Three of the Top 10
Smart Growth Strategies
1. Create incentives and ordinances that
encourage developers to undertake
more “infill” and vacant lot redevelopment in developed areas.
2. Cooperate with neighboring communities to preserve and enhance the
region’s “working” lands, such as farms,
forests and wetlands.
You can get more information
about Smart Growth planning tools
Smart Growth tools can help Michigan communities find their own, unique way to address
the water quality impacts of land use changes,
development and stormwater runoff. Citizens,
local leaders and innovative professionals are
finding successful ways to meet this challenge.
Examples and ideas can be found at:
• Michigan Environmental Council’s website:
www.environmentalcouncil.org
Other useful Smart Growth tools available in
Michigan include programs for “joint municipal planning agreements,” state funds that
help stabilize farmland by purchasing development rights, and incentives to reconstruct
aging sidewalks, sewers and streetscapes to
make urbanized zones more inviting and
functional.
• U.S. EPA’s “Using Smart Growth
Techniques as Stormwater Best
Management Practices” and
“Protecting Water Resources with
Higher-Density Development”:
www.epa.gov/smartgrowth
3. Adopt more “mixed-use zoning” that
puts grocery stores, schools, retail
stores and a variety of home styles
within walking distance of one another.
• Smart Growth America’s “Choosing Our
This project was funded in part under the Coastal Zone
Management Act of 1972, as amended, Office of Ocean and
Coastal Resource Management, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce and the
Michigan Coastal Management Program,
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
Community’s Future: A Citizen’s Guide to
Getting the Most Out of New Development”:
www.smartgrowthamerica.org
• Findings and research reports of the
Michigan Land Use Leadership Council:
www.michiganlanduse.org
Also, remember to contact your local and
state officials and ask them how they are using
Smart Growth tools to protect our Great Lakes.
Michigan Environmental Council
119 Pere Marquette Drive, Suite 2A
Lansing, MI 48912
517-487-9539 | www.environmentalcouncil.org
Are stormwater
management problems
raining on your parade?
You can protect
the Great Lakes and
build a stronger
coastal community
with Smart Growth
strategies
Communities in coastal watersheds can save
money and better manage stormwater with
innovative land use planning
Stormwater runoff carries pollution
straight into Michigan’s lakes,
rivers, and streams
By adding Smart Growth planning tools to
your community’s menu of solutions to address
stormwater runoff and meet federal requirements, communities gain a flexible, cost-effective
strategy for new development that helps enhance
the community in the process. By preserving natural features and redeveloping existing urbanized zones, communities can reduce occurrences
of new, unforeseen runoff problems and possibly
even avoid costly infrastructure expansions.
Polluted stormwater runoff is one of the
nation’s leading threats to clean water. Rain and
snowmelt running off parking lots, roofs, fertilized
lawns and construction sites washes dirt, chemicals and bacteria into Michigan’s waterways and
wildlife habitats.
In Michigan’s coastal regions, development
patterns impact the quality, quantity and velocity
of stormwater runoff entering the Great Lakes.
New federal requirements based on the Clean
Water Act require communities to address this
increasing problem. Many Michigan communities
are establishing plans to address stormwater runoff, today and into the future.
You can tailor Smart Growth
strategies to fit your needs
You can use money-saving,
community-enhancing Smart Growth
practices to help solve stormwater
problems
Additional stormwater runoff from new development and rapidly changing land uses, including
suburban sprawl, makes it difficult for communities
to get ahead of the runoff problem. While stormwater challenges are addressed in one location, new
development elsewhere in the watershed reshapes
the runoff situation and puts decision-makers back
at square one.
Each stormwater runoff challenge is as
unique as the community where it is found.
Luckily, Smart Growth strategies are flexible and
can address different situations Michigan communities face while also helping them protect
and enhance their own unique qualities.
Too often, land use planning does not adequately embrace these unique community qualities, but relies on a “one-size fits all” approach
to protect water quality. For example, “large
lot” zoning requirements are not as effective as
“density-based” zoning. Mandating that new
development can only occur on two, five, or ten
acre lots can make it difficult to address other development challenges, like infrastructure needs,
impervious surfaces and stormwater problems.
Smart Growth planning provides a way to identify and build on unique community assets while
protecting water quality.