Residents can take part in survey to guide city’s new master plan

Berkley residents can help shape the vision for the city’s future in a new online survey.

Erin Schlutow, city community development director, said Berkley is working with planning consultants Carlisle Wortman Associations on a community engagement effort to gauge the views of businesses and residents as the city works on a new master plan.

The City Council this week declared May 20 as Master Plan Day to help bring attention to the to the undertaking.

“The master plan is the document that really kind of forecasts what the city is trying to accomplish in the next 15 or 20 years,” Schlutow said.

Master plans in communities can cover a wide range of policies, from the conceptual to the practical.

“It could be a long-term wish-list thing like creating more parkland,” she said, “to shorter term things involving streetscape improvements.”

Those kinds of improvements include such things as park benches, bicycle racks and pedestrian friendly designs to make the area more welcoming.

“The downtown on 12 Mile and Coolidge roads already get a lot of attention,” Schlutow said. “Part of the master plan process is to look at other corridors such as 11 Mile Road, Woodward and 12 Mile Road east of Greenfield.

The survey is important for officials to understand what people are interested in and the things they want to see improved or changed in the community, she added. Survey responses can also give officials information on how residents feel on land use, transportation, housing and other issues.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, city staff members had already gained insights from city boards, commissions, an elementary school PTA meeting and other discussions.

Now Berkley staff and planning consultants are casting a bigger net with the communitywide online survey. The survey is also a safer way of directly gathering information when social distancing is key to fighting the pandemic.

The survey is at berleymich.org/masterplan on the city’s website.