A Field of Dreams: A ‘New Neighborhood‘ Rising in Empire could be Northern Michigan‘s Solution to Sprawl

Bringing people back together again as neighbors at a time when Northern Michigan is under siege by urban sprawl is one of the goals of a “New Neighborhood“ which will be built in Empire over the next 15-20 years.
With its dedication to the new urbanist principles of a walkable community on an intimate human scale, the neighborhood being created by developers Bob Sutherland and Robert Foulkes of Leelanau County could serve as a model of enlightened growth for all of Northern Michigan: neighborhoods in which young residents can afford to continue living in their own home towns and where commuting long distances by car is no longer necessary.
Their secret? Some 84 homesites arranged in a grid on a 31-acre parcel within an easy walk of downtown Empire, with lot frontages averaging about 50 feet, many of which will face a large park near the center of the development.
They say the plan will encourage a return to neighborliness, social interaction between different age groups and incomes, and less dependence on the car culture.
“I think we have to teach Leelanau County and Northern Michigan the merits of living in a small town and on a small lot, because if people don‘t see the value in that, we‘re going to lose our countryside to sprawl with everyone spread out on five-to-ten-acre lots,“ Sutherland says.

GETTING THE MESSAGE
Increasingly, that message is getting through as former back-to-the-land types grow weary of country living, its hassles and long commutes.
“We‘re getting calls from people who live on 20 acres out in the country but no longer want to plow 400 feet of driveway each winter,“ says Foulkes. “Empire is the perfect place to live in a community where you can walk to a beautiful natural setting right outside town.“
Sutherland adds that his brother Paul just gave up living on 60 acres outside Omena for a new home in town and loves the switch from the country to the conveniences and social interaction of living in a neighborhood.
Foulkes says that retirees are also learning the wisdom of living in town.
“We have a significantly older demographic in Northern Michigan of people who‘ve been down to Florida and say they‘ll never go there again,“ he says. “People in their 80s are looking for walkable places where they don‘t have to drive any more.“
On the other end of the age range, young families are looking for home sites they can afford in a region where real estate has skyrocketed over the past 20 years. Sutherland notes that his own community of Glen Arbor is now considered the fourth wealthiest resort town in the United States -- a bitter distinction for its younger members who may never be able to afford to live there.
Increasingly, younger citizens throughout the region are being forced to find affordable homesites far out in the country, meaning a long commute, social isolation, and sometimes iffy rural school systems.
In Empire‘s New Neighborhood, however, lots with established septic systems range from $35,000-$55,000, a range which Sutherland and Foulkes hope will attract a mixed community of young, middle-aged and retired members.

THE ROOTS
The New Neighborhood‘s genesis began several years ago when Sutherland was looking for a place to build a warehouse for his Cherry Republic business which offers a broad range of cherry products, jams and tee-shirts in Glen Arbor.
The cheapest alternative for a 10,000-foot warehouse was to throw up a pole barn near Empire‘s Airport; but Sutherland‘s position as a board member of the Michigan Land Use Institute precluded doing anything so crass.
Learning that there was old orchard property belonging to Frank and Leta Fisher for sale just east of Empire, it occurred to Sutherland to buy the entire 31 acres. A chance meeting with Foulkes, who is a planner with Sam Marts Architects in Chicago as well as the owner of White Oak Timber Frames in Suttons Bay, led to some discussion of building a new urbanist neighborhood on the property. With the input of three other investors, the project became a reality in 2000.

BACK TO THE FUTURE
Foulkes notes that “new urbanism“ isn‘t exactly what the New Neighborhood is all about.
“This is just good urban planning,“ he says. “It‘s not new at all; we‘re copying plans which are 100 years old in Empire and many hundreds of years old in Europe. What we have is a compact grid pattern of dual-use lots, meaning a front with a public facade with trees and a rear to the home with an alley and privacy.“
True new urbanism, by contrast, can be too controlled by planners.
“There‘s an ongoing movement in new urbanism to control everything,“ Foulkes says. “Disney has a new urbanist community called Celebration in which everything is controlled right down to the window shades. What we‘ve done here is take what we like about Empire and make it grow.“
There will be some benign control of the neighborhood‘s development in the form of a review of building plans by a design committee, and by the fact that home plans are limited by the narrow dimensions of the lots. Design plans allow for carriage houses and duplexes. But in the main, the New Neighborhood will look like a more contemporary version of the 100-year-old homes along the streets of Empire when its completed, and will be linked by a new sidewalk system and corridor of trees being funded by a $220,000 enhancement grant from MDOT.

REACTION
How has the 360-member population of Empire reacted to a project which will add 84 homes to the 420 houses already within the village?
Sutherland and Foulkes say that villagers are encouraged that they‘re carrying on Empire‘s neighborhood tradition, rather than a sprawling suburban-style subdivision.
“One goal with our property is to make it possible for the people of Northern Michigan themselves to live where they were raised,“ says Sutherland.
“Otherwise it wouldn‘t be much of a community,“ Foulkes adds.
“This is the best chance to find an affordable living space in town, with property in our coastal towns being so much in demand,“ says Sutherland.
Ultimately, the partners would like to see their housing ideas put to use across Northern Michigan in Traverse City, Petoskey, Gaylord and the many villages along the coast.
“All over Northern Michigan you can see housing patterns in these towns which are still examples of good urban planning,“ says Foulkes. “If we take care of them and ‘grow‘ them, we can continue to have lovely little villages here in the region.“

For more info on the New Neighborhood, contact www.NewNeighborhoodEmpire.com. View On Our Website