It's a difficult piece of property to categorize with single-family zoning and steep banks abutting railroad tracks and industry, with park property across the street. We've had informal discussions with a developer who might want to do something there with multiple-family zoning.

We have to consider what the impact is going to be across the street. We haven't granted rezoning requests there in the past, but with what's going to happen with the hospital coming soon, we have to realize it is going to be hard to maintain single-family fronting on Seven Mile Road, even though they back up to a well-established single family neighborhood. These are a lot of things we need to discuss.

A lot of the easy stuff, most of the large tracts, have been developed in the township. That leaves us with some smaller parcels, difficult pieces that may be complicated by physical features like difficult topography or vacant buildings and the environmental concerns that go along with them.

We have identified 14 areas that we want to talk about to determine the best use. It's been 10 years since the last master plan update and a lot has happened since then that could affect how we look at particular pieces of property.

Together in our house, in the firelight, we are the world made small.

It's very surreal. When we were little we would watch the pageant as a family, and my sister and I would go into the utility room and play Miss America in our heels.