Oakland County to hold workshop on zoning flexibility

Oakland County officials want local governments to become more flexible in their zoning rules and master plans, and now they’re ready to teach them how to do it.The county wants municipalities to be ready to welcome and facilitate growth from new economy firms; hence, it will hold a Technology Planning Toolkit workshop on Monday, June 8.”We hope they can use this as a basis when they update their own planning documents,” says Bret Rasegan, planning supervisor for Oakland County.It introduced this program as a way of making local governments friendlier to knowledge-based firms. By streamlining the old bureaucracy, the hope is to make these cities more attractive for new economy start-ups and their new jobs. For instance, buildings zoned for one purpose can be diversified to include a number of uses.”It’s very important, especially with how quickly the market is changing,” Rasegan says.The free workshop will be held at the Oakland County Executive Office Building Conference Center, 2100 Pontiac Lake Road, west of Telegraph in Waterford. For information, call (248) 452-2166 or send an email to browningj@oakgov.com.Source: Brett Rasegan, planning supervisor for Oakland CountyWriter: Jon Zemke