The Senate Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs Committee this morning reported three bills in the “Elder-Friendly Communities” package of bills. They would do the following:

• SB 1327 amends the downtown development authority act to allow a DDA board to create operate, and fund marketing incentives and a loan program to fund the development of elder-friendly communities in the downtown district.  The board could make loans, with interest, at a below-market rate. Elder-friendly communities would mean mixed use and residential housing that is designed and developed to be desirable to senior citizens, as determined by the DDA board.

• SB 1331 and 1332 amend the Planning Enabling Act and the Zoning Enabling Act to consider the needs of senior citizens when creating or substantively amending a master plan or plan for zoning ordinances. The substitute versions of these bills eliminated the population requirements for townships that were in the original versions of the bills and now are required for all communities that do zoning and planning.

Andy Schor is the Assistant Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League. Contact him at (517) 908-0300 or by email at aschor@mml.org.

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