By Meegan Zickus
Growth can be a good thing. It means families want to build their lives here and businesses see a future here. But growth also brings questions we cannot put off: Where will people live? Can our roads handle more traffic? Will our groundwater support the homes and businesses we approve?
Ottawa County’s housing assessment projects a need for more than 16,000 additional homes by 2030. Meanwhile, the county’s groundwater work has documented falling levels and rising salt content in parts of the deep aquifer. These are connected challenges. A housing decision is also a decision about roads, water, farmland, and the cost of future public services.
Joe Moss says he supports local control, farmland protection, groundwater protection, and home ownership. I share those goals. But his published platform does not explain how he would bring them together as Ottawa County grows. It offers no clear measures for whether families can find homes they can afford, whether infrastructure is keeping up, or whether our water supply is being protected.
My approach is to plan for growth and measure whether the plan works. Local communities should decide where development belongs. The state should help them make those decisions with reliable groundwater data, practical planning tools, and infrastructure partnerships. We should make room for starter homes, townhomes, and other choices where roads, utilities, and water can support them. We should also look at vacant buildings and previously developed land before consuming productive farmland.
Grand Rapids uses a dedicated street fund and publishes road-condition measures using PASER ratings. Its current page identifies a goal of 70% of streets in good or fair condition by 2031. That is a target, not an achieved result.
Madison publishes a 2024 housing affordability report examining housing production and affordability. New construction totals and whether residents can afford the resulting homes are separate questions.
As a state representative, I would work with local officials to identify where housing and infrastructure can grow together, pursue state support for the needed improvements, and make the results public. We should track housing choices and prices, road conditions, groundwater trends, and the cost of projects. When a program falls short, we should change it.
Moss asks us to trust local control. I believe local control works best when communities have the information, resources, and clear goals to exercise it well. Ottawa County is growing. We owe the people who already live here—and the families hoping to join them—a plan that is ready for it.
Growth decisions can impose infrastructure costs and affect existing residents as well as prospective residents. A plan should identify who pays, when capacity will be available, and how groundwater and farmland impacts will be evaluated.