Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Houghton City Manager Eric Waara discusses the city’s master plan draft during Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting.

HOUGHTON — Residents have another two months to weigh in on the draft of Houghton’s five-year master plan.

Comments are being accepted until April 23 on the draft, which the Planning Commission has been preparing over the past year.

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing for comments on the plan 5:30 p.m. April 23 at the City Center.

The city is also accepting written comments on the plan until April 23. Those can be sent to City Manager Eric Waara at citymanager@cityofhoughton.com or by mail to City of Houghton, PO Box 606, Houghton, MI 49931.

Written suggestions will be compiled and sent to the Planning Commission members at the end of each month. Those can be incorporated into the plan in advance of the April hearing, said Chair Tom Merz.

“If they have comments, please make them — the sooner the better, but we’ll take them probably right up until we walk out of there to come in here,” Waara said during Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting.

The draft is available at cityofhoughton.com.

A new version of the plan is adopted every five years. The plan takes into account new developments within the city.

In response to the desire for new housing in the area, the draft adds as a potential goal rezoning areas where residents request changes, or where a long-term need emerges. The city might also encourage redevelopment to create higher-density residential space at underutilized properties.

In addition to changes to structure and wording, the new draft also recognizes developments since 2019. Houghton was certified as a Redevelopment Ready Community through a state program in 2021. The draft calls for developing a marketing plan to promote the city, one of two remaining best practices needed to be completed for the program. After that, Houghton will tackle the remaining best practice, determining redevelopment-ready sites.

New recreational goals include the addition of seasonal outdoor pickleball courts, and eventually enclosed courts for year-round use, which residents had suggested to the city council at a meeting earlier this year.

Goals met in the previous version were taken out, such as the relocation of the features of the Verna Mize Park.

In preparing the plan, the commission sent quality of life surveys to nearly 2,000 residents in September, hearing back from 627 of them.

Residents also got to talk individually with Planning Commission members and outline their priorities at two open house events last fall.

In other action:

The commission approved a site plan for an addition at Remy Battery. The 50-by-80-foot building will be on west Sharon Avenue south of the entrance to the Hope Fellowship Church.

Waara told the commission about several upcoming meetings. A housing developer who recently purchased property in the city is looking to create middle-market housing. In another housing-related meeting, another group of local residents is advocating for condominiums in the city. During public forums surrounding the future of the parking deck properties, residents had suggested condominiums as a way to increase housing in the area, particularly for people aging out of maintaining larger homes.

Waara also has a meeting set with the buyer of the Nominelli property at Franklin Square to discuss planning for the space and how it will fit with zoning. The buyer is also interested in purchasing the Chamber of Commerce building, Waara said.