Each year, the Michigan Association of Planning sponsors Planning Excellence Awards to honor outstanding planning projects throughout the State of Michigan. There are 10 award categories and a jury of American Planning Association (APA) Michigan Chapter professionals review and select the award-winning projects. The 2018 Livingston County Master Plan, which is produced by the Livingston County Planning Department, received two awards.

The first is The Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan, which recognizes a plan that advances the science and art of planning. The nomination for the award focuses on project criteria like quality in presentation and methodology; stakeholder engagement; implementation and effectiveness; and promotion of planning.

Livingston County’s Plan also won The Best Practice award, which is for a specific planning tool, practice, program, project, or process. The category emphasizes results and demonstrates how innovative and state-of-the-art planning methods and practices help to create communities of lasting value. The nomination for the award focuses on criteria like originality and innovation; implementation and transferability; stakeholder engagement; and effectiveness and results.

In their award recommendation, the APA Michigan Chapter professionals jury commented that the Livingston County’s 2018 Master Plan is a “big undertaking for three staff people with lots of engagement and education.” Livingston County Planning Department staff and Livingston County Planning Commissioners will attend the award presentation at the Michigan Association of Planning’s annual conference, Planning Michigan, on September 25th in Kalamazoo.

The plan can be viewed at the link below.