Coastal Challenge: Land Use Planning in Michigan’s Shoreline Communities

From metropolitan Detroit to remote townships in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan’s coastal communities share more than just a section of Great Lakes shoreline: they also share management responsibility.

More than 300 Great Lakes coastal communities exercise land use planning authority. They guide commercial and industrial development, accommodate population growth and protect some of the state’s most valuable natural resources—from an abundance of freshwater to coastal wetlands, forests and sand dunes.

“When you look at environmental protection, land use is the underlying issue,” says Catherine Cunningham of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) Coastal Management Program. “There are a lot of cumulative and secondary impacts of development.”

According to a study by the MDEQ, habitat fragmentation is one of the most serious impacts of coastal development that results in loss of native biodiversity. Other impacts include loss of natural shoreline features such as wetlands, conversion of unique coastal farmland, impacts on Great Lakes islands and water quality degradation.

Combined with dramatic population growth in many coastal communities, local planning commissions face a formidable challenge. However, says Cunningham, it’s one that can be met.

“The idea is not to stop growth but to manage it,” says Cunningham. “You don’t want development decisions to lead to conflict in the future.”