ALPENA COUNTY-WIDE GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM PLAN

According to the 1990 U.S. Census, Alpena County has the largest county population in the northeast region with a population of 30,605. The economic base of the county is primarily retail and manufacturing with steady gains in the retail service industry. Alpena County is also experiencing the common trend within the U.S. of migration from the city to the surrounding area. Sprawl is an identified concern with significant residential and commercial growth occurring in nearby townships. Development is occurring in the coastal communities that contain significant sensitive areas. In addition, tourism and ecotourism, have been identified as major economic development opportunities for the eastern coastline of Michigan.

In order to meet the future needs, while maintaining and enhancing the natural resource based economy, it is essential that growth management planning principles be implemented. To maintain healthy communities while protecting vulnerable ecosystems, a long term growth management program is imperative. A greater understanding of the natural resources and the impacts associated with various development scenarios are key components of sustainable communities. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide the opportunity to graphically show and analyze the impacts associated with individual development and land use decisions. Additionally, GIS establishes the framework to analyze impacts in a larger context (beyond the individual development site), allowing for both spatial and temporal impact analysis. Use of this powerful tool will enable communities to make informed decisions and to move beyond the nation-wide trend of growth at the expense of natural resources such as surface water and groundwater.

Coastal Zone Management Program

The Northeast Michigan Council of Governments (NEMCOG) through past Coastal Zone Management projects, has inventoried and digitized resource information for Lake Huron coastal townships within its region. This information included MIRIS land use update, zoning, general soils, public-private lands, high risk erosion sites, coastal zone boundaries, development analysis, infrastructure, and ACT 307 contamination sites. As a part of NEMCOG's ongoing county planning assistance activities, meetings were held with local officials to discuss the information and demonstrate possible uses of the information through a GIS Program. Due to the high degree of interest in Alpena County, NEMCOG applied to the Department of Environmental Quality Coastal Management Program for grant funding to develop a local GIS framework for a coordinated local and regional planning effort.

The focus of the project is two-fold. The first aspect is to initiate a coordinated GIS program in Alpena county by a) organizing a local committee, b) conducting educational sessions, c) conducting a needs assessment and d) developing a plan for implementation of GIS including regional information coordination. The second aspect of the project is to implement the GIS plan for land use planning and water resource protection by: a) developing an intra-county/agency agreement for GIS coordination and cooperation, b) providing information on equipment and supplies needed to establish a GIS office, c) organizing existing information for integration into the county-wide GIS program, and d) providing initial training for GIS implementation.

CONTENTS

County-Wide GIS Coordination Committee

A county-wide coordinating committee was established based on interest from County departments, agencies and local governments. Letters of invitation were sent to the following: all Township Supervisors, Alpena County Commissioners, Alpena County Road Commission, Alpena County Equalization, City of Alpena, District Health Department # 4, Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce, Alpena County 911 Coordinator, Alpena County Sheriff Department, MSU Extension, Alpena County Drain Commissioner, and the Alpena County Soil Conservation District. Attendees at the initial meeting are listed below. Those present provided input during the development of the GIS Plan, data sharing agreement and needs assessment. At subsequent meetings, local area public utilities companies were also invited to participate. A GIS committee, made up of volunteers from these departments, agencies, local governments, and companies can take the lead in facilitating the coordinated GIS program county-wide. Each representative can assist in implementing the coordinated GIS program at their respective department/agency.

The following is a list of representatives who attended the first meeting :

Raymond Wegmeyer, Alpena County Commissioner, District 7

Joyce D. McLain, Alpena County Commissioner, District 4

Jere Gagnon, Alpena County Commissioner, District 5

Jeff Shea, Equalization Director, Alpena County

John Hodges, Asst. to Manager, City of Alpena

Rich Sullenger, City Engineer, City of Alpena

Bob Sevon, Assessor, City of Alpena

Brian Laurila, City of Alpena

Alan Bakalarski, City of Alpena

Scott J. Smith, Environmental Health Director, District Health Department # 4

Sue Zolnierek, District Health Department # 4

Jeff Hein, District Health Department # 4

Jim Peltier, 911 Coordinator, Central Dispatch

Brad Robert, Alpena County Sheriff's Department

Paul Wegmeyer, MSU Extension

Brian Sousa, Alpena Soil Conservation District

CONTENTS

County-wide GIS Program Structure

Alpena County and the City of Alpena will both develop separate GIS programs. The need to exchange data and have compatible data sets are priorities for both the City and County. Representatives from both entities will continue to meet to ensure program compatibility and eliminate duplication of efforts.

To facilitate the exchange and sharing of digital data between local, regional and state groups, a GIS Digital Data Sharing Agreement has been developed. Initially, the City of Alpena, County of Alpena and NEMCOG will sign the agreement. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, through a memorandum of understanding with NEMCOG, will also be a participating member.

It is recommended that the City and County eventually use the same GIS Software. While CMAP software (currently used by the County) works well for digitizing and database management, the software lacks capabilities in specialized analytical applications and high quality final map production. A windows based GIS software package with the capability of add-on special-application modules would meet present and future GIS program needs. Choosing the same software will eliminate the difficulties and additional staff time associated with data transfer between different GIS software packages.

The selected software should be compatible with 911 emergency response software. The 911 Emergency Response program plans to develop an up-to-date computerized county-wide street map with an address range overlay. Specialized software can translate an address associated with a telephone number to a point location on a computerized, geographically referenced map. This will allow the dispatcher to direct the emergency response unit to the location. In the event of bridge or road closures, the dispatcher can select alternate routes resulting in the shortest possible response time. A direct link between the central dispatch computer and the County and City GIS computers would enable real time access to the most current map files. This direct link would eliminate the need to regularly transmit and update County and City computer map files on a separate central dispatch computer.

The District Health Department # 4 is planning to purchase ArcView/ArcInfo mapping software for in-house applications. They have a memorandum of understanding with the MDNR to use MIRIS files. A data sharing relationship will be established between the Health Department and NEMCOG to share regional GIS files. It is recommended that the County and City develop an agreement with the Health Department for data sharing, or to share in the cost of developing important data layers.

CONTENTS

Alpena County

Alpena County, through the Equalization Department, has purchased equipment and CMAP software. Work has commenced on digitizing the tax parcel information. The present approach is to train and use existing staff to digitize the tax parcel information. In the short term, scheduling user time would allow other County Departments and County related agencies to use the Equalization Department GIS.

County-Wide GIS Goals

P Provide technical assistance and information to support increased local coordinated land use planning and zoning efforts.

P Network with NEMCOG and MIRIS to provide increased data input capacity, analytical capability and a broad perspective within the region.

P Provide information and analytical tools for local units of government to make informed resource management decisions that will protect water, forest, wildlife and farmland resources.

P Identify and map natural resources, highly sensitive areas, and prime / locally important farmland and forest land.

P Develop and maintain a county-wide digital parcel layer with associated parcel information.

P Develop and maintain a county-wide digital road atlas with address ranges and roads classified by type and condition.

P Inventory and map infrastructure such roads, water, sewer and utilities.

P Monitor oil and gas development by inventorying and mapping wells, pipelines and processing facilities.

P Direct development to areas that have under utilized infrastructure and/or areas where impacts to resources will be minimal.

P Seek funding to develop a "touch screen" Geographic Information System at the Alpena Public Library for use by citizens and the business community.

P Investigate use of GIS by other county departments and county based agencies, such as Cooperative Extension Service and Alpena County Conservation District.

CONTENTS

Short Term Objectives (complete within two years)

( Establish a separate GIS budget within the County operations budget.

( Purchase equipment (plotter) and software

( Use existing staff to implement GIS, digitize parcel layer and analyze equalization data

( Provide staff training for GIS and database software, allow staff to attend state and regional GIS conferences

( Adopt quality control standards and procedures including data accuracy standards

( Develop a data maintenance plan

( Establish fee structure for selling maps and data

( Collect Existing Data (NEMCOG, MIRIS, Local gov. and Agencies)

( Use MIRIS base files as initial base to build GIS layers

( Complete parcel digitizing and linking Equalization database

( Digitize political boundaries

( Develop up-to-date road network with address ranges for 911

( Map unimproved roads with GPS unit

( Establish an electronic link to Central Dispatch for real time access to digital maps

( Establish user protocol for outside users of GIS

( Investigate purchasing digital ortho-photos

( Apply for joint grant with the City to develop a Touch-Screen GIS station at the County Library. Investigate local and state funding sources.

CONTENTS

Long Term Objectives (complete within three to five years)

( Implement procedures to assign addresses to new structures

( Acquire digital soils data of Alpena County from USDA

( Acquire MIRIS existing land cover/use updates from Townships, City and NEMCOG

( Digitize water wells with attribute data (Health Department)

( Acquire topography / elevation data with assistance of NEMCOG

( Develop digital wetlands maps from USDA soil survey, NWI maps and land cover/use

( Acquire digital watershed files for all streams that flow through Alpena County

( Map oil and gas development including pipelines, gas wells & production facilities

( Acquire GPS capability

( Complie and map economic & marketing data

( Continue ongoing staff training

( Investigate hiring GIS Specialist

( Investigate linking other County Departments such as Register of Deeds, Clerk, and Treasurer to the County-wide GIS

( Purchase Windows based GIS software (same as City) and convert all digital files

CONTENTS

City of Alpena

The City of Alpena intends to purchase equipment/software and develop an in-house GIS program in 1997. A Windows based GIS software package will be used. Initially, one computer will be configured to operate the GIS and another computer, in the Engineering Department, will operate Autocad software. The GIS computer will be networked to the centralized computer to access database files. The City is investigating the development of a common, linked database where information from all departments is stored in a single database file. This approach will alleviate the task of continual update and conversion of department files into GIS compatible database files.

The City's first project will be to develop a GIS parcel layer with linked parcel records. A property line digital map layer was created as part of a Master Planning process. The property lines need to be updated to reflect current ownership conditions. The layer needs to be developed into a polygon format and have parcel identification numbers added. The parcel ID's will be the link between the map layer and the Assessors property database. Eventually, the engineering, planning and assessing offices would be linked to a centralized GIS system.

City of Alpena Goals

P Develop an integrated database of information associated with parcels which can be shared by all departments and the County.

P Purchase and implement GIS software to graphically depict the spatial arrangement of selected attributes from the common database.

P Expand the common database to take advantage of existing data on physical and social attributes on properties within the City.

P Monitor repairs and improvements to the municipal infrastructure for improving the replacement and expansion of facility systems.

P Monitor municipal services by type and location to identify methods for improving service delivery and efficiency.

P Monitor changes in existing land uses, development patterns, and population characteristics in the City to determine which areas will be impacted by these current trends, and the nature of the impact..

P Use GIS for modeling municipal infrastructure system improvements and delivery of services to identify the best options to optimize efficiency and/or quality.

CONTENTS

Short Term Objectives (complete within two years)

( Purchase equipment and software, set-up work stations in the planning, engineering, assessors and building/code enforcement offices.

( Train and use existing staff to implement GIS, and consider hiring temporary help and contracting for special services.

( Provide staff training for GIS and database software, allow staff to attend state and regional GIS conferences

( Adopt quality control standards and procedures including data accuracy standards

( Develop a data maintenance plan

( Collect Existing Data (NEMCOG, MIRIS, Local gov. and Agencies)

( Use MIRIS base files as initial base to build GIS layers

( Complete parcel digitizing and linking Assessor's database

( Develop integrated database of parcel information

( Develop up-to-date road network with address ranges for 911

( Digitize political boundaries

( Establish an electronic link to Central Dispatch for real time access to digital maps

( Purchase digital ortho-photos through joint effort with Michcon

( Begin digitizing infrastructure and building infrastructure attributes

( Import Census, existing land use, future land use and zoning digital information.

( Apply for joint grant with the County to develop a Touch-Screen GIS station at the County Library. In