Seeking New Urbanism In Acme, Michigan

"Seven years ago Acme Township residents developed a master plan that directs commercial and residential growth to an envisioned town center and protects the area's scenic vistas and farmland. Now a citizens committee has chosen a prominent new Urbanist architectural firm to design such a project. But, while township officials are gaining more support from local business groups for their vision, they and many township residents fear that financial and ongoing legal obstacles could squelch the idea.

Acme Township's master plan, originally adopted in 1999, calls for building a brand new town center, complete with leafy, traditional neighborhoods and a downtown 'like Suttons Bay or Elk Rapids.' But the plan's dream of stopping sprawl by pointing most of the township's future development away from its rolling hills and farmlands has turned into a legal drama that might force residents here to accept something that many of them do not want -- a sprawling, regional shopping mall."