Schindler's
Land Use Page

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     Traverse City has done work in this area (Russ Soyring) for stuff like this for villages.  I could envision mixed use center areas for hamlets also - I wonder if some areas in some of the old New England states could be doing something like this - Live above your business type of thing.  Just off the top of my head - I am not sure it would be appropriate for the middle of a purely residential area - but for houses that face a main street or highway - why not?  Also maybe for farmers...   
----Susan Cronander  

     Emmet County has "Home Occupation" and Commercial or Business.  It is a sticky wicket to start small businesses in residential districts.  Think about signs, invasive traffic, delivery  trucks, lights and  activity that  is annoying to a residential environment, perhaps even later in the evening.   In rural farm forest districts the story is a little different because of larger lots and typical farming/forestry  uses ( sawmills, contractors home bases, gravel extraction, active farms, etc. ).   However, we a still restrictive on retail uses outside the Home Occupation sphere. 
----Max Putters  

     Benzie County only treats them as home occupations. Our policy has been different with Agriculture. Products like honey, fruit stands, etc., are treated as part of the agriculture. operation and are exempt from local zoning. We have also stretched the home occupation standards to allow for artists and related small retail sales.   
----David Neiger  

     I checked with our Assistant Zoning Administrator and he explained how we handle those situations here in Marquette. A few years ago, the Planning Commission adopted language that added a section,  Uses Subject to Approval to all residential districts. This section allowed home offices to be granted administratively with a permit, fee, and adherence to the regulations provided for in the ordinance. Uses that would fit into  cottage industry are handled as a conditional use and require approval from the Planning Commission. Some of the conditional uses here include mail order business, muffin mix manufacturing, gunsmiting and woodworking. Kept in check with required conditions, most of these businesses operate without complaint by adjacent homeowners  
----dstachewicz  

     Eaton County has Home Occupations (completely inside the home, ONLY resident occupants), Home Business (in accessory structures with some outdoor storage and/or display), and we have proposed a Home Office category to be added to the ordinance, to cover business in a home that is not only the  resident occupants, such as a mobile type business where the secretary or bookkeeper comes to the business owners home office each day to work, but the crews are dispatched directly to work sites. Hope you find it useful!  
----Sue Pigg 

     If you are interested in the relationship between traffic speeds and private property commercial advertising, I would suggest the book, Street Graphics and the Law.  It's written by Daniel Mandelker and William Ewald. 
-----Mark Ostgarden 

     Michigan Society of Planning has a very good publication :  Sign Regulation: An Overview of the Issues and Alternatives .   The Society's web page says it is the most comprehensive and up-to-date book on sign regulation.  Includes legal consideration, types of signs, basic approaches and principles for local sign controls, ordinance components and variances.  69 pages. 
----Kurt H. Schindler  

In the APA- PAS publication Context Sensitive Signage Design that you can download from the APA website has information on it.  There is a chart on page 25 titled "The relationship between vehicle speed, legibility distance, setback, and height."   
----Emily Meyerson 

I always refer to Street Graphics by William R. Ewald, Jr., published and distributed by the American Society of Landscape Architects Foundation .  There is a chart on pages 52-53 which shows number of lanes, design speed, reaction time, letter height, and sign area for commercial/industrial or institutional/residential use. 
----Sandy Bliesener  

     I am not sure where they got their information, but Shelby Township in Macomb County uses a sliding scale for sign size based on speed limit, and number of traffic lanes.  You may contact them and find out how they set the numbers? 
----Jenni Lawrence 
 

     MSU Library should have material.  Check MAGIC web page.    Use keywords "mined and reclamation". The PLA Library also has vertical files (not on MAGIC) on all aspects of mining.  MSU Prof. Jon Burley has just written a book on the topic also.  
----Tom Cocozzoli  

     Download this file for a Best Management Practices for Reclaiming Surface Mines in Washington and Oregon.   Also try this web site and this one . 

     The state of Wisconsin has done a very good job in this area (especially with gravel pit type mining) both in practice and with language in local ordinance/zoning that requires the same.  Try Wisconsin DNR or University of Wisconsin Extension land use web pages. 
----Kurt H. Schindler 
 

Does anyone have information about zoning regulations for private landing strips?  Our township has many large parcels that could accommodate one, but we do not have regulations in the ordinance to address them.  Also, some of the large parcels would be considered environmentally sensitive under our ordinance, and others would be in close proximity to sensitive lands.  
(August 2, 2001)

     Actually we have never officially dealt with the subject.   However, it appears to fit Zoning in the Definition of " Clubs ".   Defined, as    
"A non profit organization of persons for the promulgation of ... sports...., arts sciences, literature, politics,  or  the  like."  
     In our Farm Forest Zoning Districts, we could review model flying clubs as:   
1.   A   Principal  Use subject to Site Plan Review,   as being a form of Sportsmen Association  or Sportsmen Club,  and   
2.    As a Use Permitted Subject To Special Conditions,   "Private and semi-private recreation lands when not operated for profit,  and when in the character of publicly owned  and  operated recreation  areas".  We also have a regulation on  "Airports and Landing fields",  which is more of a stretch, but probably could be interpreted as applicable.   
     This subject  is more interesting today than in previous years.  First,  model airplanes are getting much larger, some appear large enough to  "almost " carry a person ( like a large scale B-52 )  
----Max Putters  
 

     For additional information on windmills:
Try the American Wind Energy Association .  In this web site includes: noise , noise and visual impact , and a downloadable set of fact sheets .
     Also, take a look at this U.S. Department of Energy report that lists several communities/utilities utilizing wind for electricity.
     Finally, John Sarver at the Michigan Energy Office is an excellent resource in this area.
----Doug Woodard

     There is also wind and solar siting guidelines from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth. Michael Klepinger also has a number of sample ordinances on wind generation facilities.
----Michael Klepinger, Extension Specialist, Michigan Sea Grant