Traverse City commissioners will consider allowing bigger housing developments in industrial areas, officially recognizing the Base of Old Mission (BOOM) as a new city neighborhood association, and approving agreements with the National Cherry Festival for its 2024 and 2025 events. Those and other topics will be discussed at the commission’s 7pm meeting Tuesday – a day later than usual due to the Presidents’ Day holiday.

Industrial Zoning
City commissioners will consider approving zoning changes that could allow more multi-family housing to be built in industrial (I) zones. In a memo to commissioners, City Planning Director Shawn Winter explained that some rules for the C-2: Neighborhood Center District carried over to the I district, notably a requirement that multi-family housing not exceed 6,000 square feet. He said this size limitation was to prevent “massive buildings next to primarily single-family homes” in C-2 areas, which are primarily residential. However, I zones don’t have any other building size restrictions, with Winter saying it didn’t make sense to carry over the C-2 language and limit housing but not other uses in industrial areas.

“In other words, you could have a massive manufacturing facility of perhaps 100,000 square feet (in I zones), limited only by impervious surface limits and setbacks,” he wrote. “However, a multiple-family building could not exceed 6,000 square feet, despite being a less intense use.” Winter said the city recently received a development inquiry about building multi-family housing in an industrial district, and three city-owned properties that are being considered for housing on Woodmere Avenue and Beitner Street are also in an I zone. Changing the rules could allow more flexibility to build those and other future housing developments, Winter said. “It is not a significant change, but it will remove one of the barriers to creating more housing in the city,” he wrote.

BOOM Neighborhood
Concerns about traffic, pedestrian safety, and other issues brought residents at the base of Old Mission Peninsula together in an effort to form BOOM (Base of Old Mission), Traverse City’s ninth neighborhood association. City commissioners will vote to officially recognize BOOM as a new neighborhood association, with City Clerk Benjamin Marentette – who resides in the neighborhood – to serve as the city’s liaison to the neighborhood.

According to Marentette, the proposed neighborhood boundaries of BOOM “came into question with the possible overlap of the existing Orchard Heights Neighborhood. Further staff investigation revealed Orchard Heights was never formally organized, nor were boundaries determined.” Accordingly, as part of Tuesday’s action, Orchard Heights will be removed from the list of recognized neighborhood associations. BOOM representatives previously told The Ticker that they plan to hold a meeting in March to elect officers and form committees; they have also set up a Facebook group. 

Cherry Festival
Commissioners will consider approving agreements with the National Cherry Festival to allow the event continued use of city parks and property for the 2024 and 2025 festivals. The city negotiates with the Cherry Festival on a two-year cycle, outlining terms and costs for upcoming festivals. According to Marentette, the 2024 festival (June 29-July 6) and 2025 festival (June 28-July 5) are both anticipated to operate similarly to the 2023 and other recent festivals.

Based on annual debriefs between Cherry Festival and city staff, the agreement outlines areas of focus for upcoming events, including: continued use of a central command featuring dedicated dispatchers for emergency purposes; a hazard vulnerability evaluation of the festival prepared by Grand Traverse County Emergency Management in coordination with city and county staff; more waste collection vehicles to immediately follow parades for faster cleanup in order to open streets sooner and ensure a more complete setup; and stricter barricade requirements for more resistance to impact, with additional barricade locations added for greater safety. The Cherry Festival is also responsible for reimbursing the city for all city services directly associated with the festival.

Also at Tuesday’s commission meeting…
> Commissioners will consider approving a $50,000 contract with Traverse Connect for another year of economic development services. The contract says Traverse Connect will focus on three key areas over the next year, including Michigan Creative Coast’s entrepreneur and talent attraction program as well as economic and community development service contracting for Traverse City. The third focus area is regional workforce housing, with plans for Traverse Connect to convene regional housing workshops, compile best practices from other communities, and make recommendations on increasing the affordable housing stock and the management and tax leveraging of long and short-term rental properties.

> Commissioners will vote to release $60,000 in funding to support day shelter services at Grace Episcopal Church’s Jubilee House. Commissioners had previously agreed to put $40,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds toward the day shelter, with the goal of using those funds as matching grants. Jubilee House recently received a $20,000 grant from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians – which will pass through the city as part of the $60,000 – while other sources contributed another $20,000 in grants, maximizing the city’s full matching $40,000 contribution. Jubilee House expanded its hours last fall from four days a week (10am-1pm) to operating Monday-Friday 10am-5:30pm, providing expanded hours for showers and laundry services, additional snack foods, and more BATA bus passes for guests.

> Commissioners will vote to approve a contract with consulting firm Tower Pinkster to create a long-term facilities master plan for buildings owned by the city and Grand Traverse County. At a bid of $98,750, the firm will review nearly 500,000 square feet of facilities, buildings, and courthouses and provide a road map for the county and city to best utilize their buildings. The city will share contract costs based on its ownership stake in various buildings within the plan. County commissioners already voted to approve the contract last week.

> Chief Jim Tuller will present the 2022 annual report for the Traverse City Fire Department. According to a copy of the report, the TCFD was dispatched to 3,349 calls in 2022. Approximately 70 percent of those calls were rescue/EMS-related. “The comparison of total call volume from 2021 to 2022 is almost level,” Tuller wrote. “However, with plans for the development of more housing, hotel rooms, senior housing, and assisted living centers within the city and nearby, we anticipate an increase in demand for emergency medical advanced and basic life support services in the future.”

> Commissioners will formally accept the audit results from firm Vredeveld Haefner for the city’s 2021-22 fiscal year. The city received a clean audit and now has an unassigned fund balance of just over $6.6 million, or 34.71 percent. The city has a policy to keep its fund balance in the 15-20 percent range, a move designed to protect the city’s financial stability while also ensuring taxpayer dollars aren’t hoarded but rather spent to benefit the public. Commissioners are expected to decide how to spend down the excess fund balance at a future meeting.