We assert that the existing residents & property owners Harbor Springs should determine the future of the city
As we try to Preserve and Protect Harbor Springs, we want to be clear eyed as to the importance of following in the footsteps of men and women before us. This is not the same campaign as in the early 1960’s, but it feels like it.
All these years later, we can recognize why Harbor Springs looks so different than other towns. Why it feels so different. The lands were protected by an organization that grew to become one of the most important and successful land conservancies in the United States.
Before us now today are two roads. One road is being guided by committees and commissions and councils that are made up of a good number of outsiders – meaning people who did not grow up here, raise kids here, have families visit here – generation after generation. The other road is us – we want to stop the new zoning code, all sit down together and work and build a new zoning code that reflects the wishes of every single property owner, voter and resident. Every person heard, every idea reviewed, and using the the experience of the urban planners, the commissions, councils and committees and build a new 2025 Zoning Code. This work will give the City a chance to decide if RRC / MEDC involvement is necessary and wanted. The community can then decide this. Time is our friend.
Please read the letter below for context. Thank you.