News Photo By Barbara Woodham Montiel Birmingham, left, Alpena’s director of planning, development, and zoning, speaks with Don Gilmet, city building official, recently at City Hall.

ALPENA — The future of Alpena is in the hands of the people, city officials said.

“I would like to see an Alpena that is an improved version of itself, one that still has that small-town charm and feel, but has more opportunities that people are looking for,” said Montiel Birmingham, Alpena’s new planning, development, and zoning director.

“But it’s not my vision,” she added. “It’s about the community’s vision, and what they would like to see.”

Birmingham said Alpena’s future depends on people in the community getting involved and taking steps to start new businesses that the city can support through zoning changes, connections with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. or other supportive organizations, or programs like ones that grant tax breaks for development of polluted properties.

“We need business owners that want to do something with property,” Birmingham said.

Birmingham said new businesses need to connect with Alpena’s identity, so the city can grow more smartly with a mix of chain stores and small businesses that allows Alpena to grow while maintaining its small-town charm.

“We need to focus on who we are and what fits and what makes sense for Alpena,” she said. “Bringing that history back and making it alive again would be what I would like to see.”

Birmingham does not see a freeway in Alpena’s future, but does think some infrastructure changes in the coming years could make it easier to access Northeast Michigan.

Robert Adrian, chairman of the Alpena County Board of Commissioners, said getting to know each other leads to working together, which leads to getting things done.

“It’s a snowball effect,” Adrian said. “Making the right connections now leads to having a bigger voice, where and when it counts. Those connections develop into stuff.”

Mary Beth Stutzman, president and CEO, Alpena Area Convention and Visitors Bureau said via email that it helps if all the community leaders share the same vision.

“Because a collective vision, or lack thereof, has significant influence over where we will be 20 years from now,” Stutzman said.

She said that Alpena has a small-town charm, natural beauty and resources, historical assets and culture, outdoor recreation, locally owned businesses, and local residents that make us who we are and draw visitors.

“Growth must account for all of these things because if any of these are compromised, we risk losing our unique identity and hazard becoming a homogenized mid-sized Midwest city with fewer unique assets to inspire visitation and relocation,” Stutzman said.