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 Items which appear struck out are no longer maintained by the city or relevant agency.

Streams

Rapid meetings are not available via stream. Beginning in February 2024 Mobile GR meetings are uploaded to the City of Grand Rapids Youtube feed within a few days of the meeting; prior meetings are not available.

• City of East Grand Rapids, Youtube : includes City of East Grand Rapids City Commission Meetings
• Kent County, Youtube : includes Kent County Board of Commissioners meetings.
• City of Grand Rapids, Youtube : includes commission meetings [City Commission, Planning Commission, Public Safety Commission, etc...] as well as the Mayor's VLOG, the City Manager's VLOG, and occastional other media. The Mayor's VLOG and the City Manager's VLOG are roughly monthly.
• GRTVaccess, Youtube : includes the show City Connection where various local public officials are interviewed; monthly. [Content Warning: the interviews are extreme 🥎softball🥎].
  • City Connection website
  • City Connection is a collaboration with the Rapidian, posts about the topics or guests of upcoming City Connection shows can be 👉here👈
• Downtown Grand Rapids Inc, Youtube : includes the meetings of both the Downtown Development Authority Board and the Downtown Improvement District Board. Yes, the DDA and the DID are two distinct entities. The meeting schedule, agendas, and minutes for both organizations can be found 👉here👈.

Crime

• Crime Mapping
• Michigan Department of Corrections: Offender Tracking Information System

Ecology & Climate

• Grand Rapids Climate Coalition
• 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
• Zoning Policy & Maps
• Regulating Land Use: An Introduction to the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act
• 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.

The Many [so many] Plans

• 2002 City Master Plan and Region Specific Master Plans
• 2007 Monroe North Area Specific Plan
• 2015 John Ball Park/Zoo 2015 Master Plan, January 2015 (the current/correct plan as of 2017-01)
  • Important: The John Ball Park Zoo is a county park, owned and operated by the Kent County Parks Department. The city operated the park until 1989 when it was sold to the county.
• 2015 Michigan Street Corridor Action Plan : encompasses the area from the river, east on Michigan St to ~Plymouth Ave, including the south end of Monroe North. The later inclusion creates and overlap with the Monroe North corridor plan. This plan had a notably long development period following public engagement until release, and has proven to be - arguably - the most ignored of all the plans [which is saying something!]
• 2017 Grand Rapids Parks & Recreation Strategic Master Plan
• 2015 GR Forward : Engagement for the GR Forward plan involved over 4,000 citizens and over 300 events. GR Forward intended to be a investment plan for the city in related to the asset which is the river to grow both economic and social capital. At the least the Downtown Development Authority has taken GR Forward quite seriously and categorize the majority of their investments under the GR Forward plan's four goals:
  1. Restore the river as the draw & create a connected and equitable river corridor
  2. Create a true downtown neighborhood that his home to a diverse population
  3. Implement a 21st century mobility strategy
     • note: this goal led to the recasting of the Grand Rapids' Parking Department as Mobile GR.
  4. Expand job opportunities & ensure continued vitality of the local economy
• 2018 The River For All : Involves the riverfront from Ann St south to the site of the amphitheater project, principally but not exclusively on the east bank. The [defunct?] Grand Rapids Whitewater project falls under the "River For All" umbrellas. Obvious, now in 2023, that these other projects would move forward regardless of the failure of the Whitewater project.
  • News: Grand Rapids reveals $40M River for All plans, Crains 2018-11-02
  • News: City closes on $1.9M industrial property to relocate fire operations, free up riverfront real estate, Crains 2023-08-30
  • 2019 River For All Grand River Corridor Implementation Plan: Design Guidelines
  • 2019 River For All Grand River Corridor Implementation Plan: Opportunity Sites
  • 2019 River For All Grand River Corridor Implementation Plan: Strategic Asset Management Plan
• 2019 Bicycle Action Plan
  • Bicycle Action Plan Appendices
• 2019 City Commission Strategic Plan
• 2020 Equitable Economic Development and Mobility Strategic Plan, January 2020
  • This plan is very much meant to be a follow on the 2019 Strategic Plan.

Economic

• Economic Impact Report of New Americans in Kent County, PDF 2023-10 presented to the Committee of the Whole on 2023-10-24
• 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 PDF
• Right Place's 2023 "State of the Region" report PDF
• Right Place's 2023 "Development Report" PDF
• Citizens Research Council of Michigan's Prosperous Future report, 2023-09

General

• Voting records of local officials, Community Owns Safety
  • This includes the City Commission! Nearly all City Commission votes are unanimous, but here is to hoping that changes.
  • Could the layout of a website be more annoying? Possibly, yes, but it would take effort. However, the information is there.
• "OnTheMap" GIS Visualization Of Census Data
• Grand Rapids, City of, Census Explorer
• Grand Rapids Urbanized Area, Census Explorer
• Grand Rapids Metroplitan Area, Census Explorer
• The State of Michigan, Census Explorer
• The United States of America, Census Explorer
• Grand Rapids Commission Meetings & Agendas - 2024 and later
• Grand Rapids Commission Meetings & Agendas - 2023 and earlier - the Planning Department has continued to use this older [and superior] agenda application, as of November, 2024 that have to migrated to the new [inferior] agenda application.
• City-Data.com - as of 2021-10 this still reflects 2019 estimated data and not the 2020 census data.

• CRI Community Profiles 2.0 - site appears to have gone down.

• Grand Rapids 311

• Voting 101: Understanding differences between wards, precincts, quadrants, neighborhoods, The RAPIDIAN
• 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)

• 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

Budget/Fiscal

• Fiscal Plan, FY2025 PDF

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.

• Housing Kent Data Dashboard, Housing Kent 2024-04
• Where houses are most unaffordable in Michigan, relative to incomes, MLIVE 2024-10-23

• 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
• 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
• Live Downtown Grand Rapids
• Great Housing Strategies, 2015 (RIP: 2018, this strategy document was unofficially declared "expired" with the failure of "Housing NOW!".)
• Residential Market Potential (Report), March 2015 PDF
• RESIDENTIAL MARKET POTENTIAL, July 2004 PDF
• 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
• Zillow Dashboards, Zilllow (they publish a monthly snapshot)
• Zillow Data, Zillow
• Housing Step Down (in Grand Rapids), StrongtownsGR

• Urban Institute: Institutional Investors & Single Family Homes (April 2023), PDF

  "...the total institutional ownership share is 3.8 percent; the vast majority of owners in the SFR market are small and medium investors who own less than 100 properties...."
  

• Housing Supply Accelerator Playbook v3 (2024) PDF (National League of Cities & American Planning Association)

"Missing Middle"

• 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

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

"Affordable" Housing

• LIHTC: The Good, the Bad, and the Very Complicated, Shelterforce 2023-11 (series)

The Unhoused

• Dashboard To End Homelessness by the Kent County Coalition to End Homelessness (2020-06)
• Michigan Campaign to End Homelessness Annual Report (2020), released 2021-10

Medical / Mental Health / Crisis Intervention

• Michigan 2-1-1

Transportation

• Vital Streets: Street Classification Map, PDF
• Vital Streets Plan, 2017, PDF
• MDOT Traffic Volume Maps, interactive, Arcgis
• House Fiscal Agency Report: THE COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORTATION FUND (CTF) AND STATE SUPPORT FOR LOCAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, 2023-08, PDF (15 pages)
• 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)