Contact: Tim Ervin
tervin26@charter.net
231-723-4325
For Immediate Release
ONEKAMA COMMUNITY VISIONING MEETING SET FOR MAY 27 --
FIRST STEP TOWARD A JOINT MASTER PLAN
Manistee, Michigan – A precedent-setting initiative for Onekama Township and the Village of Onekama begins on May 27, 2008 with a community-wide visioning session, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Farr Center in Onekama, led by the consulting firm Beckett & Raeder.
The May 27 visioning session is the first step toward completion of a Joint Master Plan for the Village of Onekama and Onekama Township. The joint plan will be only the sixth such plan in the entire State of Michigan.
The goal of the May 27 session is to involve all interests in developing unifying visions for the greater Onekama area.
“Our initial visioning meeting will gather information to understand what the community aspires to become, what it wants to protect and preserve and what opportunities it wants to consider,” said John Iacoangeli, a partner with Beckett & Raeder who will lead the visioning session and the master planning process. “The Onekama area is truly special and has magnificent natural attributes. We hope all interests will participate in this process beginning on May 27.”
The Joint Master Plan is scheduled for completion by the end of 2008.
The Onekama Township Board and the Onekama Village Council adopted resolutions early in 2008 to develop a Joint Master Plan.
Becket & Raeder was selected through a competitive process by the Village and Township to manage the process to prepare the plan.
The Manistee County Community Foundation is providing $12,500 in funding to support the development of the plan through an Envision Manistee County grant, made possible by funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Collaborative master planning was recently identified as a priority for the Onekama area in the completion of the Portage Lake Watershed Forever Plan, now being reviewed for approval by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.