Views from the road often form our first and most lasting impressions of a region and a community. What we see through the windshield can make us feel welcomed and at ease or uncomfortable and threatened. What can communities in the Upper Peninsula do to ensure that both residents and visitors feel welcomed and encouraged to stop?
Visual enhancement planning helps a community re-consider appearances from the perspective of a visitor. What attracts people to your town and local businesses? What encourages people to stay and enjoy your community's recreational resources? What keeps them coming back?
Last fall, the People and Land Program of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation provided a grant to the Land Information Access Association and several project partners for the development of "visual enhancement plans" for many sections of the US-2 and M-134 corridors. The primary goal of this project was the preparation of a usable and well-supported visual enhancement plan for the US-2 and M-134 highway corridors, with a particular focus on critical community and tourist areas.
Our partnership reapplied to the PAL program in the fall of 2003 and was awarded another grant to build on our past work and bring the idea of visual enhancement to a new group of communities. We will use a series of regional forums, press releases, newsletters and a web-site to introduce the concept of visual enhancement, describe why it is important for tourism and economic development, and discuss opportunities for communities to receive planning and implementation assistance. Building on the community participation and excitement generated from our initial outreach efforts, we will invite several communities to participate in free, focused planning activities and receive detailed enhancement plans.
Some examples from last year.
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