Planning
The following resources cover a wide variety of planning topics. See a resource we’re missing? Email us: coastalresourcehub@umich.edu
Michigan State University Extension Citizen Planner Program Michigan-Specific! 
Land use education and training for locally appointed and elected planning officials in Michigan. The in-person or online self-paced courses cover fundamental roles, responsibilities, and best practices for planning and zoning. Coastal Planning module is in development.
Sustainable Small Harbors Tools and Tactics Guidebook Michigan-Specific!
The guidebook empowers communities to conduct their own self-assessments and develop a plan for long-term environmental, economic, and social sustainability of their harbor. Each element in the Guidebook’s suggested process can be tailored to fit the community’s unique strengths and needs.
Great Lakes Coastal Resilience Planning Guide
This online guide is a hub where planners and practitioners share solutions, best practices, and lessons learned for building resilience, as well as the necessary tools, data and maps, and publications. The guide shares community-authored case studies that provide explicit direction on the best practices and tools to use.
Adaptation Strategies Matrix (Alternate Link)
The Cape Cod Commission formulated this “matrix of adaptation strategies that organizes information on the spectrum of resiliency strategies available to protect an area from coastal hazards, including: physical characteristics; benefits and limitations; where they may be used; and cost of implementation and maintenance.” Showcases strategies and applicable case studies referencing the ways varying areas worked to address coastal hazards.
Michigan Association of Planning Coastal Resilience Webinars Michigan-Specific!
These five webinars from the Michigan Coastal Management Program and the Michigan Association of Planning build on a statewide series of Coastal Leadership Academies to help communities progress along MCMP’s Pathway to Resilience. Topics focus on moving from analysis to action; each webinar contains information and case studies from coastal Michigan communities.
Dibaginjigaadeg Anishinaabe Ezhitwaad: A Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu (PDF)
This document is intended to empower tribal governments, federal and state agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), individual landowners and others to incorporate Anishinaabeg perspectives, specifically from the Great Lakes region, into a climate adaptation framework.
Strategies and Approaches for Adapting Great Lakes Coastal Ecosystems
A menu of climate adaptation strategies and approaches for Great Lakes coastal ecosystems. This menu can be used along with a structured decision-making framework to facilitate the planning and implementation of climate-informed tactics. Developed in coordination with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science.
Great Lakes Coastal Community Climate Adaptation Checklist
This checklist of climate-related decision points can help coastal communities smoothly integrate climate change data into their ongoing planning processes.
Using Climate Information in Local Planning: A Guide for Communities in the Great Lakes
This guide outlines how community planners in the Great Lakes can use available data resources, existing science, and current policies and programs to adapt to climate change and its impacts.
Great Lakes Clean Marina: Infrastructure Best Practices Michigan-Specific!
This document provides an overview of potential risks and adaptations for stormwater management, buildings, wood infrastructure, floating docks, shoreline protection, and pilings. Learn more about the Great Lakes Clean Marina Project. Developed by Great Lakes Sea Grant.
Great Lakes Shoreviewer Michigan-Specific!
This is a risk assessment and climate adaptation planning tool. It provides visual outputs for prioritized sections of Great Lakes coastline in Michigan (Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron). It also provides potential risk rankings (high, medium, low) for coastal property, buildings, roads and infrastructure.
Resilient Michigan – Coastal Resilience Toolbox Michigan-Specific!
Links to documents, information, portals, maps, and data useful for those interested in coastal resilience. Available resources target the following topics: Coastal Flood Maps, Data, Maps and Training, Erosion Rates and Projections, Great Lakes Water Levels, Planning and Zoning, and Shore Protection.
Survive and Thrive: Lessons from Michigan Coastal Communities Planning for Resiliency Michigan-Specific!
Survive and Thrive incorporates data and best practices into the master plan process to help communities, government & local leaders understand zoning policy and practices, technical assistance to encourage the implementation of resiliency plans, and lessons learned throughout the planning process.
Resilient Michigan Collaborative Michigan-Specific!
The mission of the Planning for Resilient Communities project is to foster and support community‐wide planning efforts that promote community resilience in the face of rapid economic changes and increasing climate variability.