New NMC Campus Plan Outlines Possibilities For Student Housing Expansion, Eastern Avenue Parcel

More student housing, more vibrancy on its main campus and the relocation of university partners are three of the top priorites in Northwestern Michigan College’s new campus plan, which will be presented to the NMC Board of Trustees at a meeting on Monday (June 24).

NMC has been working with consulting firm TowerPinkster to develop a 10-year vision for its campus assets, taking into account public feedback, classroom utilization data, student housing metrics, and more.

The resulting plan, dubbed “NMC Thrive: A Plan for a Vibrant College,” makes recommendations for changes at every NMC campus. Some suggestions are relatively minor, like installing technology and lighting improvements at the Hagerty Center. Others are transformative, like relocating the University Center to the college’s main “Front Street Campus” and utilizing the existing University Center building as a “strategic real estate asset.”

According to Troy Kierczynski, NMC’s VP of finance and administration, every idea in the plan links back to a series of “guiding principles.” Those include goals like establishing “a vibrant main campus that enhances a sense of belonging and college identity”; or maximizing flexibility “to allow the college to adjust to the evolving needs of students, staff, and faculty.”

Kierczynski references those two principles in particular when discussing some of the most radical ideas included in NMC Thrive. The idea of relocating the college’s university partners from the existing University Center on Boardman Lake to NMC’s main campus aligns with the “main campus vibrancy” goal. (Per the plan, the college’s existing James Beckett Building will become the new home of the University Center.)

“What we heard unanimously from all our internal departments and all of our University Center partners is that they want to be on main campus,” Kierczynski says. “Which surprised me, because the parking is really easy at the University Center, and it's a quieter space, and it’s right on the Boardman Lake Loop Trail. But I think everyone just wants to have that energy of being on main campus.”

As for evolving to meet emerging needs, Kierczynski points to on-campus housing as a prime example.

“We know that housing is a differentiator for NMC,” Kierczynski tells The Ticker. “We're one of eight community colleges in the state of Michigan that offer housing. And with Traverse City being a destination town, and with the housing challenges the community is facing – well, we know those things impact our students. Despite declining enrollment, we've had as high a demand for housing as we've ever seen. So, we know that housing could help attract additional students and also be beneficial for the college from a financial standpoint.”

In recent years, NMC has had a campus housing capacity of around 440 beds across two dorms and one on-campus apartment complex. That capacity is set to increase soon: In April, NMC bought two new apartment buildings, at 1550 and 1560 East Front Street, that will add 47 new beds.

NMC Thrive proposes the construction of a new 100-bed dormitory building on campus, on land currently occupied by the Dogwood parking lot. It also outlines plans to demolish both East Hall – the older of the college’s two existing dorms – and NMC’s on-campus apartments, built in 1973. Both, Kierczynski notes, are “at the end of their life” and have layout and maintenance challenges. Building new structures would allow NMC to increase housing capacity and offer more desirable on-campus living spaces.

Overall, the plan would push NMC’s on-campus housing capacity to 561 beds – with potential for additional capacity at the East Front Street apartments or the new East Hall, depending on future demand and other factors.

NMC Thrive also leaves the door open for student housing development on a 55-acre parcel NMC owns on Eastern Avenue. That wooded property, which the college considered for a senior living and learning center two years ago, has sat mostly vacant since the college purchased it in 1969. NMC Thrive identifies 22 acres of the land as an “opportunity zone” for campus growth (the other parts are unbuildable due to wetlands or steep slopes) with a conceptual design (pictured) that shows potential for housing, a community and education center, and an outdoor education trail on the land.

While that part of the plan is the least likely to happen soon – a “recommended implementation schedule” for all projects slots “Eastern Avenue Campus Expansion” in for 2033 and 2034 – it’s also the element that has generated the most controversy. NMC’s discussions around Eastern Avenue prompted nearby homeowners to form Neighbors for Nature (NFN), an advocacy group “committed to responsible land use that benefits both the community and natural environment.”

“As NMC nears approval of the 2024 Facilities Master Plan, we urge the NMC Board to formally recognize the value of preserving the Eastern Avenue Parcel as vital green space,” wrote Lauren Teichner, a local environmental lawyer representing NFN, in a June 18 letter to the NMC board. “Although community listening sessions were held in December 2023 and January 2024, we urge the NMC Board to give thorough consideration to NFN’s environmental and legal concerns as detailed in this letter.”

Those “concerns” include worries about the consequences NMC’s plans could have on the nearby wetland and water table, or on “threatened bird species” that NFN members have reportedly spotted on the site, such as merlins and grosbeaks.

“Based on the results of our recent FOIA request to NMC, it does not appear that NMC has performed any environmental studies or assessments of the Eastern Avenue Parcel within the past five years (if not longer),” Teichner wrote. “If the NMC Board approves a 2024 Plan laying out a blueprint for the future of this parcel without doing so, it may be running afoul of its Michigan Environmental Protection Act duties...”

Kierczynski says NMC has “a lot of respect for the Neighbors by Nature group and their message of preservation,” and stresses that the college hasn’t made any formal decisions about what to do with the Eastern Avenue property.

“[NMC Thrive] is a visioning document,” Kierczynski says. “These projects are not set in stone. A lot of them are going to adapt and change, and we wanted to make sure we left them vague enough that we could have some flexibility as we as we move throughout the next 10 years. Regarding the Eastern Avenue property, we’ve identified a 22-acre opportunity zone, but we haven't decided exactly what that could be used for. Any further considerations related to that property would invite another very in-depth, community-driven process of what we might consider there.”

Monday’s NMC board meeting is scheduled for 5:30pm in rooms 106 and 107 of the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center.