There used to be a town called Acme at the intersection of Michigan Highway 72 and U.S. Route 31; now there’s a Chase bank and a pair of gas stations. Most of Acme Township’s 4,375 residents do their shopping in nearby Traverse City. The township hall is a one-story cinder-block appendage to the fire station.

But Acme has a valuable undeveloped asset: a 182-acre hay field along M-72 that vacationers pass on their way to Grand Traverse Bay, two long fingers of crystalline blue water that drop down from northern Lake Michigan. Some time ago, this field caught the attention…