Concerns over protecting Traverse City’s water quality were a recurring theme at both the city commission and planning commission meetings this week, with leaders discussing a draft policy that would limit development in waterfront zones, balancing public safety with environmental impacts from the city’s use of salt on winter roads, and improving stormwater systems when undertaking city projects, such as the planned upcoming reconstruction of Madison and Jefferson streets.

City planning commissioners received an update from staff this week on a draft riparian buffer zone ordinance. The ordinance, which has been in the works since 2019, would create a protected zone on waterfront properties along key waterways in the city. Development would be restricted within the protected zone closest to the water, including prohibiting permanent structures, fences, impervious surfaces, or parking areas, though some recreational features like decks and boat launches/storage would be allowed. The removal of healthy trees would also be prohibited. Fertilizers, manures, and chemicals would be banned in the buffer zone, as would potentially polluting materials like compost, lawn clippings, leaf piles, garbage, and animal pens. The ordinance would seek to protect waterways by limiting shoreline hardening materials like private seawalls, bulkheads, and rubble, and would require any new landscaping that occurs in a buffer zone to only include native plants.

In its current iteration, the draft policy would establish the buffer zone on land located within 25 feet of the high-water mark of Grand Traverse Bay, Boardman Lake, and the Boardman River between Boardman Lake and the Park Street bridge. The zone would also apply to land within 10 feet of the high-water mark of Kids Creek and of the Boardman River downriver from the Park Street bridge. City Commissioner Mitch Treadwell, who also serves on the city’s planning commission, told planning commissioners this week he’d like to see the policy extended to include Mitchell Creek, tributaries to bodies on the list like Kids Creek, and other perennial water courses in the city.

City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht is currently completing a review of the draft ordinance and has flagged some areas of concern, including ensuring that the policy would not render any parcels undevelopable, which could prompt a takings claim against the city. When Trible-Laucht is finished with her review, the planning commission will review the draft again and make any necessary changes before going through a public input process and ultimately a planning commission and city commission vote to approve the policy. Treadwell indicated he’s eager to see the riparian buffer zone ordinance move forward after several years of work. “I'm a little frustrated by the fact that it's taken as long it has,” he said. “Though part of that was things like the pandemic that are outside of our control, and the fact that drafting language – even if everything is running smoothly – is a process that takes some time.”

The issue of water quality also came up in two different city commission discussions Monday, including a protracted debate about the city’s use of salt on winter roads. Staff asked for approval to order 1,400 tons of bulk salt with the option to secure another 400 tons as backup, with the city facing a deadline this week to order through the state to secure bulk pricing. City commissioners previously denied staff requests to order salt in both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, with the city’s supply dwindling down to just under 400 tons. Traverse City has used an average of 1,500 tons of salt per season over the last 13 years, ranging from a low of 842 tons up to a high of 2,372 tons. Staff expressed frustration and concern that commissioners’ unwillingness to order salt – rooted in previous boards’ desire to reduce salt usage and explore other options, like an eco-friendly alternative called Beet Heet – was posing a public safety risk. “We shouldn’t expect our streets staff to carry this nerve-wracking burden of the possibility of running out of salt,” City Streets Superintendent Mark Jones wrote to commissioners. “We are concerned with the potential of causing harm to the public we aim to protect.”

After lengthy debate and multiple failed motions Monday in an attempt to find a salt order figure a majority of commissioners could support, the board eventually agreed 5-2 to order 600 tons, with staff approved to order another 400 tons as backup if the city’s total supply drops below 800 tons. Mayor Richard Lewis voted ‘no’ on the motion because he said the figure was too low, while Commissioner Tim Werner voted ‘no’ because he said the city was overusing salt to the detriment of the environment. “All of the salt goes someplace, it doesn’t magically disappear,” he said, adding that salt either ends up in tree lawns and soil or in waterways. City Director of Public Services Frank Dituri agreed the city should keep exploring salt alternatives, including Beet Heet (which has already reduced the city's salt usage by 42 percent), liquid applications, and temperature sensors. Commissioners plan to discuss those options more as part of this spring’s budget process. However, Dituri also cautioned that salt remains the most effective tool available to communities right now to keep roads safe. “Believe me, we're all very conscious of the issues that salt has with our waterways, but we have to balance that with the protection of the population that moves across our city,” he said.

Commissioners also agreed Monday to have a recently formed ad hoc committee that is exploring establishing a city stormwater utility expand its scope to look at other stormwater issues, including potential policies for integrating and maintaining stormwater improvements in city projects. That discussion was provoked by Werner’s request to hire a consultant to create a green infrastructure design that could be integrated into reconstruction plans for Madison and Jefferson streets. Madison and Jefferson streets are set to be rebuilt from the base up in 2022-23 at a cost of $1.44 million and $939,000, respectively. Werner said there is “heightened concern” in Slabtown neighborhood about stormwater runoff and flooding, and that the road reconstruction projects offered a “fantastic opportunity to show ourselves as well as the community what’s possible and do something that’s innovative and new for Traverse City” by incorporating green infrastructure into the redesign. Commissioners didn’t move forward with hiring a consultant, but did agree to have the stormwater utility ad hoc committee look at Madison/Jefferson and other projects and make possible recommendations on stormwater improvements.