WLHS: City Council and Planning Commission Updates
Changes to M-119 and East Bluff Drive on the agenda for Monday's meeting.
The Brief
This Monday’s City Council meeting will have a public discussion regarding making East Bluff one way from M-119 / State Street to Spring Street. This may require additional discussion with the Planning Commission. We recommend you attend 7 PM Monday, August 19, at City Hall or via Zoom (Meeting notice and links).
Last week’s Planning Commission discussed changing the Short Term Rentals procedures but purposely did not explicitly invite current holders of STR permits, in an effort to avoid friction.
Discussion
It takes a lot to engage the community. It is even harder in a community like Harbor Springs that involves voters, seasonal property owners, area townships, and visitors.
A consistent problem we have identified is the City of Harbor Springs communicates along narrow channels. It publishes meeting agendas right before the meetings. Notices are published on the city website, Facebook, newspaper, and the local bulletin board at the IGA (see above).
What they do not do is directly engage the people impacted by the topic. When the zoning was underway, they did not mail property owners to highlight the critical nature of the pending decisions.
The zoning passed in May, but less than 20% of the community had any substantive idea on its scope until after it passed. This was a simple, avoidable mistake but lead to a protest petition and a referendum. If you believe community input matters, the failure to notify resulted in the lost of opportunity for the 80% to make the zoning better.
Was it apathy on the part of the community? Or poor communications?
Does it matter? It is easy to do better.
Anyone who runs a business knows you need to effectively communicate in multiple ways to grab your customers' attention. The same is true in government. Setting policy in the absence of constituents risks bad policy. It creates frustration, friction, and lawsuits.
Modern technology makes it easy to reach out to those impacted. If the City government wants to set good policies and reduce the anger, they might try modern engagement tools to broaden the outreach and get people in the room or on Zoom. The ultimate measure is how many engage, not how hard you try.
The proposed changes to M-119 and East Bluff Drive offer a timely test of the City's communication practices. As of this writing, it's unclear whether the City has directly notified affected residents and property owners about Monday's City Council meeting. This situation highlights the ongoing challenge of community engagement in Harbor Springs. Our hope is that the City is adapting its approach to ensure all impacted voices have the opportunity to be heard before a decision is made.
Great piece !