PC/TB minutes 7-9-2003

Population Age Distribution
Georgetown Township, 1990 and 2000
Age Group	2000 Number of Persons	2000 % of Total	1990 % of Total
Under 5 years	2,923	7.0%	8.3%
5 to 9 years	3,495	8.4%	9.3%
10 to 14 years	3,651	8.8%	8.8%
15 to 19 years	3,522	8.5%	8.4%
20 to 24 years	3,172	7.6%	7.5%
25 to 34 years	4,759	11.4%	15.6%
35 to 44 years	6,701	16.1%	16.3%
45 to 54 years	5,580	13.4%	10.8%
55 to 59 years	1,969	4.7%	3.7%
60 to 64 years	1,450	3.5%	3.1%
65 to 74 years	2,294	5.5%	4.5%
75 to 84 years	1,454	3.5%	2.9%
85 years and over	688	1.7%	0.8%


2000 Age Distribution
Georgetown Township, Ottawa County and Michigan
Age Group	Percentage of 2000 Population
	Georgetown Township	Ottawa County	Michigan
Under 5 years	7.0%	7.7%	6.8%
5 to 9 years	8.4%	8.1%	7.5%
10 to 14 years	8.8%	8.2%	7.5%
15 to 19 years	8.5%	8.7%	7.2%
20 to 24 years	7.6%	7.9%	6.5%
25 to 34 years	11.4%	13.4%	13.7%
35 to 44 years	16.1%	15.9%	16.1%
45 to 54 years	13.4%	12.5%	13.8%
55 to 59 years	4.7%	4.3%	4.9%
60 to 64 years	3.5%	3.2%	3.8%
65 to 74 years	5.5%	5.1%	6.5%
75 to 84 years	3.5%	3.6%	4.4%
85 years and over	1.7%	1.4%	1.4%

Distribution of Housing Units by Type, 2000
Georgetown Township
Type of Housing Unit	# of Units (Georgetown Twp.)	% of Units (Georgetown Twp.)		% of Units (Ottawa Co.)
Single-family detached	10,559	73.2%		70.6%
Single-family attached	1,360	9.4%		5.3%
2-units in Structure	339	2.4%		3.9%
3-4 units in Structure	256	1.8%		3.3%
5+ units in Structure	1,816	12.6%		9.4%
Mobile Homes	88	0.6%		7.5%
Other	0	0.0%		0.0%
Total	14,418	100.0%		100.0%



Median Value of Owner-Occupied Housing, 2000
Georgetown Township and Surrounding Communities
Community		Median Value
GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP		$137,700
City of Hudsonville		$133,000
Allendale Township		$118,200
Blendon Township		$140,700
Holland Township		$127,700
City of Grandville		$122,200
Ottawa County		$133,000
Kent County		$115,500
Michigan		$115,600


Median Household Income
Georgetown Township and Surrounding Communities
Community	1979	1989		1999
GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP	$23,937.00	$30,056.00		$58,936.00
City of Hudsonville	$19,978.00	$32,114.00		$46,961.00
Allendale Township	N/A	$30,738.00		$48,669.00
Holland Township	N/A	$35,523.00		$49,458.00
Blendon Township	N/A	$36,667.00		$56,094.00
City of Grandville	N/A	$36,906.00		$47,570.00
Ottawa County	$20,270.00	$36,507.00		$52,347.00


Occupation of Employed Persons, 2000
Georgetown Township
Occupation			Number Employed		Percent of Employ-ment
Management, professional and related occupations			7,635		35.1%
Service occupations			2,573		11.8%
Sales and office occupations			6,354		29.2%
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations			187		0.9%
Construction, extraction, and maintenance occupations			1,605		7.4%
Production, transportation, and material moving occupations			3,371		15.5%
Total employment, persons 16 years and older			21,725		100.0%

II. Discussion of questions as presented in packet

1. What is valued in the community?

Quality of life. Places to swim and ball fields. Bedroom community. Well-kept property. Safe area. Property is not all high-end and is not all low-end, but rather middle. Good schools. Many parks. Nice place to live and raise a family. Close small commercial areas to get groceries, pizza, movies, etc. Schools and church close. Lots of trees. A problem was noted that people do not know where they live because the Township does not have an identity. Mixed uses available. A good distribution of commercial, retail, industrial, and residential. Not a lot of controversy. Unique natural features such as muck fields, farmers are college educated and work with water, the river, and many mining areas. Good home sites on man-made lakes. Affects from GVSU.

2. What threatens the community?

Traffic. Very hard to get in and out of town. Different, non-compatible zoning districts close. Indifference to growth. Decreasing numbers of owner-occupied housing. A good trailer park is located in the Township. Township has to have some apartments, but they mostly provide temporary housing until the people could buy a house. Deteriorating housing below the hill. Housing going from owner-occupied to rental units.

3. What is the community character?

Residential. Small amounts of commercial areas.

4. What are the community needs?

Easier way to get in and out of town. Ease congestion. More and better roads. Manage the commercial growth. Low maintenance parks. But it was noted that the Township has ample parks. In fact, the county has taken over Hager Park.

5. How could the valuable assets of the Township be protected?

Assets are the people of the community. Library. Allow commercial only in designated areas. Less accesses on major roads. When re-construction occurs in areas such as Main St. or Chicago Dr., require updates such as landscaping.

6. What should be different?

Roads. Bussing would not work in the Township. Update Chicago Dr. properties.

7. What existing problems need to be solved?

Traffic and congestion. Access in and out of the Township. The river and railroad tracks present a problem. An access across the river would be nice, but unlikely.

8. What undesirable conditions need to be prevented from developing?

More traffic without ways to handle it. Increase of non-owner occupied housing. We need to invest in the schools to keep high property values. Density zoning was mentioned, but it was noted that the Township already has adopted the cluster zoning ordinance. It was noted that the Hudsonville school district was growing and the Jenison school district was decreasing. Undesirable conditions include lack of on-site ownership and maintenance issues with rental properties.

9. What is the desired direction of growth?

PUD developments that include multiple uses and multiple types of residential housing. Residential, but not rapid growth so roads could keep up.

10. Where should land uses stay the same?

In residential areas. Farming has no future in the Township except for greenhouses and the muck farms. Kenowa and Barry area should stay the same. Fillmore, near 28^th, 36^th, and 40^th Avenues should be residential.

11. Where should land use change?

Around the ice area near Bauer and 48^th Ave. Some AG/RR should become LDR. No single family homes adjacent to Industrial without buffering. Take a “wait and see” attitude with the Bauer area between 28^th and 48^th Aves. It is easier to work with utilities for bigger developments.

12. What should the land uses be of the vacant land?

Depends on where it is.

13. Is the land adaptable to the land use proposals?

Most places.

14. Are services available to accommodate the desired land uses?

Would have to be brought to some areas by the developers.

15. Are areas in need of re-development?

Main Street and Chicago Dr. The area at the bottom of the hill. Protect the downtown commercial except for the ice arena area. The area around Oakcrest that is now industrial could be added to Oakcrest.

16. What about roads?

More homes would bring more traffic. The 8^th Ave. corridor would probably not change even after the new South Beltline is opened.

17. What should the Township work towards in the future?

Easier ways in and out of town and control congestion. Traffic and land uses in the GVSU area. Grand Valley Auto parts was brought up, but has already been addressed by the ZBA and PC. The site is in the process of being updated.

Three members of the Planning Commission have agreed to meet with Allendale to discuss uses along common borders. Development of the areas around the college and around the sports complex should be defined.

II. Subsections

A. Jenison/Commercial Core

The Baldwin Connector would change the area to the eastern end of the Township and require limited drives and good access management. The traffic flow through Main Street would change. Maybe offices would be appropriate in this area. It was noted that when plans are in place for the connector, the text of the Master Plan could be updated.

There was discussion that the whole Meijer site should come in with an overall PUD, instead of the piecemeal development, specifically due to circulation, and ingress and egress issues.

The area behind the K-Mart Building is zoned commercial up to the creek and residential south of the creek.

B. Chicago Dr. Corridor

The Chicago Dr. corridor should continue to be improved as currently takes place.

C. Baldwin St. Corridor

The Baldwin St. corridor should continue to be residential with no more commercial.

D. Northeast Corner of the Township

Wells should be capped and removed when no longer in use. There is a potential for crossing the Grand River for transportation or for commerce. It was noted that it was unlikely that a bridge would be constructed in any near future. The Bend in the River Plan should be accepted as the Master Plan.

E. Northwest Corner/GVSU Area

A cooperative study had been conducted with Allendale, GVSU and Georgetown. The study revealed that the area could not support commercial during the summer when students were not at in session. No more HDR is needed near GVSU because the college is not planning to increase enrollment. Industrial zoning is not needed in the area. The area around the ice area could be developed into condos with some commercial. The area should be developed as a PUD with varying densities for the residential development. There is a square of commercial near the power lines. The demands for soccer and softball fields have been met and there is no need to develop that area for a recreational use. North of the ice rink is commercial. The commercial designation at 36^th Ave. and Baldwin could be eliminated and the commercial moved to the ice arena area, since there is already commercial in the area. Behind that could be residential. The Master Plan could show multiple uses, with owner occupied and mixed housing, both attached and detached, and commercial with retail.

The development could start at the ice rink and work east with come commercial, then residential could move east.

F. Bauer Rd./Fillmore Area

The area between Bauer and Fillmore could be left vague. AG/RR will probably become residential in the future, but could be development driven.

G. Edson Dr./VanBuren Area

The area could be left residential with in-fill housing.

H. North of Hudsonville

The area for the Stoney Creek Condos on Port Sheldon should be switched from OS to HDR.

I. 48^th St. Corridor (lower third-Jackson St. north to Port Sheldon Rd.)

J. 48^th St. Corridor (middle third-Port Sheldon Road north to Bauer Rd.)

K. 48^th St. Corridor (upper third-Bauer Road north to Pierce St.)

The 48^th Ave. Corridor study could be adopted as the Master Plan.

L. Kenowa Ave. near 44^th St.

The property adjacent to Sunnybrook should be residential, continuing to 8^th Ave. Areas closer to 8^th Ave. could become LDR when the developer would be willing to continue all utilities to the area. Mostly it should remain the same. Mostly 44^th St. should remain the same.

M. Kerkstra/Land Property

Should be master planned as HDR.

N. 8^th Ave.

It is extremely important to limit access to 8^th Ave. When the area has full improvements, there could be residential uses.

O. Bend in the River Area

The Bend in the River Plan could be adopted as the Master Plan for the area.

VI. Possible Additional Areas to Consider

A. Revitalizing Main Street

When property owners submit applications for the Planning Commission, they should be required to meet the current ordinances and provide streetscapes and sidewalks.

B. Unity Land on 40^th Ave.

The area could be designated for varying densities of residential as long as the developer provides a significant buffer for the industrial land to the south.

C. Northwest area (Eastbrook Builders requests LDR)

No decisions were made for this area. There was discussion to leave the area alone to wait and see. Water and sewer would have to be brought to the area.

VIII. Adjourn

The chairman adjourned the meeting at 9:30 p.m.

Historical Population
Georgetown Township and Surrounding Communities, 1970-1990
Community	1970	1980	% Change 1970-80	1990	% Change 1980-90	2000	% Change 1990-2000
GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP	17,615	26,104	48.2%	32,672	25.2%	41,658	27.5%
As % of Ottawa County total	13.7%	16.6%		17.4%		17.5%
City of Hudsonville	3,523	4844	37.5%	6,170	27.4%	7,160	16.0%
As % of Ottawa County total	2.7%	3.1%		3.3%		3.0%
Allendale Township	3,554	6080	71.1%	8,022	31.9%	13,042	62.6%
As % of Ottawa County total	2.8%	3.9%		4.3%		5.5%
Holland Township	10,849	13739	26.6%	17,523	27.5%	28,911	65.0%
As % of Ottawa County total	8.5%	8.7%		9.3%		12.1%
Blendon Township	2,927	3,763	28.6%	4,740	26.0%	5,721	20.7%
As % of Ottawa County total	2.3%	2.4%		2.5%		2.4%
Ottawa County	128,181	157,174	22.6%	187,768.00	19.5%	238,314.00	26.90
City of Grandville	10,764	12,412	15.3%	15624.0%	25.9%	16263.0%	4.1%
% of Kent County total	2.6%	2.8%		3.1%		2.8%
Kent County	411,044	444,506	8.1%	500,631	12.6%	574,335	14.7%