City Commissioners To Talk Potential Housing Properties, Senior Center, Board Goals

In a continued bid to bring more housing to Traverse City, city commissioners will review a list of 31 different properties the city either owns or has the potential to acquire that could be used to develop housing at a 7pm study session Monday. Ten of those parcels have been rated as “high” priority by staff and consultants – or the most attractive for potential development – including parking lots G and O downtown (already under consideration for housing), land on Fourteenth Street east of Cass Street, and parcels on Woodmere Avenue and Eighth Street. Also at Monday’s study session, commissioners will discuss the future of the Traverse City Senior Center and city commission goals through 2023.

Housing
Consultant Rob Bacigalupi of Mission North will lead commissioners through a review Monday of potential properties the city either owns or could acquire where housing could be built. “One of the strategic goals and objectives of the previous city commission was to add more housing stock in the city for year-round residents,” according to Assistant City Manager Penny Hill. “The current city commission has also expressed a view that housing in the city is a high priority. One of the ways the city can participate in this effort is to identify city-owned properties where affordable housing may be developed. Mission North was hired as a consultant to assist in the process of identifying and evaluating city-owned properties.”

In a memo to commissioners, Bacigalupi said that a steering committee including Hill, City Manager Marty Colburn, City Planning Director Shawn Winter, and GIS Coordinator Jerry Swanson looked at “31 different parcels that might have potential for new housing.” Bacigalupi noted that there are several things to keep in mind when evaluating potential properties. “Any city-owned property was purchased for one reason or another,” he wrote. “It could be that it was purchased to provide city services or utilities. This issue came up with a number of properties where city departments indicated plans to expand facilities. Ownership and deed restrictions can provide challenges to selling land for housing. For other properties, lot shape and grade present obstacles.”

Factoring in those considerations, Bacigalupi said the list of properties was “eventually organized into those with high potential, low potential, and those not under consideration.” Ten parcels fell into the high priority category. That includes Lot G next to Modes Bum Steer, for which the city is already working on finding partners to build a mixed-use development, and Lot O next to The Omelette Shoppe. HomeStretch and Goodwill Inn have shared a proposal to develop that lot with a mixed-use building featuring housing targeted to a variety of income levels. However, Bacigalupi’s memo notes that HomeStretch is now reevaluating the project after a recent ruling by Judge Thomas Power put a “hard” 60-foot height limit on buildings in the city.

Several properties around the Boardman Lake area are also on the high priority list. That includes land owned by the Grand Traverse Land Bank Authority near Oryana, which has already been discussed for housing, and a small state-owned parcel at 221 East Fourteenth Street. Both sites had been planned to be part of a new road around the lake called Boardman Lake Avenue; those plans have since been abandoned by the city. Another 1.55-acre site is listed on Lake Avenue, as are parcels at 535 Woodmere Avenue and 715 and 723 Beitner Road. Those properties are currently used for city purposes like snow storage and vehicle parking and would need to be rezoned for housing. Bacigalupi’s notes indicate the properties have Traverse City Light & Power fiber lines running through them and could be used as transit station points if future passenger rail is established through the city.

Finally, another high priority parcel is listed between Eighth Street/Airport Access Road. The property is over 79 acres and has water mains and power distribution lines running through it. The city would have to investigate several factors to consider whether to pursue housing on the site, including whether it is deed-restricted for cemetery use – the site is earmarked for future expansion of Oakwood Cemetery – and whether it would likely receive voter approval to redevelop. Because it's cemetery property, the city’s charter would require a public vote to use it for another purpose, like housing. Commissioners Monday will have a chance to talk through the list and give input on potential next steps for pursuing housing.

Senior Center
City commissioners will also discuss the future of the Traverse City Senior Center at Monday’s study session. According to Colburn, the Joint Governmental Center Commission – which is comprised of city and Grand Traverse County management and typically focuses on operating the co-owned Governmental Center – “has taken on the role of discussing the construction of a new Senior Center building at its current location, 801 East Front Street.” Colburn says several questions have arisen during discussions that require city commission input.

“Should the new building remain exclusively the Senior Center, or should it also serve as a community center that is the home of the Senior Center?” Colburn asked in a memo to commissioners. “Should the Joint Governmental Center Commission continue discussing the Senior Center, or shall a separate ad hoc committee be formed? If the former, would the commission desire any other representation to be added to the discussion?”

Colburn said Grand Traverse County – which operates countywide senior services in the city-owned building on East Front Street – is preparing to use a request-for-proposals process to find a consulting firm to lead fundraising efforts to build a new Senior Center. County commissioners previously declined to put a millage request on the ballot to fund construction of a new building, with several stating their preference instead to raise the funds through a community capital campaign.

Goals
Finally, commissioners Monday will discuss next steps in tackling a list of 2022 and 2023 goals the board identified during multiple strategic planning sessions earlier this winter. According to a summary from facilitator Megan Motil of Parallel Solutions, high-level themes that emerged from those sessions include “focusing on long-term impacts, approaching challenges with optimism, focusing on solutions, considering future generations when making short-term decisions, considering goals and actions through the lens of the climate crisis, (and) understanding constituents may want opposing things, and keeping this in mind while making decisions.” Commissioners also identified six high-priority strategic issues they want to focus on the next two years, including housing and homelessness, water systems, access and mobility, climate, connecting people with each other and nature, and economic development. Commissioners Monday will talk through specific action items associated with those priorities and identify whether resources are available and included in the city’s budget to carry out those steps.