Data & Docs

Links below are for available data sources and archived documents. Items which appear struck out are no longer maintained by the city or relevant agency.

Crime

• Crime Mapping

Ecology

• Grand River Water Quality Monitoring
• Grand Rapids Whitewater FAQ
  • Is the sediment of the Grand River contaminated? No.
• West Michigan Clean Air Action Coalition
• JustAir Air Quality Monitoring Stations, or here

Planning

• Live Map Of Grand Rapids Planning Applications
• Development Overview (live)
• Major Projects live map - appears to have no data after November 2020.
• City Master Plan and Region Specific Master Plans
• Zoning Policy & Maps
• Regulating Land Use: An Introduction to the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act
• Michigan Street Corridor Action Plan, May 2015
• John Ball Park/Zoo 2015 Master Plan, January 2015 (the current/correct plan as of 2017-01)
• Reimagine Plainfield; this is Plainfield Ave corridor in Plainfield township, outside the city of Grand Rapids. Draft Plan, PDF

See also the "Housing" section below.

Economic

• Grand Rapids Chamber Of Commerce
  • Very minimal actual data provided on site, at least for non-members.
  • 111 Pearl Street N.W. Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503,
  • Phone: 616.771.0300, Fax: 616.771.0318
• Right Place's 2022 "State of the Region" report

General

• GRAND RAPIDS EQUITABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND MOBILITY STRATEGIC PLAN, January 2020
• Voting 101: Understanding differences between wards, precincts, quadrants, neighborhoods, The RAPIDIAN
• City-Data.com - as of 2021-10 this still reflects 2019 estimated data and not the 2020 census data.
• Grand Rapids 311
• CRI Community Profiles 2.0 - site appears to have gone down.
• "OnTheMap" GIS Visualization Of Census Data
• County and Metro Area Population Estimates, census.gov, 2015-03
  • Census data: Has your county gained or lost population? Search new data, MLIVE
    • "In total, 35 of Michigan's 83 counties saw their populations grow. That's an increase from 26 counties that saw growth in 2012. Overall, Michigan's population grew an estimated 11,684 to 9,909,877 residents. This is the third consecutive year of growth since 2012. Before that, Michigan's population dropped annually since 2004."
• See a map chronicling population changes across Michigan, MLIVE, 2016-05
• These Are The 10 Stressed Places In Michigan, Zippia, 2016-05
  • Grand Rapids 46th of 50 most stressed places in Michigan.
  • High Rent (r>30%): 54.7%
  • Long Commute Time (t>30m): 16.8%
  • No Insurance: 13.5%
• Interactive map: See population changes in YOUR community, BridgeMI 2017-06
• Strategic Plan 2020 - 2023, final
• Citizen's Guide to City Finance (Year Ending June 2019)
• Grand Rapids Planning Commission minutes & agendas
• Economic Inclusion in Grand Rapids, Data, 2020-04
• Economic Inclusion in Grand Rapids, Summary, 2020-04
• Where did Grand Rapids' population grow & decline, 2010 - 2020, MLIVE (interactive map)

Housing

Note: There was a Zoning Reform effort in 2018 called "Housing NOW". It failed. The Internet is still littered with the debris from this process and the city's own websites report incorrect information and link to obsolete documents. When looking for Housing/Zoning information be careful with anything from 2018.

• Where rent is most, least affordable in Michigan, MLIVE 2023-06-24

  Kent: With an average rent of $1,326, a renter would need to make at least $25.50 per hour or $53,040 annually. 
  

• Housing NEXT Needs Assessment Update, 2022-2023

• Some maps of housing costs by county for Michigan, 2022-08
  • Years-To-Buy map, by zip code, 2022-09
• Michigan Campaign to End Homelessness Annual Report (2020), released 2021-10
• Characteristics of New Housing, US Census (regional)
• Housing NEXT: Presentation (PDF), Report (PDF) [July, 2020]
• The state of Grand Rapids housing costs: A 10-year review, Rapid Growth Media 2018-08-23
• Cracking the affordable housing conundrum with creative solutions, Rapid Growth Media 2018-04-05
• Catch up with GR housing: A booming market, affordable housing, the "missing middle" and more, Rapid Growth Media 2018-10-11
• Are you the "missing middle?" Local developers get creative in housing's most neglected sector, Rapid Growth Media 2018-08-02
• The Death of the Suburban Fourplex, Strongtowns Essay 2019-03-28
• Live Downtown Grand Rapids

• Great Housing Strategies

  On April 22, 2015 Grand Rapids City Commissioners Ruth Kelly, Senita Lenear, and Elias Lumpkins, Jr. engaged more than 200 people representing nonprofit and for profit housing developers, lenders, neighborhoods, educational institutions, local philanthropies, and local and state government agencies in a community conversation about the future of Grand Rapids housing. The Great Housing Strategies event launched a process to review best practices, tools, and strategies for future housing development in Grand Rapids.  The life-cycle of this document concluded in December 2018 with the "Housing NOW" recommendations.
  

• Dashboard To End Homelessness by the Kent County Coalition to End Homelessness (2020-06)

• RESIDENTIAL MARKET POTENTIAL, July 2004
• How Redlining’s Racist Effects Lasted for Decades, 2017-08-04
  • The HOLC maps and related documents for Grand Rapids are available here.
• The H+T Map/Index

Accessory Dwelling Units

• Freddie Mac ADU Financing FAQ, 2022-10
• Building an ADU (Grand Rapids, MI), UrbanGR 2020-01-31
• The ShelterForce ADU Series, UrbanGR 2022-05
• The 2020 Invest Health ADU Convening, UrbanGR 2020-11 - nothing came of this :(
• Grand Rapid's Failed ADU Zoning Update, 2018-12

Medical / Mental Health / Crisis Intervention

• Michigan 2-1-1

Transportation

• GRAND RAPIDS EQUITABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND MOBILITY STRATEGIC PLAN, January 2020
• The Rapid's 2023 Community Report, ISSUU, 2023-08-09
• GVMC Traffic Count Database
• GMVC Interactive "Crash Map", from 2017 - 2021
  • GVMC Traffic Satety Reports
• GVMC Airport Access Study Documents, Phase 1 - 3
• RAPID, Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) Proposed [2020-10-13]
• MDOT Michigan 2045 Mobility Plan Online Survey Results, (PDF) [Summer 2019]
• MobileGR Organizational Assessment (PDF), February 2020
• MobileGR, West Michigan Express Commuter Study, 2018-03
• MobileGR, BikeShare Feasibiliy Study, Slide Deck, 2017-07
• Live Traffic Accident Report, GRPD No longer maintained as of ~2021.
• RAPID Ridership Reports
  • Summarization provided by UrbanGR.org
• City Engineering Department: Construction Updates
• MDOT Strategic Planning
• Interactive street closure / construction map
• Who Pays For Roads?
  • TL;DR: Not drivers, and the gas tax is not a use-tax. Sorry.
• Bicycle Action Plan, July 2019
• Bicycle Action Plan, Appendices, July 2019
• Bicycling and the Economy_Econ Impact Studies, November 2014
• Parking and Mobility Study (DRAFT), June 2015
• GRAND RAPIDS BICYCLE SAFETY EDUCATION, December 2014
• MDOT Passenger Rail Reports
• The H+T Map/Index

County

• Kent County ARPA Funds Proposal Catalog 2022-09-16 (733 page PDF)
• Kent County District Maps (Commissioners)