Denise van Amersfoort – Senior Planner, Huron County. (Photo by Bob Montgomery)Denise van Amersfoort – Senior Planner, Huron County. (Photo by Bob Montgomery)
Midwestern

Many challenges involved in finding local land for development

Huron County Planning Manager Denise Van Amersfoort says one of the obstacles in moving a housing development forward can be getting the land to build on.

“Sometimes the land that’s zoned for future development is owned by someone that’s part of the farming operation. They’re not interested in selling it. Other times it can be lands within town. Someone might have a double lot. They just like to have that big lot, so they don’t want to sell it, and we end up pushing out onto less desirable land,” Van Amersfoort shared.

She adds that could lead to sprawl.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of helping people understand their options.

“They might have been on the edge of town, and what’s happened in recent years is that they’ve seen the development move closer and closer. Sometimes, they’re sort of the next spot on the map,” added Van Amersfoort.

Van Amersfoort says important to think about how to open more land to development.

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File photo courtesy of  © Can Stock Photo Inc. / dehooks

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