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Welcome to Troy Michigan Business Connect, a quarterly newsletter bringing you the latest planning and development news from Michigan’s premiere address for business, retail, and commerce.
This newsletter highlights important business news, events, and the innovative tools the City of Troy provides to support local businesses. Each issue of Troy Michigan Business Connect will feature some of these initiatives. In addition, business spotlights will relate the experiences of local entrepreneurs, share success stories, and announce new investments in the City.
The launch of Troy Michigan Business Connect comes in conjunction with our new website, which we invite you to visit here. Please also check out our new Economic Resource Guide online for a wealth of information about the City of Troy and its business community.
If you have any questions about the e-newsletter or if you want your company to be featured in a future issue, contact Glenn Lapin, email: g.lapin@troymi.gov, phone: 248.524.3314
Troy's Flexible Zoning Ordinance
Fast, Fair and Predictable
Troy’s Zoning Ordinance, adopted in April of 2011, features many exciting changes that new and existing businesses may not be aware of.
The most notable change in the ordinance is the significant expansion of permitted uses in non-residential zones. This flexibility is a necessary response to existing market conditions and helps create new opportunities for development and growth. The Integrated Industrial and Business (IB) District in particular allows virtually all uses except single-family housing, greatly increasing reuse and redevelopment potential in industrial areas.
The Troy Zoning Ordinance also includes three form-based districts—Big Beaver, Maple Road, and Neighborhood Nodes—each with unique guidelines that are meant to enhance the character, function, and intensity of Troy’s most visible economic corridors and intersections.
Future issues will discuss in greater depth the impacts of these and other aspects of the Zoning Ordinance. For questions regarding the new Zoning Ordinance or how it affects your business, please refer to the Zoning Ordinance online or contact the Planning Department at 248.524.3364.
Business Spotlight
Troy Encourages Sustainable Development - O'Brien Construction
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O'Brien Construction Celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a move to Troy. O'Brien transformed a 1970's building into a modern, highly efficient office space incorporating green technologies. |
The Sustainable Development Project (SDP) option is an innovative tool used to encourage development and redevelopment in the City of Troy to incorporate features designed to minimize adverse impacts on the natural and built environment. The SDP option is established by Section 12.01 of the Zoning Ordinance. SDP status will empower applicants to seek a modification from certain elements of the Zoning Ordinance and receive benefits directly related to the sustainable features proposed for their project.
An excellent example for how a business can benefit from the SDP program is O’Brien Construction, located at 966 Livernois. O’Brien Construction’s new headquarters utilized the SDP program to enhance sustainable design features at the facility.
The 10,000 square foot project includes green features such as extensive landscaping, a rain garden and swale at the front of the site, roof rain water captured in an underground storage tank, reuse of 70% of the existing building, recycling of 95% of all construction demolition, installation of an electric vehicle recharging station, LED lighting, solar lighting, installation of a “cool” roof, water recycling and water use reduction, and geothermal heating and cooling.
"Troy looks at their job as a business and they want to be the best business out there," said O'Brien Construction President Tim O'Brien. "Troy's processes were weeks instead of months, a huge help to our renovation which was a green building. Because of this, we were able to decrease parking and increase landscaping."
966 Livernois 248.334.2470 www.obriencc.com
The City of Troy encourages all businesses to implement sustainable and green elements. Please contact Glenn Lapin, Troy’s Economic Development Specialist, at 248.524.3314 for more information.
Big Beaver Design Guidelines
The City of Troy has a vision for Big Beaver Road—one that elevates the street and surrounding land uses to “World Class Boulevard” status. This vision is described in the Big Beaver Corridor Study and City of Troy Master Plan.
The City of Troy Zoning Ordinance is the tool used to implement the vision. The Big Beaver Zoning District permits a wide range of land uses along the corridor, provided applications meet minimum design requirements. These include building form and placement requirements, walkability and placemaking. Granite City Food and Microbrewery is an example of a new project that meets the standards of the Big Beaver Zoning District.
The Big Beaver Design Guidelines assists developers with site and building design along Big Beaver. The document provides options, suggestions, and examples for building structure, street accessibility, and placemaking amenities. The Guidelines are meant to be flexible and therefore do not strictly mandate what types of materials, products, or architectural styles must be used. Rather, they are a resource for designers and developers to make the entitlement process fast, fair, and predictable. The document provides user-friendly explanations and simple graphics that demonstrate desired design elements for any given site. Design elements include: decreased setbacks, increased building heights, mixed-use development, high quality building design, pedestrian accessibility, landscaping, street furniture, and lighting.
It is anticipated that as more developments are built using these regulations and guidelines, the overall character of the Big Beaver Corridor will steadily improve, creating memorable places that residents are proud of and visitors remember.
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