Every year since 2007 the Michigan Municipal League has recognized communities throughout the state with the Community Excellence Awards, the most prestigious of the organization’s honors.
Railroad Depot Park in Ironwood. Westland’s retrofitting of a vacant big box store for a new and improved City Hall. The universally-accessible McKinley Barrier-Free Park in Fraser. All past winners and all projects that have improved their communities through innovative redevelopment and placemaking projects and policies.
"The Uptown Bay City project has been a game-changer for our community. It has been a catalyst for so much growth. We are so excited for the project to see this recognition."
- Sara Dimitroff, economic development project manager for Bay City.
Now Bay City could soon join that list as the city and its Uptown development have made it from the initial round of 17 communities vying for this year's award to the Final Four.
"The Uptown Bay City project has been a game changer for our community. It has been a catalyst for so much growth. We are so excited for the project to see this recognition," says Sara Dimitroff, economic development project manager for Bay City.
"It is so well deserved by all of the hard-working individuals who have put so much time and effort into this project and we especially want the developers to be recognized for their dedication and contribution to Bay City."
To make it to the Final Four, the Uptown development had to pass through a panel of judges and an online public vote.
Rounding out this year's Final Four is Dearborn’s Unified Dispatch Center, the Madison Heights Art Board, and the City of Mason and Mason Public Schools resource-sharing City Hall Partnership.
The 2019 Community Excellence Award will be presented at this year’s Michigan Municipal League Convention in Detroit, scheduled for Sept. 25-27.
"Every year it’s exciting to see the innovative ways that Michigan communities are creating vibrant places to live and work," says Dan Gilmartin, CEO and executive director for the MML.
"This year was no exception and I’m especially impressed with the four projects that have risen to the top."
Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith.
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