Road & Utilities

Roads & Utilities

Welcome to the landing page for roads and utilities. This page provides links to all relevant planning and zoning forms and ordinances related to roads and utilities. Contact the Planning & Zoning Department regarding any questions or to locate any other information.

Roads

All levels of government share responsibility for America’s transportation system. In Michigan, drivers help pay for the road through taxes on gasoline, and annually registering their motor vehicles. Motor vehicle taxes are apportioned in State law to the Michigan Department of Transportation, and then onto county road commissions, cities, and villages.

In Michigan, county road commissions and townships share transportation-related responsibilities. Road commissions (and county boards of commissioners where road commission duties have been assumed by the county board) are responsible for maintenance and construction of local roads, while townships are responsible for non-transportation uses of road rights of way, sub-surface rights of way usage such as utilities and communication systems, and law enforcement. In spite of state law assigning maintenance and construction responsibility to road commissions, the state transportation fund does not provide sufficient financial resources for road commissions to perform their responsibilities at a level acceptable to everyone. Consequently, township boards across the state voluntarily contribute over $150 million per year to their county road commissions to support road projects in their respective townships.


Utilities