Building Keego Harbor’s Future

Keego Harbor’s vision for the future is an inviting, close-knit lakeside community where thoughtful, sensible growth preserves our small-town character while channeling new investment into lasting opportunities and shared community benefit.

That vision is built on years of community planning and engagement. Multiple adopted plans have identified opportunities to strengthen Keego Harbor’s neighborhoods, businesses, public spaces, and connection to its greatest natural assets.

Together, these plans envision a future Keego Harbor with:

  • A walkable downtown along Cass Lake Road, creating a stronger center for local businesses, dining, housing, gathering, and community activity.
  • Lively harbor and waterfront areas that better connect the community to its lakes and create opportunities for recreation, placemaking, and appropriate investment.
  • A more active and accessible Orchard Lake Road corridor, supporting existing businesses while creating opportunities for redevelopment and improved connections throughout the city.
  • Strong neighborhoods and small-town character, ensuring that growth complements the qualities that make Keego Harbor distinctive.
  • A welcoming environment for investment and entrepreneurship, where the City works collaboratively with property owners, businesses, developers, and regional partners to turn good ideas into achievable projects.

From Planning to Action

Keego Harbor has already done much of the work of imagining its future. The next chapter is about turning those plans into action.

For Keego Harbor, success isn't measured simply by how much development occurs. It is measured by whether investment strengthens our neighborhoods, expands opportunity, supports local entrepeneurship, improves public spaces, connects people to our lakes and trails, and leaves the community stronger for the next generation.

Whether you are an existing business owner, prospective entrepreneur, developer, property owner, resident, or community partner, we invite you to be part of building Keego Harbor's future.

Current City Plans:

 

About Keego Harbor

Known as the “Heart of the Lakes,” Keego Harbor is a small, close-knit community in the heart of Oakland County, approximately 25 miles northwest of Detroit. At just over half a square mile, Keego Harbor is one of Michigan’s smallest cities by land area, and one of its most densely populated.

What Keego lacks in size, it makes up for in character and location. The community is shaped by its relationship with the water, with shoreline along Cass Lake, Dollar Lake, and Sylvan Lake. Keego Harbor is bordered by Waterford Township to the north, West Bloomfield Township to the south, Orchard Lake Village to the west, and Sylvan Lake to the east.

A Small City Built Around Neighborhoods

Keego Harbor’s roots stretch back to the early 20th century, when much of the community was developed with cottages and summer homes for people seeking an escape from Detroit and Pontiac. Over time, those seasonal neighborhoods evolved into a year-round community while retaining the compact development pattern that continues to distinguish Keego today.

Much of the City remains residential, with neighborhoods connected by local streets, parks, businesses, civic spaces, and access to the surrounding lakes. The City’s compact size creates something increasingly sought after in Southeast Michigan: a community where neighborhoods are close to one another, local businesses are nearby, and residents can feel connected to the life of their city.

Connected by Two Corridors

Cass Lake Road and Orchard Lake Road form the backbone of Keego Harbor. They connect the City's neighborhoods with surrounding communities while also serving as its principal commercial and redevelopment corridors.

Keego Harbor's long-term planning envisions building upon these corridors to create a more inviting and walkable community, encourage thoughtful reinvestment, strengthen local businesses, improve connections to the City's natural resources, and establish a stronger sense of place.