By JESSICA SIEFF
Edwardsburg Argus

Ontwa Township is preparing to revise its Master Land Use Plan and is hoping the public will make their way out to a visioning session to discuss the area’s future.

An update to the plan is required every five years and is a chance for citizens and residents to have a part in what the future holds for their neighborhood, their village and their township.

“It gives everybody a chance to give their input into what the future of Edwardsburg – Ontwa Township actually – is going to be like,” said Patty Patzer, president of the Board of Directors of the Eagle Lake Improvement Association.

“Infrastructure, development, protection of our environment,” are all issues that can be addressed through the plan.

“We’re part of the township,” Patzer said, “we want to be a part of the master planning.”
The association raises just a few examples of issues to be brought to the table during the session that affect the area which is home to an estimated 400 residents with property on the lake alone.

“I think things for us would be conservation for our lake,” Patzer said. “Lakes are cleaned by their watershed and their wetland areas. So we want to make sure those are well taken care of.

“Development affects us,” she continued. “So proper development around the lake, over development,” are other issues that might be raised by the association.

“The visioning session, of course, is what our whole master plan is based on and it’s done every five years,” Ontwa Township Trustee Jerry Marchetti said Tuesday.

The goal is to get interested citizens, business owners and residents to sit down in groups and look ahead five years into possibilities and priorities of the township.

“What we should be looking at, what we should be adding, what we should be deleting in our master plan,” he said. “It’s just a very important thing to a township.”

The “Future Vision” session for the plan will be held Thursday, May 13 at 6 p.m. at the Edwardsburg Fire Department.