The Michigan Municipal League League is hosting a National Brownfield Association Workshop, Building Sustainable  Communities: Revitalizing Your Town, in our Lansing office on Tuesday, June 5 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The workshop aims to highlight the importance of sustainable development on Brownfield sights as well as put attendees in touch with appropriate contacts for funding programs that are available for communities.

There are scholarship dollars available to allow communities to attend for free. They are on a first come first serve basis so be sure to get your application (Scholarship_app.doc (67.50 kb)) in to the National Brownfield Association soon (contact info can be found on the application form).

To register for the event, click here.  

Nikki Brown is the Capital Office Coordinator for the League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0305 or nbrown@mml.org.

LANSING, Michigan - The Michigan Department of Treasury website has a posting dated May 15 which indicates $700,000 is still available in the second and final round of the Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP). More than $4 million (of the original $5 million) in EVIP funding was awarded for 28 projects throughout Michigan communities during Round 1 in January.

Applications must be submitted to the Department of Treasury by Friday, June 15, 2012 to be considered for this round of grants. For more information about EVIP, including a grant application for local units of government and information on previous awardees, visit www.michigan.gov/treasury and click on the Local Government Services tab. Or, contact: Caleb Buhs --- (517) 335-2167.

Matt Bach is director of communications for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at (734) 669-6317 or mbach@mml.org.

The Michigan Department of Treasury now has new Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP) forms/instructions available on their website for communities that would like to certify for the third phase of EVIP by complying with Public Act 152. Click here to view the form and here to view the instructions. The deadline to qualify for this third phase of EVIP is June 1, which was moved back from the original May 1 deadline.

For more information about EVIP and PA 152 compliance, go to the League’s resource page here. Click here to view a power point presentation about the latest EVIP change and click here to view questions and answers from an April 30 webinar hosted by the Michigan Municipal League on the topic.

Matt Bach is director of communications for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at (734) 669-6317 and mbach@mml.org.

Yesterday afternoon the House passed SB 1064, a bill pre-empting local cell tower colocation approval by a vote of 104-5.

The bill provides that a colocation does not need special land use approval if it the existing structure is in compliance with local zoning and the proposed colocation does not increase tower height by 10 percent or 20 feet, whichever is greater. The colocation also must not increase the width more than necessary to permit colocation nor increase the existing compound by more than 2,500 square feet.

If the proposed colocation does not meet the last two standards, it will be subject tospecial land use approval by the local unit. The local unit has 14 business days to make sure an application is administratively complete. The local unit then has 60 days to approve or deny the application or it is deemed approved.

If the proposed colocation does not meet any of the standards the local unit has 90 days to approve or deny the application. The local unit may charge actual costs or $1,000, whichever is greater.

The federal government proposed a shot clock for cell tower colocation in 2009, and it allows 90 days for local approval for an existing tower and 150 days for a new tower. There are questions being raised about how whether the new language in SB 1064 is pre-empted by federal law.

The legislation now heads to the Governor for his signature.

Samantha Harkins works for the Michigan Municipal League handling municipal services and energy and technology issues.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org