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December 8, 2005Transportation group offered incentiveState offers money if group takes some actionTRAVERSE CITY - The state of Michigan is dangling $25,000 before a local transportation study group to jump-start a process several members acknowledge is stalled."We're starting to hear grumbling in the community that (we) aren't doing anything," said Ken Kleinrichert, a member of the Land Use and Transportation Study group. "People are losing interest." Eight months after their appointment to study and recommend a long-term remedy to the region's burgeoning transportation woes, the 29-member group has failed to agree on the scope of work they want studied or how the study should be designed and implemented. A proposal mandating that a timeline be in place by February for hiring a consultant was defeated Tuesday by a lone member. Under the proposal, if the timeline is missed, TC-TALUS, the governmental organization responsible for spending up to $3.3 million in federal money on the study, would create the schedule. "If we have a group that can't even put together a timeline, then TC-TALUS steps in and sets it," Kleinrichert said. "Otherwise, we are going to go in circles for the next five years." Ken Smith of the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council objected to TC-TALUS directing the group. "If we can't be accountable to ourselves, then why do we have to have TC-TALUS tell us," Smith said. The Michigan Department of Transportation said it will authorize $25,000 for TC-TALUS to hire attorney Robert Grow to coach the transportation group to design its study process and hire a consultant. "They've been at this for quite some time and we haven't seen any movement," said David Langhorst of MDOT. "We're looking to make something happen and this is a good way to do it." Grow, co-founder of Envision Utah, a nationally recognized regional planning effort, spoke recently at a retreat for the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce. Members of the LUTS group and MDOT said Grow impressed them. What's still to be determined, though, is if Grow is interested. Langhorst said if Grow doesn't take the job the LUTS group needs to find someone like him. "I believe this will be money well spent," Langhorst said. "We have a special opportunity here and we should take it."
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