Traverse City planning commissioners will tackle a trio of housing-related issues at their 6pm meeting tonight (Tuesday), including holding a public hearing on zoning changes to allow more density in certain residential neighborhoods, continuing discussion on short-term rental rules, and getting a first look at Safe Harbor’s permit request to expand to year-round operations.

R-2 Housing Density
Planning commissioners will hold a public hearing tonight on proposed changes to the R-2 (mixed density residential) zoning district that would allow up to four dwelling units instead of two to be built on properties. City Planning Director Shawn Winter noted the rules would still limit the maximum of residential structures to two, but would allow new configurations like two duplex buildings, a triplex with an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), or a quadplex. “Essentially, the only change is how a residential building may be divided on the inside to accommodate the allowed number of dwelling units,” he wrote in a memo to the board.

Setbacks, height limits, impervious surface limits, and lot width and area would also remain the same, so the changes “would not permit something to be built in terms of scale and placement other than what is allowed today,” Winter wrote. The intention of the changes is to increase opportunities for more infill housing in residential neighborhoods while still maintaining the aesthetic character of the neighborhoods. As one example of how the increased density could help, Winter previously said that a property owner in Traverse Heights has five adjacent R-2 lots he wants to use for community housing. The current rules limit him to building duplexes, but Winter said the owner would build quadplexes if allowed, creating more in-town housing.

The proposed zoning changes were part of a package of housing density recommendations made by the planning commission to city commissioners in 2023. While most of those recommendations were approved, city commissioners never voted on the proposed R-2 changes. 

Following the hearing, planning commissioners will vote tonight on making a recommendation to the city commission – which has final approval – on the proposed changes. Even if the planning commission votes to deny a recommendation, the amendment still procedurally must go to city commissioners for a final determination.

Short-Term Rentals
Planning commissioners will continue discussion on changing the city’s short-term rental (STR) rules – with the goal of reducing the number of units allowed citywide. There are two types of allowable STRs in Traverse City: tourist homes, or hosted owner-occupied rentals, and vacation home rentals, which do not need to be owner-occupied. While tourist homes are allowed in residential districts, vacation home rentals are not. The city maintains live database maps showing where all such licensed units are operating.

After multiple discussions on the issue, Winter said planning staff are in a “holding pattern waiting for direction from the planning commission on how to proceed.” He suggested an approach of continuing the city’s “current system of regulating the percent of vacation rental homes permitted in each building.” Under existing rules, vacation rentals are capped at 25 percent of a building’s units in the C-1 and C-2 districts, as well as in the D-2 (development), HR hotel/resort, and I (industrial) districts. However, several other districts – including C-3 (community center), C-4 (regional center), D-1 (development), and D-3 (development) – allow unlimited vacation rentals in buildings.

Winter said planning commissioners could “identify districts where a reduction is desired from the current 100 percent of dwelling units permittable.” The board could then “determine the most appropriate reduced percentage, as it may be desired to have different thresholds in different districts.” Another consideration would be deciding if STRs should be prohibited outright in any districts that currently allow them, Winter said. “This is only staff’s recommendation (for a path forward), but the planning commission’s prerogative to decide,” Winter wrote.

Safe Harbor
Planning commissioners will hold their first formal review of a special land use permit (SLUP) application from Safe Harbor to expand its emergency shelter operations year-round. Safe Harbor recently hit its $1.1 million fundraising goal for a year-round budget thanks to contributions from a variety of community and municipal partners and now must go through the city SLUP process for a permit.

Winter said numerous city departments are still reviewing Safe Harbor’s application, so the staff report is not yet complete. However, staff sought to get the application materials in front of planning commissioners so the board can start reviewing the proposal ahead of a March 18 public hearing. 

Safe Harbor is on a tight timeline to go through multiple meetings required at both the planning and city commission levels to get approval and be ready to operate year-round starting in May. The city has pledged to help Safe Harbor navigate the process as smoothly as possible, since the city is helping fund the shelter. “The intent is to avoid having the seasonality of the emergency shelter lapse, requiring the guests to vacate, only to be potentially transitioning back through an approved year-round operation,” Winter wrote.

Pictured: Different housing combinations allowed now and potentially allowed under proposed R-2 changes in the city