Woodmere Development on Planning Commission Agenda

Traverse City planning commissioners will discuss a zoning request Wedneday that could help pave the way for a mixed-use development to come to the TC Millworks property on Woodmere Avenue – a project that could include housing, TART Trail and Boardman Lake connections, an outdoor recreation retailer, and underground parking.

As TC Millworks’ Tim Pulliam first told The Ticker in September, the company has outgrown its space at 1032 Woodmere Avenue and is moving to a new facility on Aero Park Drive. Pulliam said he and his partners next wanted to explore new uses for the Woodmere property, which is located right near Boardman Lake and the Boardman Lake Loop Trail. What “probably makes the most sense for a location like this long term is something that gives back to the community a little bit better, like a mixed-use development with some affordable housing, specifically,” Pulliam said at the time.

According to a memo from City Planning Director Shawn Winter, Pulliam and Mike Powers of Keen Technical Solutions own the property and have been working with city staff on how they could redevelop the site. Several encumbrances face the 1.16-acre property that make redevelopment challenging and “would likely require a number of variances to put the property into productive use,” according to Winter. The lot shape is very narrow and long, has three different street frontages with three front yard setbacks, and has adjacent railroad right-of-way, Winter noted.

The western property line is curvilinear – “creating chokepoints with the front yard setbacks,” Winter said – and the Scheffer Street right-of-way traverses part of the property. The southern portion of the site is within the Cherry Capital Airport approach zone, “which limits building heights and limits the uses otherwise allowed,” Winter wrote. Although those issues pose hardships that are not the owners’ fault – and thus would potentially be eligible for variances – “the number of variances needed and time to work through that process can create an unpredictable, drawn-out process,” Winter said. He therefore recommended using a planned unit development (PUD) for the site, which is a zoning plan tailored to a specific property – typically a property that is unique or has a number of complex issues.

Traverse City’s zoning ordinance requires a minimum lot size of three acres for a PUD, meaning the TC Millworks site is too small. However, city commissioners have the ability to authorize applications for properties under three acres. Planning commissioners Wednesday will consider making a recommendation to the city commission to reduce the minimum lot size to allow for a PUD on the Woodmere site. If approved, Keen would still have to go through the PUD application process to determine the specific allowed uses on the site and obtain city approval of the plan.

Winter listed several ideas Keen has proposed for the site, which Pulliam reiterated in an email included in the meeting packet. Those include a 100 percent electrified mixed-use development with public access to Boardman Lake, a connection to the Boardman Lake Loop Trail, on-site stormwater management, and both surface parking and access to underground parking off Carver Street. Because the southern section is height-restricted to a single-story building and not usable for housing, “the intent is to have a local outdoor retailer occupy that portion of the site and potentially renting bikes, kayaks, and paddleboards,” Winter wrote.

“Separately, the owners and city staff are working together to explore decertifying that portion of Scheffer Street so it can be improved as more of a park-like environment for the public,” Winter said. He noted that the property owner to the north – the site where Square Deal Country Store is located – “is also exploring redevelopment options.” Winter said that the Woodmere property was identified as a “priority redevelopment site” in the city’s master planning process. In his email, Pulliam said the project “will bring a neighborhood appropriate scale while creating an anchor for the remainder of the corridor.” While acknowledging that reducing the lot size requirement to qualify for a PUD doesn’t automatically mean a PUD will be approved, Pulliam said the move “would allow us to move forward with planning and preliminary design for the actual PUD submission.”

Also on Wednesday’s planning commission agenda...
> Planning commissioners will hold a public hearing on a request from the Traverse City Housing Commission to rezone the Orchardview Apartments property at 10200 East Carter Road from RC (Residential Conservation District) to R-3 (Multi-Family Dwelling District). Rezoning would allow TCHC to apply for state funding this fall to support constructing two new apartment buildings on the property, bringing the total number of units from 22 up to 50-55. Orchardview Apartments primarily has three and four-bedroom units now and would seek to add a mix of one and two-bedroom units to serve a variety of tenants. A deed restriction on the property will ensure the apartments will remain as affordable housing for at least 45 years. Planning commissioners will vote to either recommend approval or denial of the zoning change to the city commission.

> Planning commissioners will hold a public hearing on a zoning request to amend the H-1 (Hospital) district to add offices, legal services, business services, and real estate services as allowed uses in the district. Alex MacKenzie, a realtor with Coldwell Banker Commercial Schmidt Realtors, submitted the request and has a property listed for sale/lease in the district with a party interested in using the site for one of those specific office uses. The H-1 district occupies much of the land around Munson Medical Center and the western edge of the city, according to a memo from Winter. He noted the city could consider permitting more uses in the H-1 and (the similar) H-2 district to allow the “land to be used more efficiently, especially under changing economic conditions,” and on the flip side to allow more healthcare uses in other districts besides H-1 and H-2. Planning commissioners will vote to either recommend approval or denial of the zoning change to the city commission.

> Finally, planning commissioners will hold a required public hearing Wednesday on the city’s new draft master plan and Mobility Action Plan. The hearing follows a mandatory 63-day public review period, which ended Monday. Planning commissioners are not expected to act on the draft plans Wednesday but will review public input and then – as required by law – adopt them at an August 20 special meeting. Two-thirds of planning commissioners must vote to support the plans. “At the end of the day, a master plan is a (document) to help make future decisions,” Winter wrote. “It does not mandate anything, nor does a master plan make any regulatory or operational changes. Those would come in the next step of implementation.”