Joint Traverse City and Garfield Township Planning Commission

Please find a copy of the Grand Traverse Commons Development Regulations adopted May 7, 2017 here.

For meeting information please click here.

The City of Traverse City and Garfield Township Joint Planning Commission (JPC) was created in the Spring of 2007 for the purpose of developing and administering a Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance for the Grand Traverse Commons Redevelopment District. The JPC consists of five members - two appointed by the Township Board, two appointed by the City Commission, and a fifth jointly appointed. The first goal of the JPC was to develop a simple but descriptive Master Plan that preserves the goals identified in the 1994 Redevelopment Plan. The Master Plan has been adopted and may be viewed on the Grand Traverse Commons webpage.

The next step was to develop a Zoning Ordinance to effect the goals of the Master Plan. The Joint Planning Commission received a grant from the Land Information Access Association for professional planning assistance in these projects.  This was accomplished in May of 2017. 

The Grand Traverse Commons (formerly the State Hospital) straddles the boundary between the City and the Township. The Commons is very unique in nature, with a multitude of historic buildings slated for renovation and adaptive re-use into retail, office, residential, and light industrial spaces. A network of roads winds through the area, which is home to the Village at Grand Traverse Commons redevelopment and includes large amounts of City and Township park land. To best plan for this unique project area, the Joint Planning Commission was created.