Safe Harbor has cleared another major hurdle in its quest to expand to year-round operations after Traverse City planning commissioners voted unanimously this week to support the nonprofit’s special land use permit (SLUP). The application now heads to city commissioners for final approval. In other housing-related issues this week, planning commissioners reviewed a draft of proposed new short-term rental rules and city commissioners scheduled an enactment vote on housing density changes for April 7.

Safe Harbor Public Hearing
Planning commissioners recommended approval of Safe Harbor’s SLUP application to the city commission following a public hearing Tuesday, helping the nonprofit stay on track under a tight timeline to line up city approvals to begin operating the emergency shelter on a year-round basis starting in May.

The updated SLUP will allow Safe Harbor to operate between May 15 and October 15, which it’s currently not covered to do under its existing permit. To help address the city’s homelessness crisis – including the encampment at the Pines off Eleventh Street – Safe Harbor has raised $1.1 million in commitments from various community and municipal partners for each of the next two years to operate year-round. City Planning Director Shawn Winter noted there’s no “planned physical expansion of the building” itself, nor its maximum capacity of 90 beds. Safe Harbor is adding a new parking area to the east, however, with the planning commission attaching a condition to approval that a pedestrian sidewalk be constructed to connect that parking lot with the existing facility.

Assuming city commissioners also approve the SLUP, Winter noted Safe Harbor will still have to obtain other approvals before beginning construction, such as stormwater, fire, and land use permits. However, many of those permits are administrative and can be obtained relatively quickly. As a precaution, though, Safe Harbor will be given until November to complete its site improvements under the SLUP conditions. During the public hearing, resident Justin Reed – who said he had previously experienced homelessness – called Safe Harbor’s expansion a “beneficial impact for the city” that will help “drive more resources for people finding housing.”

Short-Term Rental Rules
Planning commissioners are getting closer to adopting new rules for short-term rentals (STRs) in Traverse City, which would then go to city commissioners for final approval. The board Tuesday reviewed the latest draft of the proposed changes, which would scale back the number of STRs in various city zoning districts. “All of the changes that are proposed are reductions,” Winter emphasized. “That was the intent of the planning commission.”

In some districts, the number of units in a building that can be STRs would remain the same – including 25 percent in the C-1 (Office Service), C-2 (Neighborhood Center), and D-2 (Development) districts. That level would remain 100 percent in the HR (Hotel Resort) district, because that district is specifically designed for hospitality units, Winter noted. But other districts could see significant reductions in the number of STRs allowed. That includes going from 100 percent to 0 percent in I (Industrial) and 100 percent to 25 percent in the D-3 (Development), D-1 (Development), and C-4c (Regional Center) districts. Both the C-4a and C-4b (Regional Center) districts would be reduced from 100 percent to 50 percent, while C-3 (Community Center) would be reduced from 100 percent to 35 percent.

Winter noted that percentages are higher in some districts in the heart of downtown because those areas seem more appropriate for commercial tourist activity. However, in other areas – particularly where many new residential developments are going up – the goal is that long-term tenants are not “outnumbered” by short-term visitors in those neighborhoods, Winter said. He noted the city has heard from year-round tenants in STR-heavy properties that it can be “quite miserable” to have a “revolving door” of visitors coming through their buildings.

Planning commissioners are set to hold a public hearing on the changes on April 15. They could vote that night to recommend them for approval to the city commission – or they could have continued discussion at additional meetings if needed. Planning commissioners indicated recommended STR levels in some districts could still be tweaked as discussion continues. Planning commissioners asked staff for more data on existing STRs in the city, including the number of new versus renewed licenses annually and how many licenses typically lapse each year. Planning Commissioner Brian McGillivary also suggested the city look at how many non-conforming uses might be created by scaling back the number of STRs allowed – and how the city will handle those.

Vice Chair Anna Marie Dituri noted the process to update STR rules is a “work in progress,” with the latest draft representing a “foundation to start from.” The city could also potentially look at other areas of STR changes in the future. “From what we've heard from the community, they're looking for some sort of limitations, because the market is so saturated,” she said.

R-2 Zoning Changes
City commissioners narrowly voted Monday to introduce and schedule for possible enactment on April 7 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. Winter previously 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.

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. The close vote by city commissioners to even allow the agenda item to move forward for future consideration indicates the changes could be in for an extensive debate, however. The board voted 4-3 to schedule the April 7 enactment discussion, with Mayor Amy Shamroe, Mayor Pro Tem Mark Wilson, and Commissioners Mi Stanley and Mitch Treadwell in support and Commissioners Tim Werner, Jackie Anderson, and Heather Shaw opposed.