Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) and the Traverse City Housing Commission (TCHC) are moving forward with plans to build a new complex on LaFranier Road that would house BATA headquarters, a new transfer station, and workforce housing. More details on the project are emerging – including plans to add a daycare center and café to the site – as partners appeared before the Grand Traverse County Road Commission Wednesday to discuss access approval for the development and will next head to Garfield Township planning commissioners for a zoning review.

BATA and TCHC are working cooperatively but in separate phases on the joint public transit and housing development that could cost upwards of $40 million. The organizations have an agreement to purchase just over 50 acres of property on the east side of LaFranier Road near the Hammond Road intersection. BATA plans to close its facility at Cass and South Airport roads – which the organization has outgrown – and consolidate its headquarters and operations at the new complex. The site will also feature a second BATA transfer station, in addition to the main Hall Street hub in downtown Traverse City.

BATA’s part of the development is estimated to cost $20 million. The organization already secured a $13.38 million federal grant in August for the project and a 20 percent funding match from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), meaning over $16 million in funding has been lined up, according to BATA Executive Director Kelly Dunham.

"BATA is still reviewing options to make up the remaining shortfall," she adds. "We will have the sale of our existing assets at Cass and Diamond Drive, so there is a couple million there, and there are some local capital funds that the BATA board has designated for the project. We are also seeking some supplemental grants."

The second part of the project, led by TCHC, will include a housing community planned to include 150 apartments and roughly a dozen single-family homes. TCHC Executive Director Tony Lentych says the final number of units could change slightly based on their size (ie, the mix of one-bedroom to two-bedroom apartments). "Right now, we are planning to build five buildings in phases, plus ten to fourteen single-family houses – again, depending on land availability and size of the houses," he says.

The original estimate for the first phase of construction was $15 million – but Lentych says that could now "be as much as $20 million" with the newly announced addition of a daycare center and café on the property. Dunham explains that the goal of the overall development is to have residents live next to public transit and be able to take BATA to work or other day-to-day destinations. However, having children in daycare complicates that plan, making it difficult to coordinate daycare dropoff in the mornings and pickups in the evenings when adults are relying on public transit.

"There is obviously a daycare shortage in the area, just like there is a housing shortage," Dunham says. "We have an opportunity for people to live in a location and use public transit as their mode of transportation, but many of them have children that need to go to daycare. Having (a center on-site) really helps provide a livable experience." Dunham, who says the partners will seek to work with an independent owner-operator to run the daycare facility, hopes it can serve not just on-site residents but other families in the area. "Looking at all of the housing in that corridor in particular, there’s a real lack of facilities there," she says. "This would be putting one closer to where people are."

The planned café is also meant to contribute to the neighborhood feel of the property, Dunham says, offering a coffee shop within walking distance for residents as well as a convenience option for riders. "If people want to come in and use our park-and-ride service, they can get a cup of coffee and then hop on the bus to work," she says. A café operator has not yet been lined up for the project, according to Dunham, since planning is still in the early stages.

The next major step for project partners will be obtaining approval of a planned unit development (PUD) – or a zoning plan for a specific property – from Garfield Township. Dunham says the group is planning to submit its PUD application this week with the goal of appearing before township planning commissioners for review in January. As part of that process, BATA asked the Grand Traverse County Road Commission to review driveway/access plans for the development Wednesday. BATA hopes to build three driveways into the development; one on Hammond Road and two on LaFranier Road.

Road Commission staff expressed concerns about one of the LaFranier driveways – the southernmost approach that would be located approximately 300 feet from the LaFranier/Hammond intersection. Staff would prefer that driveway be at least 460 feet away from the intersection, meeting departmental guidelines for proximity to intersections based on speed limits and providing additional buffer space in the event the Road Commission someday builds a roundabout at the intersection. However, project consultant Doug Mansfield of Mansfield Land Use Consultants warned road commissioners that moving the driveway to 460 feet from the intersection would require crossing sensitive wetlands – the main reason the group located it closer at 300 feet. Crossing the wetlands "isn't going to be real popular" with environmental advocates in the community, Mansfield cautioned the board.

Road commissioners said they are willing to work with the project partners on the final locations of driveways, encouraging the group to continue through the township PUD approval process and get feedback from township planning commissioners on access plans before seeking final road commission approval. Barring any approval setbacks, Dunham says BATA hopes to break ground on its part of the project in late summer or early fall 2021, with a targeted move-in date of fall 2022. The BATA headquarters and transfer station are expected to be completed first, followed by the housing development – with construction on the latter likely to be spread out over several years.

Pictured: Conceptual rendering of new BATA headquarters