Project History

Cooperation between the City of Fremont and Sheridan Charter Township and Dayton Townships with regard to joint planning was initiated in 1998. Officials from each of the governmental units met on a regular basis to discuss how best to handle the expansion of utilities into the Townships. After extensive negotiations, a utility map was created. This utility map needed to be incorporated into a regional plan, so the natural progression was to develop a regional master plan, which resulted in the adoption of the Fremont Area Joint Comprehensive Development and Growth Management Plan (the "Plan") by the City of Fremont and Dayton and Sheridan Charter Townships in June of 2001.


By the time the Plan was created, the three governmental units had worked together enough to understand the positions each had on various topics, even if they did not necessarily agree with the positions held. Officials became aware of each others; positions on matters, which made negotiations run smoother. After the Plan was created, the issue of the City providing utilities to the Townships was still a topic of conversation. After extensive negotiations, a 425 Agreement, the "Development Cooperation Agreement among the City of Fremont, Dayton Township, and Sheridan Charter Township" was executed in December of 2004.


When the new Joint Planning Act, Michigan P.A. 226 of 2003 became law, there was talk within the Fremont Area Joint Planning Committee that Garfield and Sherman Townships should be a part of the planning efforts in the Fremont Area since these Townships are a key part of the Fremont Community. Threfore, the existing Fremont Area Joint Planning Committee asked the two Townships to be a party to any multi-jurisdictional agreement that is created so that all five government units in the Fremont Area can be involved in joint planning efforts. At this time, only Sherman Township has chosen to be involved with the creation of the multi-jurisdictional agreement.