Growth & infrastructure

What growth and infrastructure issues face Ottawa County?

A new neighborhood needs more than houses. It needs water, roads, drainage, and a plan for the people who will live there. I want us to do that work before we’re scrambling to catch up.

On the Allendale planning commission, I worked on the pressures that neighborhood and university housing place on our township. A housing decision reaches well beyond the edge of the lot.

Plan the work together

A subdivision gets approved. Traffic grows. An intersection needs work. Then the road gets torn up again for utilities. Families pay for that lack of coordination in money, time, and frustration.

I’ll work with local officials to connect housing plans with roads, water, sewer capacity, schools, and emergency services. Where a community wants growth, state infrastructure support can help make its plan possible.

That includes reusing underused property and making room for smaller homes. It also means asking who pays for a utility extension and when the capacity will be available. A line on a map doesn’t answer those questions.

Look ahead on roads and water

I want transportation funding to account for traffic growth, road condition, crash history, drainage, and long-term demand. State projects should fit local road plans. A dangerous intersection shouldn’t have to wait until every other decision is finished.

Water and sewer systems need the same attention. Communities need dependable drinking water, treatment capacity, and a way to handle stormwater. State grants and low-cost financing can help local governments make improvements before a system reaches its limit.

Roads, labor markets, and watersheds cross township lines. Good planning has to cross those lines, too. I’ll work for state support that helps neighboring communities coordinate and plan years ahead.

We also need to protect what brings people here: farmland, parks, water, schools, and the lakeshore. Growth decisions should account for those places and the people already living nearby.

I want more families to find a home here and more businesses to build a future here. Let’s make sure the foundations can carry that future.