Sustained walkable small towns (Grand Rapids, Muskegon: pharmacy, living, store)

[jeeg]

Having a discussion with my family here and we're stuck.
We're trying to think of all the local towns within an hour of GR that allow for self sustaining living (having everything within walking distance...... such as grocery store, farmers market, pharmacy, library, perhaps a doctor/dentist, etc.).
The only one I can think of so far is Belding. Any others?
The killer seems to be having a grocery store within easy walking distance, most towns have them on the outside of the town/city now.

Can y'all think of any others other then Belding?
I'm thinking Allegan might meet those requirements?

[BoomRShine]

Originally Posted by jeeg

Having a discussion with my family here and we're stuck.
We're trying to think of all the local towns within an hour of GR that allow for self sustaining living (having everything within walking distance...... such as grocery store, farmers market, pharmacy, library, perhaps a doctor/dentist, etc.).
The only one I can think of so far is Belding. Any others?
The killer seems to be having a grocery store within easy walking distance, most towns have them on the outside of the town/city now.

Can y'all think of any others other then Belding?
I'm thinking Allegan might meet those requirements?

Allendale. Family Fare Supermarket and Pharmacy, farmers market every Tuesday and Friday during the summer, Allendale Township Library, doctor's offices (Metro Health Allendale, Spectrum Health Allendale, others), dentists (Meade Zolman Family Dentistry, Fred Hoekzema Jr DDS, James A Kessal DDS), US Post Office, etc.

[skyl4rk]

South Haven, especially if the new Meijers gets built.

[michigan83]

Lake Odessa would actually fit those requirements. It is about a 35 minute drive from downtown GR.

In this pic, you can see the grocery store/pharmacy at the end of the street on the left. The dentist's office is the 2nd to last building before the church.





In this pic, the library is the building on the left side of the street with a green awning. It's hard to see, but the doctor's office is on the right side of the street. It is the green building with a gold awning.




The farmer's market is also within walking distance, but it is not in the downtown area. It is on the north edge of town, on the fairgrounds.

[ckhthankgod]

This should help: Get Your Walk Score - A Walkability Score For Any Address

What about Big Rapids, North Muskegon or Zeeland?

[gr to okc]

There's ada, rockford, coopersville, kent city that comes to my mind.

[suydam]

East Grand Rapids? It's 3 miles from downtown GR, population 10,000ish, grocery store anchors the downtown.

There's no farmers market though (which is probably true of most of the ones listed here) but you're a 5 minute bike ride from the GR farmers market.

I bring up EGR specifically because part of sustainability is the commute residents have to their jobs. EGR is very centrally located (adjacent to GR-proper, 2-3miles from downtown, 1-2 miles from the farmers market on Fulton @ Fuller).

That's just my thinking...there are many great examples of walkable small towns that have been listed by folks here.

[intelfan11315]

I am kind of losing my mind on this one, I bought a monitor from someone out near Ionia, and there was a small little town with a sign for a Fresh Market, they had a small grocery store and other little things around the city. I remember saying, this place doesn't seem so bad.

The only thing I can remember is that it was right around Ionia.

[michigan83]

Originally Posted by burgler09

I am kind of losing my mind on this one, I bought a monitor from someone out near Ionia, and there was a small little town with a sign for a Fresh Market, they had a small grocery store and other little things around the city. I remember saying, this place doesn't seem so bad.

The only thing I can remember is that it was right around Ionia.

Sounds like Saranac, maybe?

[intelfan11315]

Originally Posted by michigan83

Sounds like Saranac, maybe?

Googled some pics of it, I am not 100% certain, but it looks like it very well could be.