There’s a New Code Enforcer in Town
Council voted to contract with Jim Baldwin, and the Planning Commission discussed the Zoning Atlas, a historic district, and parking. Plus: Celebration Week! And a job opportunity.
The Planning Commission commenced their part of the joint meeting first. Michael Murphy was having vehicle issues, so it was Jim Baldwin, Ryan Fiebing, Megan Gray, and chair Jon Ottinger.
Jon and Jim had attended the Zoning Atlas open house discussion for Benzie and Manistee counties on June 27 put on by Housing North and the Michigan Association of Planning.
Jon said the Zoning Atlas project applies to Benzie County more than to Elberta, since there aren’t many developable undeveloped parcels in the Village. But the zoning rules in the Village (along with those of the 5 other villages, the city, the 12 townships, and the various ghost towns) would be included in whatever Benzie County produces by way of information for the atlas. He said Housing North seeks to raise $50,000–$100,000 with the goal of incorporating all 10 counties in the Northwest Michigan region; they’ve completed Grand Traverse County and Antrim.
The idea is to produce a live map illustrating land-use restrictions, parking, setbacks, and other details to save zoning administrators, developers, researchers, and the public a lot of time, energy, pipe dreams, and fruitless emails: people will be able to go online to see what uses are allowed and where there’s room for growth in municipalities all over the country. This kind of clear, accessible, synthesized information can also be used, per Housing North, to drive policy change—for example, to solve the ongoing housing crisis. Jim said, “It’s a handy tool for developers. It provides a lot of layers, so they can look up [properties] and home in on exactly what they’re looking to do, and also for planning commissions, to see what kinds of opportunities there are for changes to ordinances, such as where we need higher density properties.”
Jon said, “There’s fill-in here and there [in the Village] but there aren’t large sections of land where someone could put in 10 houses. What they can do is look at individual lots in different neighborhoods and see what they can build there. And then go bother Josh.” (Mills, our ZA.)
During public comment, Arlene Sweeting (WUWU, the Elberta Labor Heritage Center, and a new member of Parks & Recreation) mentioned the possibility of becoming a certified local government, “which would allow the Village to access additional grant funding. The first part of that is enacting a local historic district ordinance.” Jon asked her to email him so he could put it on the agenda for August. Ryan suggested discussing it with Jenn Cram, our Beckett & Raeder planning consultant, to see how she’d recommend including it in the ordinance.
Jon made the motion and the commission unanimously voted to recommend Jim Baldwin to council to serve as code enforcement officer. Jon said, “I’ve only known Jim a few months, but we’re thrilled to have him on the planning commission, with his background and his experience, and his willingness to make an investment in Elberta, not only monetary but a personal, time-consuming investment.”
The planning commission paused their meeting and the council members not already at the table (Jennifer Wilkins and Ken Holmes) joined them there.
Jen Wilkins said Bill O’Dwyer couldn’t make the meeting because he was flying, but there was a quorum with three.
Jen said she was able to reach all of Jim’s references, and they were “glowing.” The words “integrity,” “great mentor,” and “experience with ordinances” were all intoned. Baldwin would be an independent contractor (not an employee) and would bill for his services, the same way Josh Mills does.
Jen asked Jim if he had any particular areas he’d like to tackle first, and Jim said “blight.” He said his approach is advocacy first, with the goal to help people get on a “pathway toward compliance.” Ryan said our blight ordinance probably needs to be reviewed and improved. Jen referred to our new Dangerous Structures ordinance. She said Jim would have help from the clerk and DPW in identifying problems and doing paperwork. Ryan mentioned the idea of an ordinance review committee, and Jim said, “I like it.” So, chat: If you’re interested in applying for that committee, please do! Council voted unanimously to authorize Jen Wilkins to sign the contract with Jim Baldwin.
The planning commission meeting resumed.
Jen Cramm of Beckett & Raeder had thought she might produce another draft of the zoning ordinance by this meeting, but it was not to be. She now expects to have it for the August meeting. Jon mentioned that Cramm has ended up donating some time to our project.
The commission had an informal discussion of rooming/boarding houses and sober living facilities and the implications for parking of having 10 or more units on a property. Jon said that current group housing in the Village doesn’t seem to pose a parking issue. Ryan said the new ordinance has a requirement of one parking space per unit; for example a “single family house” is considered a unit, and we only require one parking space. “It gets to the question of what is a family,” Ryan said. “Potentially, some of these [types of housing] could only be approved if there was enough space for parking.” Per Michigan law, we are required to allow facilities like adult foster care. He said a project like this might have to go through a special land use approval process with a site plan review and a public hearing. “We should allow those things, but with extra discussion. Some lots could accommodate it but not every lot. With a four unit apartment, there’d have to be at least 4 parking spaces, the way our ordinance is written.”
Megan said that depending on the type of facility, such as addiction treatment centers, we might want to consider the density of the neighborhood and proximity of surrounding houses vis à vis noise. She also brought up the issue of street parking and the fluctuation of that availability from winter to summer. Megan lives in a four unit building that doesn’t *quite* have four parking spaces and has to rely on street parking to some extent.
Ryan said when it comes to dealing with noise and other nuisance issues, that falls under the purview of the code enforcement officer more than zoning. He referred to a design he’d seen for an affordable four-unit house-size structure. He said he would prefer that multifamily buildings be smaller (and thus more affordable) rather than the large condo buildings that a lot of people (for example in Traverse) are averse to. He cited the example of Megan’s building as positive. In the most recent draft of the new ordinance, multifamily is allowed in the flexible residential district and the commercial district but not on the ground floor in the latter.
Ryan and Megan mentioned the possibility that public transport could eventually expand to obviate the need for so much parking. It’s a “chicken and egg” scenario, because the expansion of say, Benzie Bus routes, would require demand, and demand requires housing. Megan wondered if there could be a Village lot. Ryan said in the coming parkland, there is brownfield that will need to be capped with concrete. “That will hopefully not be the only option.… In Frankfort they’ve removed their commercial parking requirement and left it up to the businesses to create partnership deals with others and say, share parking lots with the school. There are methods of providing parking for housing and employees that isn’t all on site.”
The commission expects to have the new zoning ordinance drafted by October, so that by the time a developer is chosen for the 9 acres (see below), they will have one single document to look at, rather than the old ordinance plus amendments approved so far.
In public comment I asked if they knew yet how the Putney property (old Bay Valley Inn/Elberta School) would be zoned. Ryan said a public hearing would be held eventually on a future land use map. “It’s zoned C1 commercial now, but we want to change it to flexible residential.” “Because that could easily become—” “It could turn into a Meijers,” Ryan said. “Or Oryana!” I said. My second question was about paving, whether there were restrictions on how much of a lot a person can pave over to create more parking. Ryan said there will be an impervious coverage maximum per lot. “You’d have to have enough open space to create the required parking” without exceeding that maximum. (In other words, no, you can’t entirely pave paradise.) Permeable pavers would not count against that amount (but this all still has to be spelled out in the ordinance).
Arlene asked if other commercial districts would be rezoned. Ryan said the proposal is to rezone only the Putney property from C1 to Flexible Residential. “The Downtown District currently extends down along Furnace Avenue for quite a ways, and [in the new ordinance] we separated out a portion of that and called it Neighborhood Commercial instead of Downtown, because in Downtown, currently, you’re allowed to build with no setbacks all along Furnace.” What they are trying to do is create a separate category that will still allow things like ice cream shops in that district but with larger setback requirements, in keeping with the current character. “Some people thought we were creating new commercial, but we were actually trying to keep the way it looks now without downzoning.” Meanwhile, new setbacks in some districts will allow for porches that are closer to the street; for example, if the new ordinance had been in effect, Dan Carter would not have needed a variance for his porch.
Jon took the opportunity, since the press was there, he said, to complain about the fact that we need to pay for postal delivery in Elberta (rent a PO Box) if we want an Elberta address. “I do not live in Frankfort!” he said, and then said it again. “We’re saving the post office tens of thousands of dollars every year by not having home delivery.”
I agree! It’s an abomination. It’s like $100! But also, I like my PO Box a lot. It gives me at least one reason to leave my property every day.
Celebration Week: Learn About ‘the End’*
Once you’ve recovered from the Independence Day, which I hope will merely involve rest and not battle scars, please come out for the series of events put on by the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy July 7 to 12 in celebration of the property newly conserved on Elberta’s Betsie Bay and Lake Michigan shoreline. Here’s the schedule.
Monday July 7: 7pm to 9:15 pm Jammin’ Mondays features Snacks & Five, which is local favorite G Snacks plus vocalist Jack Fivecoate, and an information table by the land conservancy, where they will be available to answer all your burning questions about the new western park and preserve and the 9 acre development. As always, free admission.
Wednesday July 9: 3 pm Wild and Scenic Film Festival at the Garden Theater. Learn what inspires the Conservancy’s work and what makes Elberta such a score. Free admission.
Thursday July 10: 10 am to Noon Invasive species cleanup at Elberta Beach, sponsored by the Northwest Michigan Invasive Species network. Learn from Conservancy staff how to identify the special native plants, animals, and fungi on the property and become a better steward of this protected site. Register here.
* Justin Towle referred to the property by this epithet once in a meeting and I like it. This is not the official name, which I believe is still to be determined.
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Great read, love to see how you enforce