Tourism Updates: Horse Shows Reaches Agreement With Acme, TC Tourism Releases Survey Data

Traverse City Horse Shows has reached an agreement with Acme Township that will allow the event – which was facing the suspension of its 2022 season – to proceed this summer as long as a list of environmental, health, and safety concerns are addressed by June 2. The announcement is positive news for the region’s still-recovering tourism economy, which sees an estimated $120 million direct impact from Horse Shows. In other tourism-related updates, Traverse City Tourism released preliminary results this week from a public survey measuring local views on tourism impacts in the Grand Traverse region.

Horse Shows
After Acme Township issued an ultimatum to Traverse City Horse Shows (TCHS) earlier this month to address outstanding zoning violations or a face a complete suspension of operations, township trustees held a special meeting this week and approved an agreement that allows the festival to move forward this summer so long as a list of conditions are met by Thursday – with additional conditions required to be met by November.

Acme Township began issuing citations against TCHS last year, claiming the organization had repeatedly failed to obtain timely approvals for new construction and improvement projects at Flintfields Horse Park on Bates Road. The township allowed TCHS to proceed with summer 2021 events in spite of permit violations, but sent a letter to TCHS attorneys last September stating that the festival “must be in full compliance with the Acme Township Zoning Ordinance requirements for the 2022 TCHS season or risk a cease-and-desist order or injunction,” per a township release.

TCHS sought and received township approval this spring for an amended special use permit to cover their expansion projects, but that approval was contingent on TCHS meeting a lengthy list of conditions to continue operating. When TCHS attorneys subsequently sent a letter to Acme Township in April requesting waivers and exceptions for some of those conditions, the township warned that TCHS faced “impending suspension” of the 2022 event if the violations were not resolved.  

This week, township trustees held a special meeting and went into closed session for an hour-and-a-half to discuss the situation with their attorney before returning to public session and unanimously voting to approve terms of a compromise with TCHS. Trustees identified 15 health, safety, and environmental conditions that event organizers must meet by June 2 and submit to the township for preliminary approval ahead of the festival’s June 8 start date. Those include things like stormwater approvals and a stormwater maintenance plan, an emergency services road construction inspection, road signs and building numbers for emergency services, signage prohibiting non-licenses vehicles on Bates Road, a plan for addressing dust on TCHS roads, a concrete pad at the manure transfer station, a water supply source with sufficient flow, and permit approvals for a TCHS two-story tent. In addition, Acme Township will give TCHS until November 15 to complete 18 other outstanding conditions, including a traffic study, landscaping buffers, irrigation, extended asphalt paving on three event entrances, surface work to address dust on Bates, grading and gravel for trailer parking, gate signage, and more.

Township trustees noted in their meeting minutes that if TCHS signed the agreement, “the township would see no issue with them being able to operate this summer.” In a subsequent release Thursday, township officials said TCHS did indeed sign the agreement and has already completed several of the 15 conditions that must be met by next week. Township leaders also acknowledged that TCHS had been hampered this spring in meeting conditions by “problems scheduling contractors and receiving materials in this competitive market.” The new agreement gives “TCHS the ability to identify and schedule contractors now for project execution in late summer into fall and completion by November 15,” the release states. “Acme Township looks forward to TCHS completing the health, safety, and environmental requirements, and the township wishes TCHS a successful 2022 season.”

TC Tourism Survey
In other tourism-related news, Traverse City Tourism released preliminary and partial results this week from a public sentiment survey commissioned by the organization. The survey of residents in the Grand Traverse area included “gauging public sentiment on the impact of tourism to the region,” says Traverse City Tourism Public Relations Manager Mike Kent. Results showed that:

> 58 percent of respondents felt tourism is good for the local economy. 18 percent felt it was not, while 24 percent gave a neutral response.
> When asked if tourism encourages investment in the local economy, 58 percent of respondents said yes, while 17 percent said no and 25 percent were neutral.
> 59 percent of respondents felt that tourism attracted new business to the region. Fourteen percent said it did not, while 27 percent were neutral. “These results in line or better for similar travel destination communities like ours,” says Kent.

According to Traverse City Tourism, a full report providing all responses and analyzing the survey data will be released in the near future.