Leelanau County residents have been invited to participate in a federally subsidized transportation and land use study known as The Grand Vision and are being urged to attend a workshop to be held May 8 at 6:30 p.m. at Suttons Bay High School.

Originally including only Grand Traverse County, the study has expanded to include Antrim, Benzie, Kalkaska, Leelanau and Wexford counties.  In recent months, study organizers have held a series of "citizen-based" planning workshops in Grand Traverse County.  The May 8 event will be the first in Leelanau County.

The goal of the study is to generate ideas that will guide future transportation and land use planning in the region.  Inclusion of the five additional counties in the study was made possible through an infusion of grant funding from a variety of sources.

Those wishing to attend the workshop should register by phone or online. The project's website, www.thegrandvision.org offers an online survey, a community forum, pictures of maps that participants marked up in earlier workshops, and a timeline for the project, slated to be completed in October 2009.  The toll free phone number is 866-441-5214.