A downstate development group with apartment complexes across west and mid-Michigan is proposing to build a 240-unit workforce housing neighborhood on Three Mile Road just north of the Meadowlands Industrial Park. East Bay Township planning commissioners will have a sketch plan review with Krimson Tuesday, which will allow the board to give feedback before a formal application is submitted. Planning commissioners Tuesday will also discuss possible updates to rules for events and signage in East Bay Township.

Three Mile Development
CEO Steve Calverley of development group Krimson is pursuing the possible construction of a 240-unit workforce apartment complex on Three Mile Road. The project, which would be the firm’s first in northern Michigan, would consist of 10 three-story buildings consisting of 24 units each. Amenities including separated large and small dog parks, a community building with a fitness center, and open space are proposed for the development.

Calverley tells The Ticker the apartments would be geared toward tenants earning 80 to 120 percent of the area median income (AMI). New Michigan rules allow brownfield tax increment financing (TIF) to help fund workforce housing projects in that AMI range, which Calverley says Krimson intends to pursue for the Three Mile Road project. Another workforce apartment project supported by brownfield funding was approved recently on US-31 in Garfield Township.

Calverley says Krimson switched its focus in 2018 to workforce housing – with projects also in the works in Muskegon and Delta Township – because of skyrocketing development and rent costs. “We knew there had to be an end in sight, because tenants can only carry the burden of paying a higher and higher percentage of their income for housing for so long,” he says. “We saw a need, especially in communities like Traverse City where businesses can’t operate because they can’t bring people in who can afford the rent.”

The 20-acre Three Mile property is north of Meadowlands Industrial Park and southwest of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC) headquarters across the road. Three single-family homes sit just east of the site along Three Mile. The property, currently owned by Bill and Toni Clous, is zoned high density residential. That zoning district allows multi-family residential as a use by right.

According to a memo from Township Director of Planning & Zoning Claire Karner, the proposed development is consistent with the latest draft version of the township’s new zoning ordinance, which allows 12 units per acre. Krimson is proposing to provide future access connections to the west and north, as well as a connection to Meadowlands Industrial Park. Karner noted that if development expands west in the future, it could prove difficult to provide more than one entrance and exit location “unless the road is extended west to Townline.”

A sidewalk and trail network is planned within the development. Karner wrote that a “future pathway along the west side of Three Mile Road, with a future non-motorized crossing between Vanderlip Road and the GTRLC entrance” has been envisioned for the area under a non-motorized plan. Though mostly open and flat with some trees, Karner said the property has some environmental limitations, including a conservation easement on portions of the perimeter and a protected stream and wetlands along the western boundary. Krimson will therefore need to adhere to rules regarding environmentally sensitive areas, Karner said, including a 50-foot setback and vegetative buffer from all creeks and a 25-foot undisturbed vegetative buffer from all wetlands. Calverley says he’s aware of the environmental conditions and that the project plans will reflect all required buffers and setbacks.

Since Tuesday’s meeting is only a sketch plan review – meaning the planning commission won’t take any action but only provide feedback – Krimson will need to return in the future with a formal site plan. Calverley estimates it will take another six months to complete due diligence, with a targeted groundbreaking of summer 2025. The first few apartment buildings could be ready for occupancy by the end of next year, he says, with new buildings coming online every month or so after that.

Events & Signage
Planning commissioners Tuesday will discuss possible changes to the township’s rules for events and signage. East Bay Township’s transient activity ordinance – which regulates special events – was adopted in 2010 and “resembles special events ordinances of neighboring communities,” according to Karner. It applies to flea markets, festivals, carnivals, expos, peddling, entertainment, sporting events, and temporary stands, but does not apply to farm stands, Christmas tree sales under 30 days, garage sales, and social gatherings like family reunions. The VASA, Suds & Snow, Farmland 5K, Iceman, and Mud, Sweat & Beers are examples of events that have received transient activity permits.

Planning commissioners in June discussed the “impact of transient activities on surrounding land uses and if there were standards that could be added (or removed) to lessen the possible impact of transient activities,” according to Karner. She said staff have “discussed the issue of special events with legal counsel and with other neighboring communities to better understand how they handle special events.”

Planning commissioners Tuesday will review ordinances from neighboring jurisdictions as well as Karner’s notes on potential changes that could be considered to East Bay’s rules. Those could include requiring special events to provide some sort of community benefit, regulating low-impact and high-impact events separately, and adding criteria based on the appropriateness of the location (such as access to county roads, adequate parking, access to emergency services, and adjacent land uses). East Bay could also consider limiting the number of special events permitted per parcel annually, Karner said.

Planning commissioners will also discuss standards for signage in the Regional Business District, the main commercial corridor of US-31. The new draft zoning ordinance “includes several proposed changes to the sign standards, in particular making the standards content neutral, but did not make significant changes to the RB District standards since the township is currently undertaking a public visioning effort along this corridor,” according to Karner. Planning commissioners want to review the public input shared in that visioning process about signs and billboards along the corridor as they consider updating the policy. Residents have expressed a preference for monument-style signage along the corridor, according to Karner, with less support for temporary signage, message boards, signs with tall poles, and billboards.