Officials from the Michigan Municipal League are in the beginning stages of creating a plan to spur high quality development on three key pieces of city-owned property while making better use of the city’s assets, including Riverfront Park and the trail system.

Niles is one of seven communities chosen to be part of this year’s MML PlacePlans program, which is funded by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

Richard Murphy and Sarah Craft, both of the MML, presented the Niles City Council with an overview of the program, its purpose and objectives during a Committee of the Whole Meeting Monday.

Craft said they spent ] a good portion of Monday getting feedback from residents, city officials and downtown business owners.

“Everyone was really excited and had wonderful things to say about Niles and a lot about the opportunities to expand here,” she said.

The three properties MML is looking at are the former YMCA property (315 W. Main St.), the waterfront property (314 Front St.) and the former public safety building property (4 S. Third St.).

Murphy said the goal is to get the right type of developments on those sites as quickly as possible in order to kick-start additional develop and interest in downtown.

“We want to show that it works and convince some of of the developers and financers who don’t believe it is possible,” he said. “We can show that the market is there and can grow from there.”

Murphy said they’d also look at ways to better connect downtown Niles to nearby assets such as Riverfront Park, Front Street and the city’s trail system.

“We heard from folks saying it is difficult to get people from events in the park to go to downtown or from Wonderland (Cinema) to do downtown,” he said. “People go to one and it feels too far to go to get to the other two blocks just because of the way the street and properties look and feel.”

Craft said it is all part of a concept called “placemaking,” which refers to the process of planning, designing, and managing public spaces in a way that capitalizes on the community’s assets.

“It is a buzzword these days,” Craft said. “It is really about making places that people love, that people want to spend time in and bring their families to work, eat, talk and play.”

Craft provided some statistics showing what people look for when choosing a place in which to work or live:

• 70 percent of Americans place a high priority of walkability.

“They want places to go, things to look at, things that are interesting to walk to,” she said.

• Fewer than 10 percent of millennials, Gen-X-ers and baby boomers want to live in traditional suburban areas.

“People are looking for smaller lots. They don’t want to maintain a giant yard. They don’t want to spend money on hiring somebody to maintain that giant yard,” she said. “They want places that are walkable, so they don’t have to get in their car every time they want to leave the house.”

Craft also said property values increase on streets that are lined with trees and that office spaces are more valuable when they are in walkable areas.

“Business owners are really looking to be near a park and be near downtown,” she said. “They want foot traffic to come into their store.”

Murphy said the PlacePlans project would continue through the rest of the year. Public events and workshops will be held later this summer. The goal, he said, is to present a final plan and steps to proceed toward making the plan a reality by late fall/early winter.