LTBB Master Land Use Plan - Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa ...

Charlevoix and the City of Petoskey have lost population during this time frame, though Petoskey
did show a very slight gain in population between 1990 and 2000.
The graphic illustrates the other side of this picture more vividly. As can be seen in the graph,
several communities have seen population growth each decade from 1970 to 2000, and in
Pleasantview Township in particular the percentage of growth has increased steadily. Even among
communities that saw little or no growth during the 1980’s, as was common, population increases
rebounded significantly during the 1990’s.
These sorts of trend indicators are useful in making development decisions for several reasons.
First, and perhaps most obviously, they give us an idea of which areas are growing and which are not.
But just as importantly, it gives us a better data model upon which to base projections of future
population, by continuing those trend lines on a community by community basis. There are more
geographically specific ways to project population, but at this point the law of diminishing returns
sets in, and it is difficult to make population projections for periods of greater than 30 years at any
rate.
To get further insight into growth patterns, we will examine the total population and the change
in that population over time. Population change can be highly variable; however over long periods of
time patterns will emerge that can be used to predict future growth. As can be seen in the table, after
a period of low growth in the 1980’s, Bear Creek Township and other townships in the area have
enjoyed tremendous surges in population.
However, of similar concern is the pattern of dropping population in the City of Charlevoix.
This can be more clearly seen in the graph. Although the percentage of reduction is getting smaller
as the decades progress, the pattern is still obvious. It may be, however, that a turnaround is taking
place in that general area, as the 67% growth in population for Charlevoix Township attests to.
As stated in the 1997 Emmet County Master Plan, “The five townships which surround Little
Traverse Bay account for only about 1/3 of County land area, yet in the last 30 years they have
accounted for about 70% of the total County population growth.”
Racial Distri bution
The table entitled “LTBB Reservation – Race of Population by MCD” (Table 8) depicts the
number of persons in each MCD as distributed by race according to the 2000 Census. The table is
virtually self-explanatory, as a not-very diverse picture emerges. In fact, the only sizable minority
population in most communities is the Native American population, in some areas approaching 5%
of the population, and nearing 10% in the City of Harbor Springs.
It may instead be more worthwhile to examine this data to specifically understand where Native
Americans live within the Reservation boundaries. As can be expected, sizable concentrations of
Tribal membership are located in the cities of Petoskey, Harbor Springs, and to a lesser extent, the
City of Charlevoix.
In Table 8 the distribution of race in the LTBB Reservation area is presented. A look at this
table shows clearly that racial diversity is not to be found in Northern Michigan. However, it is also
clear that the second largest racial group in nearly all MCD’s is “American Indian and Alaska
Native”. Of particular interest is the concentration of Native Americans in cities of Harbor Springs,
Petoskey, and to a lesser extent, Charlevoix. Outside of these, larger numbers can be found in Bear
Creek Township, Resort Township, and as is traditionally the case, Cross Village Township.
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