Now is the time of year for planning. Whether it is a new building, a major addition or just a small shed that you want to add this year, it all requires planning. Our offices are open Monday through Friday from 8AM to 4PM and we can be reached at 989-728-2811 to help you through the planning process. We can answer all your questions for any project as they relate to the zoning needs of your property. We can also walk you through the construction approval process to avoid any delays or stumbling blocks that tend to make a project difficult. We are here to remove that issue before it becomes an ISSUE. Pat Ready is our Zoning and Building Department Administrator and can answer all your zoning and building questions. So use this time, while we have it, to start asking the questions and avoid the rush in the Spring.
In case you have not heard we finally have our GIS up and available for use by anyone. Go to your URL in your web browser(whatever you use to search the web) and type in the following address app.fetchgis.com/iosco and hit enter. Your browser will load the site and return with a box that asks you to accept the disclaimer. Hit ACCEPT and the browser will load a map with Iosco County centered and the major roads highlighted in yellow. Zoom in on any area in the county and the base map will change to a satellite image with black lines showing property outlines. Move the cursor over any box/shape and its outline will change to red and a text box will appear with the parcel ID number and an *click for more info. Click or hit enter and the text box will show the owners name and parcel address with a ShowDetails in the lower right corner. If you click on Show Details a panel will slide out from the right of the screen with all the information on that parcel. Nothing you do on your screen will affect any of the information in the system. You can’t hurt it. Play around and head down the rabbit-hole of data from around our county. Now a couple of things to remember: 1) This map and parcel data will not show any changes that have occurred since 2018 such as splits or ownership changes. We are working with Fetch to provide them with these updates and hope to have them implemented within the next 6 to 8 months. 2) Some of the lines are not exactly correct. DO NOT use these as a dispute mechanism with your neighbor. Nothing replaces a survey which is the only true measure of property lines. Because these lines were manually entered from the boundary surveys and then overlaid on the base map/satellite photo there are some discrepancies and again we are working with Fetch to correct them. BE PATIENT. We will correct them as best as possible. In the end we may not be able to get all of the issues sorted out to satisfactory standards but they will be to the best of our ability. In the meantime enjoy the data dump because there is a lot of it in this program. We have been working for years to get this out there and we finally have it.
We have some new members on some township boards/committees as of our January meeting. Jill Hunt and Jordan Barclay have been appointed as new Board of Review alternates. They will be training this winter and spring and attend the regular Board of Review meetings in March, July and December and fill-in when any regular member is unable to attend or resigns. We welcome both of them to our board. We also appointed Angela Barclay to fill a recent vacancy on our Planning/Parks & Recreation Committee. We look forward to her addition and insight that she brings. If any of you are interested in serving on a township committee or board please stop in and get an application from Sue in the Clerk’s office. We do keep them on file and use them when openings become available.
The winter tax bills are due in February. If you don’t feel comfortable coming into our office and don’t like to use the mail, just remember that all bills can be paid over the internet or by using the outside dropbox, which has been moved out by the flagpole and can be accessed from your vehicle, and all questions, permits and documents can be obtained and submitted the same way. Thank you.
As always if you ever have any questions, comments or concerns regarding our community please contact me. I am in the office Monday – Friday 7:30 – 4:00 at 989-728-2811 or my cell at 989-984-7073 or by email supervisor@plainfieldtwpmi.com.
Fred Lewis – Supervisor Plainfield Township