The Master Plan is a general statement of goals & policies and provides a comprehensive view of the community’s future vision. A sound master plan helps ensure a logical development process that will result in a highly desirable community in which to live, work and recreate…
The purpose of the Master Plan is to serve as the official document used to guide the future development and growth of the City. It also…
- identifies and evaluates existing conditions, characteristics, community values, trends, issues, and opportunities as the factual basis for decision making
- gives guidance bout expectations and standards for public investment and future development.
- solidifies the vision for the community
- establishes the basis for the zoning ordinance, capital improvements, new policies, and other implementation tools and programs
- provides the framework for day-to-day planning and land-use decisions by the City’s staff, Planning Commission, and City Commission
- establishes the basis for the policies and tools that help build greater community resilience
- builds an informed constituency that can help support and participate in plan implementation
- builds support for the allocation of funding and helps leverage funding from regional, state, and federal agencies
The plan makes recommendations for zoning and land uses including for new & expanding businesses as well as parks and recreation. The plan also calls for housing and socioeconomic improvements and also recommends advancements to transportation & utilities, as well as other overall aesthetic enhancements.
Such a plan allows residents, business owners and other community stakeholders to make investments with a reasonable expectation of what will happen in the future. In essence, the plan represents a balance between the sometimes competing interests of the environment, individual land owners, and the community overall.
The Master Plan is intended to be a flexible document that guides growth and development within the City for the next 20 years and beyond while providing the ability to respond (annually) to changing conditions, innovation, and new information.
Municipalities in Michigan are required by law to have a valid master plan. The City of Three Rivers adopted its current Master Plan in 2020, and is expected to have an updated Master Plan in late 2025.
_
Master Plan 2025 Development:
Update – April 2025: The first formal draft of the 2025 Master Plan document …based on the roughly twelve-month period for the city’s Planning Commission to review what all needed to be changed in the city’s current master plan document (i.e., from 2020), as well as some initial new ideas… was prepared and introduced at the Planning Commission’s regular meeting in April 2025. Updates include newly-prepared (but still draft) maps for current and future land uses. As always, the public is invited and welcome to comment at all PC meetings!
March 2025: An informational kick-off meeting / workshop / was held downtown with members of the DDA boards and committees, Planning Commission, local business owners and the public with the intention of refamiliarizing potential contributors of Mater Plan development requirements (e.g., by the state) and the importance of connecting a Master Plan with city zoning and future land uses!
Jan. – August 2024: The City’s Planning Commission met regularly to review the current (2020) plan, section by section. Various portions have been identified as needing some level or form of updates with the intention of using the current plan document as the foundation of the 2025 Master Plan update in 2025!
Master Plan 2020 Development:
Update – October 2020: After extensive public input beginning in late 2019 through the majority of the 2020 calendar year …and through the extensive efforts of McKenna Associates, Master Plan Steering Committee and City Planning Commission…Three Rivers has completed it’s final draft of the City’s Master Plan: HERE.
Update – June 2020: The City of Three Rivers is committed to being a community of inclusion and will work to overcome inequalities and prejudice of all types faced by people of the community. All groups representing, as well as individual members of, the community of Three Rivers will have access to the resources and opportunities necessary to improve the quality of their lives, and differences in life outcomes will not be predicated on the basis of race, class, or other dimensions of identity.
For more information see links to current and related info below…
_
Corrections or additions to suggest for this page? Please use our feedback form.