The residents of Kingsley have a unique opportunity to reimagine their downtown – and they have some clear ideas on how it could be transformed into a vibrant community core.

Last November, approximately 120 residents came out for a “community visioning session” at the Village Hall. At that meeting, more than a dozen vacant or underperforming properties in Kingsley’s main commercial core were identified, with attendees tasked with brainstorming how those sites could be redeveloped. What kinds of businesses were missing downtown? How should their town look? What amenities and improvements were most needed?

Next Tuesday (June 28), the results of that feedback will be unveiled at a public meeting from 6:30-8:30pm at the Village Hall. Dr. Pat Crawford of Michigan State University’s School of Planning, Design & Construction – who worked with MSU students to compile residents’ input and create a series of before-and-after sketches showing the potential of several properties – says she was “truly amazed” by community turnout and feedback at the kick-off event.

“You don’t usually get that size of a group, especially when you consider the size of (Kingsley’s) population,” Crawford says. “There were a lot of different ideas about how the community could grow, but there were some common themes that emerged.”

Chief among residents’ priorities was preserving Kingsley’s small-town feel, while creating more community gathering places, building more diverse housing options, and calming traffic – particularly near the intersection of Brownson Avenue and M-113. Among the businesses residents most desired were a sit-down restaurant, a brewery, and a general/hardware store. A café/bakery, community center and enhanced trails and sidewalks were also priorities.

Crawford will explore those options in more detail Tuesday, as well as share a few key “hot spots” – either privately or publicly owned parcels in Kingsley – that came out highest on the list for redevelopment potential. Grand Traverse County Deputy Director of Planning and Development Jean Derenzy explains that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – which is extending free planning support to the village for the project – will visit Kingsley this summer to conduct soil samplings and environmental due diligence on the sites.

“That will really give the village a package to go out and market these properties to potential developers and say, ‘Here’s what's on the site, and here’s what the community has said they want there,’” says Derenzy, who notes that several properties could qualify for brownfield funding.

Far from just a theoretical planning exercise, the goal of “Reimagined Kingsley” is to drive real change. Kingsley Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Chair Marc McKellar says the board has held off writing its new DDA plan until the visioning process is complete so desired projects can be incorporated into the plan. The DDA also recently restructured its bond payments for a past streetscape project so that the debt will be paid off in 2018 instead of 2025, freeing up tax increment financing (TIF) funds sooner for new projects.

McKellar says last fall’s discussions have already galvanized change in Kingsley. Not long after residents shared their desire for a hardware store, Kingsley Lumber & Hardware opened its doors on Brownson Avenue in April. The DDA also approached the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to begin evaluating traffic-calming options for the town’s main intersection. As community priorities are further clarified next week – and in the future – McKellar says the DDA can help in a number of ways: providing funding for projects, encouraging business-friendly zoning policies, and connecting developers with resources and tools to invest in Kingsley.

“Our biggest thing is we want the community to know what we do, and to be a conduit for conversation,” McKellar says. "Our board members are members of the community too, so they want to see this be successful. We’ve done a lot already since the fall. As we get clear directives from the people, we’re going to hit the ground running.”