborsprings.com/2021-master-plan-updates/ In the complex web of urban planning, the creation of a master plan and the zoning code that follows are not merely technical exercises. They are the backbone of a city’s future...
Update: Karin Offield on the Proposed Zoning Code – 11.17.25 PC Meet and the Suggested Changes by City Planner Lynee Wells, Aligned Planning
"My joy comes from knowing that, instead of reverting to the repealed #439, the Planning Commission genuinely listened. They took to heart the comments voiced at the winter Town Halls, and after the Open Houses, Jeff Grimm made every effort to follow the community’s...
ZONING
Harbor Lights’ Report on November 20th, Planning Commission Meeting.
After the holidays, we will provide context. If you have questions, contact us. Thank you. Planning Commission stands behind zoning code recommendation as sent to City Council HARBOR SPRINGS By Harbor Light News Staff on November 26, 2025 By Kate Spaulding Harbor...
Not Overlooking Community Input and Visualizing Future Consequences
A kind of Lecture: https://www.cityofharborsprings.com/2021-master-plan-updates/ In the complex web of urban planning, the creation of a master plan and the zoning code that follows are not merely technical exercises. They are the backbone of a city’s future...
Update: Karin Offield on the Proposed Zoning Code – 11.17.25 PC Meet and the Suggested Changes by City Planner Lynee Wells, Aligned Planning
"My joy comes from knowing that, instead of reverting to the repealed #439, the Planning Commission genuinely listened. They took to heart the comments voiced at the winter Town Halls, and after the Open Houses, Jeff Grimm made every effort to follow the community’s...
November 13, 2025 Public Meeting for the Proposed Zoning Code – Please attend
One more look at the proposed zoning code for the community and by the Planning Commission before approval? Here is the proposed code. We will add to this post, as elements become available. Proposed Zoning Code...
Harbor Springs – 10.10.2025 Sixty Issues the Community raised/ Answered
To the readers: We have left intact in the document below issues that were discussed by the Planning Commissioners during the September 18th and October 16th. The list represents conversations, emails, meetings that have taken place before and during the Open Houses...
Thanks from a True Blue Local
Thoughts From a True Blue Local Harbor Springs is one of the few places left that is so naturally beautiful, so surrounded by abundant natural resources, so, dare we say inherently charming, people are not only drawn to it, they want to make it their own. So people...
September 15th 2025 Open House feedback with Planning Commission recommendations
Jeff's Recomendations PDF
WLHS BLOG
Carter Williams City Council Letter regarding the Hire of a new City Manager
From: Williams, Carter <carter@oiventures.com> Sent: To: Monday, November 10, 2025 8:23 PM Tom Graham; Reeve 4 HS Council; Jamielynnmelke@gmail.com; kathy.motschall@yahoo.com; Jeanne Benjamin, Cc: Victor Sinadinoski Subject: City Manager Search Process Dear...
Election Matters & Candidates for November 4th Election
An Open Invitation to Residents, Candidates, and City Leaders “Vision without action is just a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. But action with vision can change the world.” — Nelson Mandela John Wooden: “Don’t mistake activity for achievement.”...
November 13, 2025 Public Meeting for the Proposed Zoning Code – Please attend
One more look at the proposed zoning code for the community and by the Planning Commission before approval? Here is the proposed code. We will add to this post, as elements become available. Proposed Zoning Code...
A thank you for your service & Petoskey News: City Manager announces resignation, last day set for Dec. 16
"It is with heartfelt gratitude that Harbor Springs will say goodby to Victor and his family as they move on to a new chapter. Leaving one place for another is hard and at the same time, exciting and it marks a time for growth and possibility." "Your service to...
Can you Volunteer for Harbor Springs?
The Deadline is December 11th! Please consider how to participate! The City has begun the recruitment process for City boards. All existing board members whose terms expire in 2025 have the option to reapply, and notice has been given to the general public on...
Focus on November 4th, Election Day – There is still time to vote!
Stepping up to run for City Council – Thank you!
Thank You for Stepping Up Seeking to Serve Harbor Springs First off—thank you. By choosing to run for City Council, you’re stepping into one of the most important roles in our community. You’re not doing it for recognition or a title—you’re doing it because you want...
DDA
Old Sidewalks – Let’s Fix Them
Big ticket item at the Downtown Development Authority meeting this month. In Michigan, a sidewalk is considered unsafe, and a municipality may be liable for injuries resulting from a fall, if a vertical discontinuity defect is 2 inches or more, or if there is a...
What is the DDA? What does it do?
What is the DDA? For more information: DDA-101_handouts-3 The DDA is integral to the MEDC's (Michigan Economic Development Corporation's) plan/process across the State of Michigan. Small towns, large towns are all being swept into either certification or engagement...
11.11.24 Traverse City Problem Solving with DDA
This thread is "under construction"
EVENTS
WLHS Town Hall Meeting Dates May 2 & 4, 2024
The “We Love Harbor Springs” team is hosting two Town Hall meetings via Zoom, dedicated to discussing the proposed zoning changes that will shape the future of our beloved community. These sessions are designed to educate residents on the proposed changes and provide...
NATIONAL & LOCAL PRESS
Lamp Posts – Looking at Harbor Springs as a pallet: Harbor Light 10.8.25
1) A comprehensive plan is put together that includes the following: A) a detailed plan with color schematics for lampposts and other features in the downtown and surrounding area, B) a map of lampposts being recommended for painting, and C) public input. Kate...
UPDATED 5.28.25: The Garden Club, Flag Pole, Lower Zorn Park includes Newspaper & Letters
Added: Petoskey News Report . We respectfully urge you to vote to preserve Harbor Springs’ precious green space, reject this proposal, and return it to the Garden Club with instructions to identify a more appropriate and welcomed location. This is an opportunity to reaffirm the city’s century-long tradition of preservation, protection, and responsible stewardship.
1.15.25 Harbor Light
Planning commission considers options for expanding public participation in zoning code revision By Kate Spaulding | Harbor Light Newspaper | on January 15, 2025 The Harbor Springs Planning Commission began discussion of a public engagement plan related to the zoning...
9.5.24 National News About Harbor Springs & the referendum explanation
In 1873, as a result of the Homestead Act, my great-great-great grandfather, of French-Canadian descent, was awarded 160 acres of land in Leelanau County, Michigan for military service in the Civil War. Since then, Northern Michigan has been special to my family, and...
9.4.24 Petoskey News Review Story
Wed Sep 4 2024 HARBOR SPRINGS City shares official wording for ballot item Karly Graham The Petoskey News-Review | USA TODAY NETWORK HARBOR SPRINGS — The City of Harbor Springs recently shared the formal language of a ballot item for the Nov. 5 election that asks...
8.7.24 Petoskey News Review – Harbor Springs declares referendum petition ‘defective,’ puts issue on the ballot anyway.
— Contact reporter Karly Graham atkgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at@KarlyGrahamJRN. HARBOR SPRINGS — The City of Harbor Springs deemed a petition to put a referendum on the November ballot defective, despite having more than the necessary number of...
FRONT PAGE NEWS Petoskey 7.19.24
Harbor Springs passed a new zoning code. Residents are working on a referendum to pause it The Petoskey News-Review— Contact reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN. HARBOR SPRINGS — More than two years ago, the...
National News 9.26.24 Cultural Steamroller Heads for Harbor Springs
http://Enjoyer Brochure Steamroller Harbor Springs.pdf O.W. Root is a writer based in Northern Michigan, with a focus on nature, food, style, and culture. Follow him on X @NecktieSalvage. The idea that Harbor Springs—a town of 1,274 with no stoplight, a town so quiet...
Resort Town or a Year Round Livable Historic Town? The Best Lake Town
The writer of this wonderful story uses the word “historic” about 25 times and every positive note is conveyed due to its utter lack of ugly commercial development. Harbor Springs is special because of its natural beauty and gorgeously kept historic houses and...
HARBOR SPRINGS IN THE NATIONAL NEWS
It’s no secret that America is confronting a crushing housing shortage; pundits on the left and right point out that high housing prices exacerbate the birth crisis, keeping Millennials and Gen Z from forming families and flourishing. But policies ostensibly designed to create more housing come in many forms, not all of them good. Top-down attempts to fundamentally re-engineer communities in the name of “housing justice” are particularly dangerous. Devolution and localism are important principles …
LETTERS
Peter H. Askew 153 Zoll Street Harbor Springs, MI 49740 November 21, 2025 Mayor Thomas Graham, Jr., Members of the City Council City of Harbor Springs 160 Zoll Street Harbor Springs, MI 49740 Dear Mayor Graham and Members of the City Council, I urge you to take a hard...
Carter Williams City Council Letter regarding the Hire of a new City Manager
From: Williams, Carter <carter@oiventures.com> Sent: To: Monday, November 10, 2025 8:23 PM Tom Graham; Reeve 4 HS Council; Jamielynnmelke@gmail.com; kathy.motschall@yahoo.com; Jeanne Benjamin, Cc: Victor Sinadinoski Subject: City Manager Search Process Dear...
4.20.25 Weather Preparedness by Bing Howenstein
Letter TO: Mayor, City Council, City Manager and Community Written by Bing Howenstein DATE: April 20, 2025 SUBJECT: Recommendations for Enhanced Community Emergency Preparedness Introduction The recent Michigan ice storm, which resulted in a week-long power outage,...
Inclusion means something in a community
Dear Friends and Neighbors, Let’s take a moment to imagine Harbor Springs without second homes and second-home owners. No grand turn-of-the-century cottages. No yachts in the bay. No Irish’s, no Walstrom’s, no ferry. No bustling art fairs, no car shows, no...
A Question from the Audience
Dear WLHS, Given the defeat of Ordinance 439 and its focus on creating density in our 1.3 square mile town, and the petitions signed by homeowners to reject duplexes, triplexes, or re-zoning of existing family residential areas to Residential Multiple by SLU or any...
Update Letter 8.26.25 Following the Recent PC Meetings
Your letters speak for you, please show up at the Public Hearings now scheduled - See below Date: August 26, 2025 at 5:16:24 PM EDT To: Bill Mulder <wmulder1@gmail.com>, Tom Graham <tom@grahamre.com>, jamielynnmelke@gmail.com, kathy.motschall@yahoo.com,...
Storm Follow-Up – Follow-Up Preparedness
June 21, 2025 Storm Preparedness Bing Howenstein delivered 4.21.25 TO: Mayor, City Council, City Manager and Community Written by Bing Howenstein DATE: April 20, 2025 SUBJECT: Recommendations for Enhanced Community Emergency Preparedness Introduction The recent...
SURVEYS
SURVEYS: 80 People filled out recent Economic Survey. 13 pages of great answers for & against.
https://www.cityofharborsprings.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/All-Survey-Results-ECON.pdf The Economic Survey was produced in November 2024. The answers are telling, rewarding the attempts to build Harbor Springs into a full time year round town, and answers that are...
9.11.24 RRC ? Now ? Later ? Learn from this Survey
HISTORY: Anyone who supports the Redevelopment Ready Community (RRC) its' long long views, their rules and lots of regulations may have missed a valuable story of how Harbor Springs became a ‘best’ lake city here in northwest Michigan. (just this month voted by...
CORRECTIONS
ZONING: Correction made: What’s Happening to the Mobile Home Park? 5.06.2014
UPDATE & Correction. WLHS researched and found the ownership of the trailer park had changed, but only within the family - not as a new buyer/seller situation. The changes in fees being charged were explained to be "updates" for years old inconsistencies in the...
Corrections: 7.24.24 Bluff Gardens Apology
7.23.24 In the past, from February 8th to recently, the property to the west of Bluff Gardens - Harbor Springs iconic store with large cutting gardens was referred by the City Council and everyone that referred to it, as the place where the "agricultural" zoning...
RRC – ARCHIVED
MEDC/RRC Two recent stories
June 18, 2025 New News about the MEDC. https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/michigan-ag-executes-search-warrant-state-economic-development-offices Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office served a search warrant Wednesday at the Michigan Economic...
Zoning: Dexter, Michigan 6 years after leaving the RRC
Discovering the Allure of Small Town Living in Dexter, Michigan Dexter, Michigan, is a prime example of a fast-growing community that seamlessly combines a rich historical tapestry with a welcoming atmosphere, drawing in residents and visitors alike. Situated in close...
Zoning A reminder on how the MEDC/RRC Status can be involved -What to watch for – 6 slides
For zoning, and learning how our zoning is affected by the involvement of the MEDC/RRC. As an update, we now have various zoning parties and leaders suggesting that Harbor Springs does not go further into RRC Essentials or Certification status at this time. Please put...
CITIZEN’S COMMENTS 2.18.25 ON THE RRC
Update: 2.18.25 It is important that the trajectory of the RRC/MEDC involvement be understood. At last nights meeting, the RRC was abandoned to strong push back from audience citizens and City Manager. The Mayor’s comment that in 6 years no one had told him what was...
RRC Video’s by MEDC – Everything needed to see about the RRC Trends
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsigyS4eGucEll48ko0yd8Q/videos
2021 RRC MEDC Slide Show details
Please review this document. We are look for a more recent version. https://www.miplace.org/4a73de/globalassets/documents/rrc/rrc-2.0-info-sessions-presentation_2.1.2021.pdf