#### Macatawa Area Coordinating Council (MACC) Case Study

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| **1990 Census    | 62,418                  | ![](m                   |
| Population**     |                         | edia/image1.jpeg){width |
|                  |                         | ="1.9673611111111111in" |
|                  |                         | height                  |
|                  |                         | ="2.463888888888889in"} |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **Central City** | Holland, Michigan       |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **Air Quality    | Non-attainment for      |                         |
| Status (1990)**  | ozone                   |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **Governor       | October 1992            |                         |
| Designation      |                         |                         |
| Date**           |                         |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **Voting Policy  | ##### Municipalities    |                         |
| Board Members**  |                         |                         |
|                  | City of Holland         |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | City of Zeeland         |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Holland Charter         |                         |
|                  | Township                |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Park Township           |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Zeeland Charter         |                         |
|                  | Township                |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Laketown Township       |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Fillmore Township       |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | ##### County            |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Ottawa County Board of  |                         |
|                  | Commissioners           |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Allegan County Board of |                         |
|                  | Commissioners           |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Ottawa County Road      |                         |
|                  | Commission              |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Allegan County Road     |                         |
|                  | Commission              |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | ##### State             |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Michigan DOT            |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | ##### Original MACC     |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Transportation          |                         |
|                  | Sub-committee           |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Housing/Quality of      |                         |
|                  | Life\                   |                         |
|                  | Sub-committee           |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Land Use/Environmental\ |                         |
|                  | Sub-committee           |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|                  |                         |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|                  |                         |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|                  |                         |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| ### PL and 53    | \$125,740 (not          |                         |
| 03 Funding (Year | including local match)  |                         |
|  of Designation) |                         |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **Initial Staff  | 2.5 (director, part     |                         |
| Size**           | time secretary,         |                         |
|                  | transportation planner) |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **Initial Staff  | City of Zeeland         |                         |
| Location**       |                         |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **Modeling       | MACC                    |                         |
| Responsibility** |                         |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **GIS            | MACC                    |                         |
| Responsibility** |                         |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **AQ Conformity  | Grand Rapids MPO        |                         |
| Responsibility** |                         |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **Contacts**     | Sue Higgins, MPO        |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | \(616\) 395-2688        |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | Dennis Kent, MDOT       |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | \(616\) 451-4595        |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | City of Holland         |                         |
|                  |                         |                         |
|                  | \(616\) 355-1312        |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| **Website**      | w                       |                         |
|                  | ww.macatawa.org/\~macc/ |                         |
+------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+

# The Macatawa Area Coordinating Council (MACC) serves as the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the Holland, Michigan urbanized area. The urbanized area spans two counties, consists of the cities of Holland and Zeeland and five townships in the southwestern region of the state. At the time of the 1990 Census, the Holland urbanized area's population was 62,418. In the following decade the region grew to 91,765 residents. Portions of the area covered by MACC are also part of the Kent/Ottawa non-attainment area. The Kent/Ottawa non-attainment area also extends into the larger Grand Rapids MPO. 

## Steps to Designation

After receiving notification of Holland's urbanized area designation,
Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) officials contacted the
chief elected officials in the City of Holland. MDOT explained to the
mayor and city manager of Holland the responsibilities of an MPO and the
federal law requiring their formation. After these initial discussions,
the Holland officials took the lead in coordinating local efforts to
create the MPO. An MDOT official cites the mayor of Holland as being
"instrumental in driving the other elected officials". In addition to
being the central city in the urbanized area, the city was interested in
being active in the MPO's formation because they were also the operators
of the primary transit service in the region---Dial-a-Ride.

State and local officials quickly agreed on MACC assuming the role of
the MPO for the Holland area. MACC had existed since the mid-1980s when
it was created as part of the "2010 Convention," a regional strategic
planning program convened by the city of Holland. In addition to
transportation, MACC has since addressed many other regional issues
including land use, housing, crime prevention and watersheds protection.
The MDOT official described MACC's strength at the time as its name
recognition with local officials. This regional familiarity made it a
forum that the MPO designation could build upon, making it "the most
logical vehicle for the MPO".

The package forwarded to the governor for his designation of MACC as the
MPO included the planning area map, MPO bylaws, and a copy of MACC's
intergovernmental agreement. Since all seven non-county units of
government were already on the MACC board, officials were able to
demonstrate the required approval of local governments representing 75%
of the urbanized area population for MPO designation with the inclusion
of the updated version of the signed agreement. About one year passed
between the initial conversation between MDOT and City of Holland, and
the governor's designation of MACC as the MPO in October 1992. This
relatively long time before official designation was due more to the
complicated arrangements that were required to put the multi-MPO air
quality conformity process into place rather than to any significant
disagreements in MPO responsibilities or makeup.

According to the MDOT official, FHWA and FTA staff were involved in
providing assistance during the formation of Holland's MPO, but there
wasn't the need for a lot of "hands on involvement". He believes that if
MDOT or the local governments required more assistance, that the federal
agencies would have provided it, but contends that the state or federal
governments cannot "mandate local support". He views a "critical mass"
of local support as a key factor in an MPO's formation, and in the
Holland area there existed some familiarity with federal transportation
programs to facilitate this local support. A City of Zeeland official
involved in the formation of the MPO suggests that a considerable amount
of support was forthcoming from MDOT. Without this support, the local
governments would have had difficulty forming an MPO as quickly as they
did.

## ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

## Policy Board Membership

The Zeeland official describes policy board membership as an issue that
generated discussion, but did not result in any significant
disagreement. The existence of MACC, which already included all of the
non-county units of government, was one reason for the smooth
transition. Another was the history of regional cooperation in the Lake
Macatawa region. The cities of Holland and Zeeland, along with the
Ottawa County Road Commission had worked together closely in programming
the area's Federal Aid to Urban Systems funds. The City of Zeeland
official describes strong regional ties and the area's shared history as
resulting in an attitude where "what impacted one community impacted
them all."

Since the MPO board evolved from the original MACC board (with the
addition of MDOT and one representative each for both the Ottawa and
Allegan County Commissions and one each for both the Ottawa and Allegan
County Road Commissions) it inherited one of its unique features---the
Executive Committee. The Executive Committee refers to three board
members from the original MACC representing three original MACC
subcommittees---Transportation, Housing/Quality of Life, and Land
Use/Environmental. These subcommittees were formed as part the 2010
Convention to help shape policy in their respective focus areas.
Although the three committee chairs are simply regular voting members
and no longer perform an executive function on the new MACC board, their
representation of civic organizations and business groups helps to make
their input to the process a valuable one. According to the MPO
director, the preservation of the Executive Committee has been one of
MACC's strengths as an MPO because it does not include elected
officials, thereby insulating it from politics. She says that as a
result the Executive Committee has often functioned as a "think tank,"
with views that are typically more "regionally" based than those
expressed by MACC board members representing a specific unit of local
government. The Executive Committee has also worked closely with the MPO
director on staffing decisions. In the opinion of the MDOT official
involved in the formation of the MPO, the MACC policy board membership
results in a broader range of views. There is citizen/business input as
well as elected officials on the board, and there are transportation
professionals on the technical advisory committee. An example of a
private sector contribution to the MPO is the Herman Miller
Corporation's (headquartered in Zeeland) 1995 \$40,000 contribution
towards MACC's investment in GIS capabilities.

## Financial Support and Staffing 

Another issue to be resolved at the outset was the amount of dues to be
paid by each local government to support the MPO's administrative
budget. The result of these discussions was that local governments would
not be responsible for supporting MACC administrative functions
requiring more than a \$1 per resident contribution for each unit of
government. All of the respondents agreed that the jurisdictions have
been comfortable with the \$1 cap. The MPO director did point out,
however, that the smaller units of government have to periodically be
reminded that the reason there are not a lot of projects in their
jurisdictions in the long-range plan is a result of the regionally
significant threshold that projects must meet, not because they
contribute less to the MPO.

At the time MACC was designated as the MPO, the City of Zeeland was
aware of the importance of a well-functioning MPO from staff experience
in other metropolitan areas. When the city's police department moved
into a new facility, Zeeland allowed MACC staff to move into the vacated
space. The initial staff consisted of the director, who had been hired
in August 1993. MACC used this space for less than a year until dues
payments from MACC board members and federal funds became available.
Although MACC members understood that MPO staff was independent of the
City of Zeeland government, there was still a desire to see it move into
a neutral location. This interest in the MPO's independent identity
resulted in the rejection of office space that had become available in
downtown Holland, because it could be perceived as too close to that
city's government---the largest in the MPO. This reasoning led to MPO
staff leasing office space in a location in the less-populous Holland
Township. Shortly after this move the MPO staff grew to two as a planner
was hired. The City of Holland also supported the MPO during its first
year as well by providing the services of its accounting department and
by loaning \$20,000 to the MPO before it began to receive funding. When
MACC set up its own accounting system a year later, the MPO director
highlighted the importance of the 3C Directors, an organization of MPO
directors throughout Michigan that meets monthly in Lansing. She said
the 3C Directors meetings provided her with a forum where she could
discuss different methods for developing an MPO accounting system with
her peers, in addition to making contacts with other MPO directors.

## Air Quality Planning and Technical Support

When MACC was designated as the area's MPO, there were two adjacent
non-attainment areas in the western portion of the state---Kent/Ottawa
and Muskegon. The Muskegon non-attainment area is located within its own
MPO area, but the Kent/Ottawa air basin spans the MACC region and the
larger Grand Rapids MPO (MetroCouncil) area. With a population of
roughly 500,000, Metro Council is also a Transportation Management Area
(TMA). Although most of the Ottawa County non-attainment area lies
within MACC's jurisdiction, a portion falls within a non-MPO area that
falls under state jurisdiction.

Each of the three areas in the Kent/Ottawa air basin (Grand Rapids,
MACC, and the non-urbanized portion of Ottawa County) were covered by
different travel demand forecasting models, which were used as inputs to
the air quality conformity analysis. This combining of products resulted
in the MACC board having to work more closely with officials at
MetroCouncil than it would have otherwise. And since there were some
joint efforts between the Kent/Ottawa non-attainment area and Muskegon,
MACC became accustomed to working with that MPO as well. Initially, air
quality conformity analysis for Kent/Ottawa was performed by MDOT, but
this work was transferred to MetroCouncil in the mid-1990s, with MDOT
providing assistance as necessary. Although there have been some "bumps
in the road" with this arrangement, the MACC director (who formerly
worked for the predecessor to Grand Rapids' MPO) understands the
rationale behind MetroCouncil doing the work, as they are a TMA and have
a larger staff with more resources than the smaller MACC.

## MPO Products and Transit's Role

The first self-certification documents produced after MACC's designation
as the MPO were all completed within two months of the director's hiring
in 1993. MDOT officials brought in examples of other Michigan MPOs'
Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs) that had been collected at 3C
Directors meetings. The MACC director and MDOT, with the assistance of
staff from the cities of Holland and Zeeland, did the work for the first
TIP and long-range transportation plan, including air quality analysis.
The MDOT official cited the support provided by FHWA with conformity
issues during this "compressed time" available to develop the first
certification documents as key. Concurrent with the preparation of the
self-certification documents, extra committee meetings were being held
to approve them before the federal deadline. The MPO director recalls
that everyone realized that this was not the way it should be done, but
that the process would improve before the next iteration of the
self-certification process. According to the City of Zeeland official,
there were no problems when MACC developed their second TIP. The members
of the technical advisory committee were also very involved with the
work of the policy board. As a result, their recommendations for
programs tended to be approved by the board without lengthy delays.

The City of Holland is the primary transit operator in the MACC region.
At the time of formation, its Dial-a-Ride service operated only within
the city limits of Holland. The city's assistant city manager has been
in charge of the transit system and he has been very active in technical
advisory committee meetings and in making regular reports to the MACC
board on the transit system. At the time of MPO designation, however,
the service was viewed as being very localized and was not considered an
important regional issue at the MACC table. The City of Zeeland official
notes that there was an understanding by MACC members that over time the
system would expand, but initially the city handled Dial-a-Ride's
funding alone. More recently, the City has reached service agreements
with two other local governments (City of Zeeland and Holland Township),
expanded service, and changed the name to Macatawa Area Express (MAX).
With this larger service area the transit system is beginning to become
more of a focus of MACC.

Note: Three officials involved in the assumption of MPO responsibilities
by MACC were contacted for this study. These officials were the MACC
Director, an official from MDOT, and a second MDOT official who worked
for the City of Zeeland at the time of designation.

## Macatawa Area Coordinating Council (MACC) Planning Area

![](media/image2.png){width="3.9402777777777778in"
height="5.593055555555556in"}

Source: www.macatawa.org/\~macc/