Leelanau County - Kathy Finch

“Citizen Planner provides such high-quality, proactive information; I can’t imagine getting anything better from any other source.”
— Kathy Finch
2006 Planning Commission Chairperson, Suttons Bay

Kathy Finch applied the skills she learned through the Michigan Citizen Planner program so effectively that she earned the 2006 Distinguished Citizen Planner Award. Her focused leadership engaged fellow Suttons Bay residents and encouraged development of an innovative zoning ordinance—one that improves local land use decision making, promotes good practices in land use, and increases awareness of existing land use tools. Finch, who saw the possibilities of the new ordinance, known as Form-Based Zoning, and embraced them, has made Suttons Bay a model for other Michigan communities to follow.