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TRAVERSE CITY, MI-The Acme Township board has directed its planning department to draw up rules for a proposed moratorium on big-box retail stores. Acme Township neighbors resort mecca Traverse City in northwest Lower Michigan.

The board is also pondering a temporary ban on all major commercial developments while the township's zoning ordinance and master development plan undergo a revision. "I think it's got public support in the township [and] all over the country," supervisor Bill Kurtz says of the proposed ban. "Unfortunately in a lot places it's done after the fact, when people realize they've got too many of these things."

While Kurtz says details of the proposed moratorium are still being worked out, he expects it would apply to developments of 50,000 sf or more and continue for at least a year. He adds the moratorium would not apply to the Village, a development proposed for M-72 in the township that would include a new Meijer store.