Preservation of Our Community Resources

When development occurs in a community, things will change: fields, forests and trees get replaced with rooftops, streets, and parking lots, putting an increased burden on the community’s soil management and water control systems. Street traffic inevitably increases, distressing air quality and increasing noise pollution. Higher population densities put greater demands on public services like police and fire protection, highway and street maintenance, water service, sewage treatment, and so on. And while most communities acknowledge the trade-off that new development so often entails, few are taking the lead in managing their future development in a way that keeps the environment and community benefits and attributes in mind.

Commerce Township is one such community.

The Township’s main agency for shepherding community development is the Downtown Development Authority (DDA). Established in 1985 under the Michigan Downtown Development Authority Act of 1975, the DDA is responsible for protecting and enhancing the long-term economic vitality of Commerce Township as well as ensuring that the Township is able to maintain the services and public-works improvements required to support both new and existing development. The DDA also provides for a stable economic tax employment base, while at the same time working to provide for needed community facilities such as a library, town hall, fire station and central identity. As the Township grows, the DDA also works to enhance the overall quality of life for Township residents.

For the DDA, the quality-of-life mission has always been important. For example, the DDA has provided for both water and sanitary sewer service for our community, saving lakes from overflow from septic fields and protecting aquifers from over-use by our water well system. The DDA’s current project is to tackle massive traffic back-ups along M-5, Pontiac Trail and Haggerty Road to help reduce drive times and air pollution from cars standing in lines just trying to make a mile or two in 10–30 minutes.

“There are a lot of ways we can minimize the environmental impact of new development, protect the environment for future generations, and even reverse some of the negative effects of past development,” said E. Wynn Berry, DDA Director. “We’re not going to stop new development in Commerce Township, and I don’t think many people would want to. But we can certainly do a better job than we did in the ‘50s and ‘60s in managing our development creatively. We can also have a positive impact on the environment, the quality of life and the external visual characteristics of our main traffic arteries in the DDA area.”

Three very important aspects of the DDA’s abiding commitment to an “environment-centered” approach to community development are reported on elsewhere in this issue of The VOICE. The article on “Form-Based Zoning” (pg. 10), tells about a new approach to community zoning and land-use planning that focuses mainly on the visual impact of new buildings rather than on their functional purposes. The article called “The Changing Face of Glengary Creek”, reports on the findings of a just-released water-quality study on Glengary Creek, one of Commerce Township’s most environmentally important watersheds. And another aqueous article, “It’s All About Water”, outlines some of the innovative steps the Township will be taking to manage and control the use of one of its most vital natural resources — its water.

In another environment-related initiative, the DDA will be petitioning for an expansion of its officially designated geographic area, to the south, southwest, west and northwest, of its current boundaries. This will help the DDA to better assist in traffic management and environmental upgrading of the Glengary Creek watershed.

This extension of the DDA area — which is expected to be initiated later this year for approval by various County and Township authorities — will place a majority of the Glengary Creek watershed within Commerce Township under DDA control. It will also place the DDA area over certain parcels along Pontiac Trail and M-5, to allow for the widening of Pontiac Trail and other right-of-way improvements there. This expansion will allow the DDA to oversee the redevelopment and reclamation of the Glengary Creek watershed, as well as assist in roadway improvements of the Pontiac Trail corridor, within an environmentally sound and controlled context.

Dear CTDDA:

I am a resident of Commerce Township and currently live on Welch Road south of Oakley Park. I have lived in Commerce for 40 years and love this community; however, I would never have bought a home on Welch if I had foreseen the traffic nightmare that has developed there. Beginning early in the morning, there is bumper to bumper traffic on Welch which ends sometime after the morning commute, only to begin again in the afternoon when work ends. The situation is so bad that residents who live on Welch cannot even get out of their own driveways.

For this reason, I fully support the extension of Martin Road and the work of the DDA, as do many other residents who live on Welch and Pontiac Trail. The area that would be affected by an extension of Martin Road consists mostly of factories. Since there are no homes in this area, Commerce residents who complain about a possible extension have no reason to do so.

I will continue to support this extension and look forward to seeing it completed in the near future.

Sincerely,

John Gurden, Commerce Township

Commerce Township Historical First: A New Library

For the first time in the Township’s history, residents of Commerce Township now have their own library.

The new Commerce Township Community Library, located at the El Dorado Clubhouse, currently offers residents approximately 14,000 square feet of library service and allows for future expansion to 25,000 or 30,000 square feet. The library has a wonderful natural setting that fits with the Township’s many lakes.

The library includes a sizeable technology section. Twenty-five computers are available for Internet access, software applications and other digital resources. Five of those computers are reserved for young adults and four are reserved for children’s usage. The new library offers two outdoor patios for reading and enjoying sweeping views of the golf course, a drive-up book and video drop box which is accessible 24 hours a day, and a collection of audio books, CDs and DVDs that will grow based on the interests of library members. Interactive activities are also available for children under six, including a children’s activity room with a number of “stations” involving shape, touch, color and movement themes. The activities are designed to nurture an excitement for learning using a well-rounded approach.

The idea for a new library has been in the works for many years in Commerce Township. Voters passed a .3 millage increase in 1992 to establish a building fund to form a new Township library. In 2004, voters passed an additional .7 mills to begin the process of creating a library.

“It’s been the Township’s goal to provide our residents with a library and to have our own library services,” said Eric Suess, library director for Commerce Township. “We’re excited that the project is finally a reality.”

Prior to the new library, Commerce Township residents had to go beyond Township borders for library access. The Township paid for and used the library services of Milford, Walled Lake and West Bloomfield for several years. In 2004, Milford cancelled its contract with Commerce, leaving Walled Lake and West Bloomfield as the Township’s library service providers.

Residents can visit the library site, located at the El Dorado Clubhouse facility on Pontiac Trail. Last year, the DDA offered the Township use of the Clubhouse, including more than 14,000 square feet of floor space. The site also features floor to ceiling windows with sweeping views of the golf course. The library has books both in print and on CD, music CDs, DVDs, and Internet and database access.

The expansion of the library may begin in 10–24 months, depending on the needs of the community.

It’s All About Water: DDA’s Master Drainage Plan

Strange as it may seem, water can be the worst enemy of a watershed — at least, too much water can be.

Natural watersheds, such as Glengary Creek, which runs through eastern and central Commerce Township, play a vital role in the global water cycle. (The water cycle is the never-ending journey that water takes from rain, to run-off, to pooling, to evaporation, then back to rain again.) Watersheds — usually, with a creek, stream or river at their core — are formed naturally in response to the geology and topography of the region, the rainfall and runoff it experiences, and (to some extent) the vegetation it supports. Their main function is to collect the rainwater falling within the region, percolate some of it through the ground, and ultimately funnel most of it into pools, lakes, and oceans so that it can evaporate back into the water cycle. Like most things in nature, if left untampered with, watersheds tend to be very stable geological features that support stable — and typically highly diverse — plant and animal populations.

Now add water ... lots of water ... or at least a lot more water than the watershed was ever designed to handle (especially during storms). The result? Environmental overload: Streambanks crumble through frequent flooding; creek beds are eroded and bottom habitats destroyed; nests, eggs, and hatchlings are swept away; sedimentation (and often pollution) worsens; and biodiversity throughout the watershed dwindles. Most of us don’t realize it, but one of the most serious impacts that urbanization has on pristine natural environments (and on functional geological features like watersheds) is that it dramatically, sometimes drastically, alters the water cycle in the region. Here’s what happens:

In an undeveloped landscape, most of the water falling as rain or snow is intercepted by the forest canopy or other vegetation. This water is returned to the atmosphere through the processes of evaporation and transpiration, without ever reaching the ground. Water that does reach the ground is able to percolate through the soil surface. Some of this water is then used by plants; some feeds local rivers, lakes, and streams; and some continues to flow downward through the soil until it reaches the water table and recharges local groundwater supplies.

But when the landscape is developed, more and more of this protective layer of trees, shrubs, and grasses is stripped away and gets replaced by hardened, or “impervious”, surfaces — things like rooftops and roadways, driveways and parking lots, stadiums and playgrounds. Under these conditions, a lot more water reaches the ground when it rains, and there’s just too much of it to be filtered naturally and gradually through the soil. Instead, it runs off from all the impervious surfaces in the area and gets carried away into the region’s streams, rivers, and lakes, wreaking havoc throughout the watershed. Worse yet, much of this water is contaminated water, loaded with chemicals and other pollutants from lawn fertilizers and industrial land uses, and this just serves to further depress water quality and habitat viability — not merely in the watershed itself, but throughout the larger hydrological system to which the watershed is connected.

“We already know that the Glengary Creek watershed in Commerce Township is in somewhat of a precarious condition,” said Charles Biegun, a civil engineer with Giffels and Webster Engineering, the company serving as consulting engineers to the DDA in connection with the development of the DDA’s Commerce Commons property. “The stream study of Glengary Creek for the DDA by Applied Science & Technology, Inc, (ASTI) shows that unless corrective measures are taken, it probably won’t take a whole lot in the way of development within the area to push the Creek over the edge.”

“Right now the total impervious area, or TIA, within the DDA project area runs to just under 6 percent,” Biegun said. “If development in the area is carried out with conventional approaches to zoning, site-planning, construction, and storm-water management, the computer models tell us that the TIA in the region will more than triple, and that storm-water runoff from the site will increase by more than 100 percent. There’s no doubt in my mind that without planning and forethought, this could significantly threaten Glengary Creek’s viability both as a biological habitat and as a water resource for the community.”

The question is, what are some approaches to water control that will prevent such a disaster from occurring in the Glengary Creek watershed as development in the area moves forward?

“There are many approaches available to us,” said DDA Director, E. Wynn Berry. “And most of these approaches don’t really involve any unconventional technology at all. We’ve learned a whole lot about storm-water management and pollution control over the past 20–25 years, and we already know many effective ways for removing pollutants from storm water and controlling its flow through a watershed. If we’re going to preserve and protect Glengary Creek, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel; we’ve just got to bring all these proven methods and best practices together in a comprehensive approach that will allow us not only to meet our pollution-control and water-management targets for this property — but to actually improve the quality of water in Glengary Creek over time, which has been measured by the ASTI Stream Study.”

Well before the end this year, Berry said, Giffels and Webster will present a storm water management plan for the area to the DDA that will form the basis of a Master Drainage Plan. The plan for the 330 acres will guide all new development within the Commerce Commons area. This drainage plan will of course incorporate and support the reclamation and preservation plan already adopted for Glengary Creek (see related article, “The Changing Face of Glengary Creek”), which incorporates a number of both pollution-control and water-management elements. But what other kinds of environmental protection techniques and practices might be included in the forthcoming Master Drainage Plan’s guidelines?

Well ... how about a lawn on your roof, for starters? There’s one on parts of Ford’s River Rouge facility, and it’s one of the largest industrial “green roofs” in the nation. The object of a green roof — usually consisting of several layers of soils and substrates planted with grasses, shrubs, bushes and trees — is to replace the impervious surface areas of the building’s rooftop with a surface that, as in nature, captures and percolates rainwater, controls rainwater runoff, and reduces the water’s pollution loads by 70 percent or more. Instead of creating a net loss of greenspace from the environment, these buildings simply relocate it to the roof. “While this particular technology isn’t too practical for residential dwellings,” said Berry, “There may be a possibility of a small portion of the development area that will be logical to explore the feasibility of green-roof technology in their plans.”

Other elements of the Master Drainage Plan will emphasize the preservation of existing wetlands. This will include the reclamation of 20–35 acres of previously filled wetlands to add filtration; the retention of storm water; and the recharging of the aquifer lying just a few feet below the surface that makes its way to Glengary Creek. In addition to daylighting the creek, tree planting along the newly daylighted creek will aid in keeping water temperature low, and in adding oxygen to the water. Riffles and falls will also be added where possible. These measures will help to replace at least some of the vegetative canopy that was removed when the two golf courses were built within the DDA property.

“Beyond these kinds of area-level interventions, we’re also going to work with other effective site-level practices such as the use of riparian barriers, porous concrete, vegetated filter strips, bioretention devices, wet ponds, grassy swales, catch basin inlet devices, and a whole host of other site interventions,” Biegun said. “These practices can, when properly used and in concert, make a tremendous difference on a development’s impact on the environment. But I must emphasize here that the key is: Used properly and in concert. And that, ultimately, is what the Master Drainage Plan will accomplish. In order to make sure we’re doing everything that’s technologically feasible to protect the environment, we are employing a wide variety of the most successful storm water management techniques available.”

The Changing Face of Glengary Creek

It’s not deep enough; it’s not fast enough; it’s too warm; it doesn’t have enough oxygen or the right kind of bottom. What is it? Sounds like Glengary Creek to me. This is just one of hundreds of detailed findings contained in a recently-released report — “A Water Quality Study of Glengary Creek” — commissioned by the DDA. The results of the study will soon be available to the public on the DDA’s web site.Most of the citizens of Commerce Township are likely unaware that Glengary Creek even exists. Glengary Creek is a small creek entering Commerce from West Bloomfield on Haggerty Road about 800 feet north of Pontiac Trail. The Creek then flows through the El Dorado and Pinewood Golf courses and westerly under Welch Road and through forested lands. It continues to flow beneath South Commerce Road at Glengary Road, then westerly through Hickory Glen Park. It then passes beneath Oakley Park Road and flows into Commerce Lake. Glengary Creek contributes its waterflow directly to South Commerce Lake and the Huron River system, and its watershed drains large portions of east central Commerce Township. For these reasons, the DDA wants to ensure that future development in and around the Creek won’t degrade the watershed or raise the Creek’s pollutant and sedimentary discharges downstream beyond State-mandated limits. As a first step to protecting — and ultimately to enhancing — the Creek’s overall water quality and habitat vitality, the DDA needed to have an accurate profile of the waterway’s present condition to use as a baseline for future monitoring and planning activities. The DDA turned to the Brighton, Mich firm of ASTI Environmental, Inc. to conduct the baseline study, and it was the findings from this study that were recently released to the public. The overall conclusion of the ASTI engineers, as summarized in their report is that: “Glengary Creek exhibits qualities characteristic of both unimpacted streams and a stream system that is showing signs of degradation due to urban/suburban storm water and human use impacts” — a classic “good news/bad news” situation. The good news is that Glengary Creek isn’t in horrible shape, and in stretches it’s actually in pretty good condition. There are no appreciable amounts of pesticides, herbicides, or PCBs in the water right now; and pollutants like total phosphorus, ortho-phosphorus, and total suspended solids also appear to be present at quite low levels throughout the waterway. But by many other water-quality and habitat measures, the Creek doesn’t score very well at all. Several segments of the waterway show very low concentrations of dissolved oxygen, a vital component to water-quality and biodiversity. At many places along the Creek, the water was found to contain high concentrations of E. coli bacteria, and this condition appears to worsen dramatically during rainy weather. High concentrations of various storm-water-borne metals and other pollutants were found in sections of the stream passing under roadways. And because of its silty, sedimentary type of bottom, the Creek doesn’t provide a suitable habitat for many invertebrate or fish species. In addition, the factors contributing to the depressed water quality in Glengary Creek today are precisely the ones that may tend to worsen once development intensifies in and around the watershed. Watersheds are like sponges. They receive (“drain”) water from vast areas, both from surface-water run-off and through the water table, underground. The Glengary Creek watershed drains an area of more than 3,200 acres, or five square miles, and is an integral part of the Huron River system. Human development inevitably — and often dramatically — alters the flow-rates and pollutant-levels of the water entering a watershed. And when this happens, the watershed can quickly become stressed: pollution levels rise, water-quality deteriorates, flooding worsens, biodiversity (both plant and animal) declines, and the watershed’s contribution to downstream pollution and sedimentary deposition increases. “In the past, we’ve seen all too many instances of lakes, river systems and watersheds virtually ruined as viable ecosystems by intense human development carried out with little or no concern for the environment,” said ASTI engineer Peter Collins, who supervised the DDA study. “I think we’ve learned a lot from these mistakes, and that’s why it made a great deal of sense for the DDA to undertake this baseline study now, before any significant new development goes forward.” In addition to giving DDA planners an accurate and highly detailed picture of what Glengary Creek is like now (their report runs to more than 100 pages of text, charts, maps and tables), the ASTI team also provided a set of recommendations for protecting and even enhancing the waterway as development in the area moves ahead. Some of these suggestions deal with preserving and maintaining the “intact” portions of the waterway and keeping them safe from future development. Other recommendations focus on source reduction and storm water management throughout the watershed (related article, “It’s All About Water”). And still others focus on the reclamation of Glengary Creek itself, including the “daylighting” of the more than 2,000 feet of the stream that now flows through underground conduits; the removal of several artificial ponds; the retrenching and rerouting of the creek bed; and the restoration of 20–35 acres of wetlands within the watershed basin. “In any case, we don’t think that conventional methods of zoning, planning, and building will save Glengary Creek from effects of development, especially since we’re not starting with a pristine waterway to begin with,” Collins said. “Today, you’ve got to be aggressive, you’ve got to be comprehensive, and you’ve got to be state-of-the-art when it comes to storm-water management and pollution-control in watersheds facing urban encroachment. And it seems clear to us that this is precisely what the DDA, and ultimately the Township authorities, are committed to doing.” The ASTI report concludes with an observation that, according to DDA Director Wynn Berry, is completely in harmony with the DDA’s own vision of the future and commitment to environmental protection in Commerce Township: “[A] restored Glengary Creek corridor … has the potential to provide improved water quality, wildlife habitat, and recreational value, [but] Commerce Township’s (and Oakland County’s) lakes … will also benefit from [its] restoration and protection. The findings and prescriptions included here will also protect South Commerce Lake, and [help the Creek’s outflow] meet state water quality targets for other lakes within the Huron River chain while improving the stream’s character, water quality and esthetic qualities.” The ASTI Glengary Creek corridor study is available for review at the Commerce Township Library.

Form-Based Zoning: A New Future for Township Development

What do you think Commerce Township will look like five years from now ... 10 years from now ... 20 years from now?

Would you like to be sure that future development in the Township creates an attractive, vibrant and dynamic community that has the stamp of a unique and distinctive “hometown”?

Would you like to know that new businesses and employers locating (or relocating) here will be able to get their plans reviewed and approved with minimum hassle, as long as they meet the community’s collective vision of the future?

And would you like to know that the citizens of Commerce Township will continue to have an active voice in the area’s future development?

These are just some of the items that will be taken into consideration when Commerce Township embarks upon a plan for a new concept in zoning ordinances. The Township plans to formally adopt a dramatic, new approach to community planning that’s becoming more and more popular with cities and townships throughout America.

Called Form-Based Zoning (or FBZ), this new approach focuses first and foremost on the outward, publicly visible, physical appearance of the development, whether it be new construction or rehab/reuse. FBZ is more concerned with how each new project interacts visually with its neighbors and the surrounding community, and less with the kind of business it is. FBZ also provides developers with an easy-to-understand Master Plan that graphically shows the community’s collective vision for the future in clear and actionable terms.

Older approaches to community zoning have focused mainly on land use and population density — in other words, what kinds of business activity should be allowed in an area, and how intensively the area can be developed. But traditional zoning regulations don’t say much about the physical form or visual impact of the proposed buildings or land use, and this often results in a patch-work of land uses, a mish-mosh of wildly differing architectural styles often bordering on visual chaos. Yet, it’s a community’s physical appearance — its vistas and views, its visual harmony, its “look and feel” — that gives it its most obvious and enduring character.

The FBZ approach is now being used by a number of progressive communities throughout the country. In Kendall, Florida, (just outside Miami) for example, more than $250 million in new construction permits have been issued in the five years since the community adopted an FBZ planning code. The FBZ approach also helped Contra Costa County, California get a $200 million mixed-use development off the ground, by helping overcome public concerns and facilitating continuing public input. In many areas where it’s been applied, FBZ has led not only to an increase in positive economic activity, but at the same time, a real and measurable reduction in traffic congestion in the area.

In Commerce Township, a great deal of the commercial development that occurred between 1920 and 1985 is now beginning to be redeveloped. This is our opportunity to constructively plan for the look of our community for the next 50 years. It is vitally important that we actually select the face we will look at for the next few decades. This involves not only buildings, but also landscaping, traffic patterns, walk ways, recreation paths and the overall symmetry of our community. FBZ will allow us to sustain the best we have and to greatly improve the remainder. One of FBZ’s benefits is its ability to encourage developments whose uses can be shifted relatively easily when economic forces dictate, instead of being torn down and replaced with totally different facilities — or worse, left to rot.

One of the most important ways in which FBZ helps communities attract new economic development is that it tends to reduce the red tape and hassles developers typically face in dealing with traditional city planning and zoning authorities.

“With FBZ, we’re not particularly concerned with what goes on inside the building, so long as esthetic and ordinance provisions are met,” said Downtown Development Authority Director, E. Wynn Berry. “This means that the project approval process involves a lot less second-guessing by the zoning authority. Of course, there will still be regulations about things like the amount of parking needed for a particular proposal, how high buildings can be built, and what kind of infrastructural improvements might be required for a specific project.”

The new FBZ planning approach is being discussed in depth and by a technical committee which will report in meetings of the Township Board, the Planning Board, the Zoning Appeals Board, and other government and community groups, as well as in a series of public hearings later this year. When the FBZ strategy is officially adopted — which Berry says will probably be by the end of this year — the result will be a new zoning ordinance. Then Commerce Township will join a host of other progressive communities in the U.S. that have decided to seek new and innovative ways of attracting positive economic development while creating and preserving a safe, healthy and wholesome environment for the people who live and work here.

Commerce Township Gets Fit With New Lifetime Fitness

Minneapolis-based Lifetime Fitness has officially opened its doors in Commerce Township, offering gym-goers top-notch fitness equipment in a first-class facility. The new location, at 2901 Commerce Crossings Road, is directly across from Costco. It’s the sixth Lifetime Fitness center in Michigan, with the first club opening in Troy in 1999 and so far, business has been going well.

“Michigan has been a good market for us overall,” said Kent Wipf, public relations manager for Lifetime Fitness. “People are very conscious of what they want and our product meets that need.”

The Lifetime Fitness building is part of a development within the DDA development area, at M-5 and Pontiac Trail and is designed to give the area more consistency for a viable economic employment and tax base within Commerce Township. New jobs are anticipated in Commerce Township with the advent of the commercial and residential center at M-5 and Pontiac Trail; improved traffic circulation as a result of widening Haggerty Road to five lanes; the extension of Martin Road; and the widening of Pontiac Trail to Welch Road. The DDA expects as many as 2,000 jobs will be created within the downtown area in the next few years, as a result of new businesses finding a perfect home in Commerce.

“The new Lifetime Fitness center is part of a growing economic base within our community,” said E. Wynn Berry, Director of the DDA. “We’re looking forward to seeing the increased number of jobs and business come to the entire community.”

The new center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The club offers 109,000 square feet of indoor space, as well as an outdoor, 40,000 square foot aquatic center that’s open during the summer, featuring water slides and a lap pool.

Lifetime Fitness’ grand opening celebration attracted more than 4,000 people — a number that has the club optimistic about its future in Commerce Township.

“It’s a good indicator of fitness by Commerce Township residents,” said Wipf.

But Lifetime goes beyond offering members traditional treadmills and weights to help get people into shape. Lifetime offers a multitude of fitness classes, from water aerobics to kickboxing to pilates. Personal trainers are also on hand to help members develop specialized fitness routines and learn to exercise properly and effectively.

Going beyond fitness, the club also offers members spa services, a sauna, café, free child-care, and a gymnasium, complete with basketball, squash and racquetball courts, as well as a rock climbing wall.

Right now, Lifetime is offering incentives to current members to attract new members. Each current member who brings in a new member will be given a scratch off ticket and the chance to win prizes such as I-Pods, DVDs, cameras, and vacations.

“We’re hoping the new Commerce Township location will have as much success as the other Michigan locations. So far it looks as though it’s right on track,” said Wipf.

Commerce Township Planning Soon to be Aided By Cutting-Edge Technology

As Commerce Township moves closer to adopting the Form-Based Zoning approach to community planning (see the related article in this issue of The VOICE), planners will be aided in visualizing what each future development will actually look like in “real life,” before they approve site plans for proposed new construction in Commerce.

With a new, three-dimensional software program called Perspective, from Vantagepoint Technologies of Sterling Heights, planners and (ultimately) private developers and project managers will be able to view any new development and take a virtual “tour” all around it, seeing it from all angles, from the air, from a distance, or “up close and personal”. And, says DDA Director, E. Wynn Berry, “residents and nearby property owners will be able to get a true-to-life view of the new development as if they were sitting in their own back porch, in their living room, or in an upstairs bedroom.”

The Perspective technology will soon be available to community planners and the Township’s zoning authorities in a PC-based format. They’ll use it initially for modeling developments in the 330 acre Commerce Commons area; ultimately, the virtual tours made possible by the new software will be incorporated into the DDA’s web site, so that the public at large will be able take their own virtual tours and then give community planners their feedback.

“Artists’ rendering in two dimensions, no matter how lovely and accurate, are static and really can’t give you an accurate sense of the development’s true impact on the visual environment,” Berry said. “This technology lets you look at the project backwards and forwards, top to bottom, and from every angle imaginable. And the result is that citizens will be able to get a preview from all perspectives of just how the new proposal will fit into the existing environment.”

While initially being used in the DDA area, this new technology may soon be available for the entire Township. The Commerce Township Perspective may soon be available for viewing on the DDA web site.