This project was completed in a Fundamentals of Planning course. The group consisted of 6 members, all from the Master of Urban Planning program. It is a required course for all Master of Urban Planning students and the groups have real clients from the area. Our client was the Charter Township of Northville, Michigan who had recently acquired a large site, formerly a Psychological Hospital, now a brownfield, which they plan to turn into a park. Our project was to lead a community input section and come up with a preliminary plan for the site. I served as project manager for the group. (Click on the link at the bottom for the .pdf of our full report.)
Site Plan (click for larger image)
Description
The 7 Mile Road site consists of a 350 acre section of the former Michigan State Regional Psychiatric Hospital site, located in the Charter Township of Northville, MI. The Charter Township of Northville purchased the property in August of 2009 for $23.5 million, using a resident-approved 20-year recreation use bond. To start the process, the Charter Township of Northville and the University of Michigan Master of Urban Planning program decided to collaborate in developing initial recommendations for a conceptual master plan. The focus of the project was to outline a process by which short, medium, and long-term recommendations were provided for the phased development of the 7 Mile Road site.
The planning process consisted of five primary elements: researching current conditions, investigating national examples of similar projects for detailed case studies, holding a community input meeting, providing a set of phased recommendations, and outlining implementation steps and tools to successfully establish the recommended uses on the 7 Mile Road site.
Kenneth R. C. Dunn 