Traverse City consultants say residents favor proactive, managed growth; draft strategic pillars proposed

Consultant David Burrell of FutureIQ updated the Traverse City City Commission on the community-driven strategic planning process during the Jan. 21 meeting, summarizing public workshops, a think‑tank series and an early community survey.

Burrell told commissioners that nearly 200 people participated in the visioning sessions and that early survey returns echo the workshop findings: residents want a more interventionist, managed approach to growth and development. "If you like data, I think we've got really nice data," Burrell said as he walked commissioners through mapped responses that clustered toward a preferred future emphasizing active management and regional leadership.

The consultant said the project team has distilled public input into seven draft strategic pillars: proactively managing urban design; strengthening placemaking and neighborhood character; fostering a regional collaborative approach; creating community engagement and participation; building socioeconomic systems and amenities (including housing); supporting environmental sustainability; and building a thriving year‑round economy. Burrell said these pillars will be refined into action items in coming weeks.

Burrell emphasized that the process is meant to be transparent and broadly accessible: think‑tank results, workshop notes and raw open‑ended responses are available on the project's online portal, and staff will publish periodic newsletters. He told the commission the community survey launched recently and remained open through Feb. 14, and that the team planned strategic‑pillar focus groups "on the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth" (dates provided in the presentation).

Commissioners asked about specific language in the public responses — for example, what respondents meant by "small‑town charm." Burrell said the team categorizes responses from participants' own phrasing and that raw responses are searchable on the portal for commissioners and residents who want to review full comments.

City staff will use the focus‑group outputs and the community survey to draft a roadmap of prioritized actions for the commission to consider. No motion or formal vote was required or taken on the presentation.

The city manager said staff will apply feedback from this first-year effort to improve outreach and timing in future annual cycles; Burrell suggested a May summit as a possible time to present a near‑final plan to the public for last input.