Adobe Acrobat File:commercial_industrial.pdf
This document is a text-only version of the original Adobe Acrobat file. Graphics and formatting may be lost in the conversion from pdf to html.
View the Adobe Acrobat version of this file.
B. Commercial & industrial lands. The largest of these is Port Development
Industrial Development the Great Lakes Marina in Lakeside.
At present, bulk shipping operations are
spread rather thinly along almost the
Existing Conditions entire southern shore of Muskegon
Lake. This distribution is one of the
While bulk handling no longer domi- principle reasons why large stretches of
nates the shores of Muskegon Lake, it shoreline are currently under-utilized
still exists in the likes of such compa- and off limits to the public. In addition,
nies as LaFarge, Verplank, J. Bultema, these uses tend to be land intensive
and Sappi Paper. Since their existence which makes their presence on the lake
depends wholly or in part on a lakeside very conspicuous and often unsightly.
location for the loading and unloading
of large quantities of raw materials, As a means to both promote shipping
they cannot easily adapt to inland loca- activity and to encourage more com-
tions and therefore must maintain a patible lakefront development, it is rec-
presence on the lake. ommended that a long-term goal of the
City should be to work toward relocat-
The most problematic issue surround- ing and clustering heavy industrial and
ing these industries is not necessarily commercial port operations. A pre-
what they do, but where they do it. Besides the downtown central business ferred location would be one which is
Their dispersal along the shoreline of- district, the largest commercial use visually and environmentally least ob-
ten causes them to interface poorly with concentrations are found at the Lake- trusive, and where access to the City's
residential and recreational land uses. side commercial strip (neighborhood transportation linkages to the state
This is especially true in the Lakeside commercial), and in the vicinity of east highway system is also available.
area, which along with Bluffton and the Western Avenue, immediately north-
Nims neighborhood, contains some of east of downtown and parallel to U.S.
the City's most desirable housing stock. 31. The sole office building directly
fronting on the lake is the SPX head-
Lighter commercial activity is gener- quarters at Terrace Point.
ally associated with the various public
and private marinas which are inter- Recommendations
spersed among industrial, or formerly
Waterfront Redevelopment Sub-Plan 13
(See discussion of Port Facilities Node, merce to designate more Foreign Trade Many of these recreational facilities are
Part II below). Zones along Muskegon Lake. small, residual lands, or property con-
verted/ adapted from formerly indus-
With adequate public infrastructure, Provide suitable public infrastruc- trial use. The most celebrated of these
concentration of such activities in a ture and access at favored port opera- is Heritage Landing which serves as the
primary area may eventually encourage tion location. City's premier festival park.
the development of more technologi-
cally advanced cargo operations (i.e. Work with existing industries to Noticeably absent are "active" recrea-
containerization) which would increase help improve or mitigate their physical tional areas containing ballfields,
the attractiveness of Muskegon as a presence on the lake. swimming, playgrounds etc. One of
cargo port. the few remaining natural habitat areas
Work with Lakeside businesses to of any size is in the vicinity of Rich-
Modernized cargo facilities would enhance the Lakeside commercial strip. ard's Park, where the tributaries of the
promote economies-of-scale in the ex- Muskegon River flow into Muskegon
isting break bulk operations found C. Recreation & Lake.
along the lake by allowing existing
bulk handlers to share facilities. They Natural Habitat Areas Recommendations
may also promote more Foreign Trade
Zone (FTZ) designations. These facili-
ties may be best planned and managed Existing Conditions Integration of Recreational Fa-
under the aegis of a port/ harbor author- cilities
ity (see appendix). Like the scattered industrial/ bulk han-
dling operations along the lake, public A fundamental component of a revital-
Other Recommendations recreational land uses are distributed
: fairly evenly along the shoreline. While ized lakefront is increasing the number
such a distribution is far more desirable and sizes of recreational land uses
Promote the formation of a Mus- than in the case of the former, they are along the lake. Equally important how-
kegon Port Authority/ Harbor Commis- poorly linked, and sometimes difficult ever, is the goal of creating more
sion to manage commercial shipping, to find - a situation likely to be greatly
and ancillary development along the remedied by the pending construction
lake. of the Lakeshore Trail bicycle/ pedes-
trian path.
Work with private industry, U.S.
Customs and the Department of Com-
Waterfront Redevelopment Sub-Plan 14