Planning Commissioners to Talk Proposed Treatment Facility, Zoning Changes

Traverse City planning commissioners will review a proposal from Addiction Treatment Services to open a residential care facility for women on State Street at their 7pm meeting tonight (Tuesday). Planning commissioners will also discuss a rezoning request on Munson Avenue – which would allow Third Coast Bakery to upgrade its space and other health and food-related businesses to open on the site – and consider setting a public hearing on a series of proposed housing density changes.

Addiction Treatment Services Facility
Planning commissioners will review a special land use permit application tonight from Addiction Treatment Services (ATS) to open a residential care and treatment facility at 441 East State Street (pictured).

The ATS facility would house up to 10 individuals diagnosed with substance abuse disorder, according to the application. “The current plan is to use this home to service those who identify as women, pregnant women, and women with their children,” wrote ATS CEO Paula Lipinski. “The average stay would be 30-60 days (about 2 months). The facility would be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with 3-4 staff working during the day and l-2 staff working in the evenings.” Lipinski said the facility would have medical staff available on call 24-7, with Lipinski and the ATS chief clinical officer also reachable 24-7.

According to project documents, ATS bought the property – which is currently being used for multi-family housing – in 2018 from the Women’s Resource Center, which ran a residential shelter for women and their children called Sara’s House. “Prior to that, going back to the early 2000s, it was called Miracle Manor which was a rooming house for women and their children operation by Overlook Resources, Inc.,” according to a memo from City Planning Director Shawn Winter. “Through a collaboration with Catholic Human Services, they were able to provide special clinical treatment services offsite at one of their locations on Hastings Street or Logan’s Landing. There’s been a long history of this property providing residential care to women and their children who are experiencing various needs. This request builds off of that history, with the exception that it would now allow care and treatment on-site.”

Winter highlighted a few aspects of the application that planning commissioners will need to consider. The city attorney is preparing a legal opinion on “on whether or not children will need to be included in the resident count that needs to stay at 12 or below for the property’s street classification,” Winter wrote. The construction code office and fire department are also doing research to confirm the status of past fire inspections on the property. Planning commissioners will also need to determine whether occasional meetings can be held on-site, as is proposed in the application.

Winter said planning commissioners could still move ahead tonight with scheduling a public hearing on the application for June 6 and then making a recommendation to city commissioners on whether to approve or deny the project. City commissioners will have final approval over the application. A fire inspection wouldn’t be required until the special land use permit is issued after approval, Winter noted – providing time to resolve any outstanding application issues.

Zoning Changes
Two different zoning-related issues will appear on the city planning commission agenda tonight. The first is a request from John Collins of Empire Sunset Investments LLL to 523, 525, and 551 Munson to C-2 (neighborhood center district). The first two parcels are currently zoned C-1 (office service district), while the third parcel is zoned R-1b (single-family dwelling district). In a memo to planning commissioners, Collins noted that the current zoning on the site – which houses Third Coast Bakery – “has a limited list of allowed uses and restricts even a modest improvement to the existing Third Coast Bakery building.”

Calling the bakery “a wonderful Traverse City start-up success story,” Collins said he was seeking to allow the business to make upgrades “to improve operations and customer service.” He added that the overall vision for the site is to allow “other complementary health-based service and food-related businesses” to move in, creating a destination for “those desiring a range of health-focused retail products and services.”

In a staff report, Winter said the request is “consistent with the goals and future land use plan of the city’s master plan and would represent an appropriate and consistent transition in land use between the Munson Avenue commercial corridor and the residential neighborhood to the east and southeast.” If planning commissioners agree after tonight’s public hearing, they can vote to recommend the project for approval to the city commission, which has final say over the application.

Planning commissioners tonight will also vote to formally introduce a series of proposed zoning changes to create more housing density in the city and to schedule a June 6 public hearing on the amendments. The city recently launched an interactive online story map that details the proposed changes and how they will affect different properties in the city. The changes range from lifting restrictions on accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to reducing the minimum lot width and area in residential neighborhoods to easing requirements on building cluster housing and two homes on one lot.  

In a memo to planning commissioners, Winter noted that some comments have been made “that the planning commission is rushing this process.” To provide “clarity and context” on that point, Winter provided links to all the meeting packets where planning commissioners have publicly discussed housing, noting there have been “20 meetings in total.” Ahead of the June 6 public hearing, the city will host an open house at the Park Place Hotel on May 16 at 7pm to review the proposed changes and answer any questions from the public.