Traverse City Light & Power is going back to the drawing board for its Cedar Run Road property after a potential buyer walked away, construction work is set to start on East Ninth Street and Griffin Street next week, and city planning commissioners will discuss potential zoning changes Wednesday in The Ticker’s latest look at city updates.

TCLP Property
A planned housing development on Traverse City Light & Power (TCLP) property on Cedar Run Road has fallen through, sending the city-owned utility back to the drawing board to consider the future of the nearly 50-acre vacant parcel (pictured).

TCLP board members voted in December to accept an $850,000 purchase offer from LivWell Homes for the site just west of Barney Road, which was used in the past for the disposal of coal ash from the former Bayside Power Plant. Due to sealed underground contamination, only 33.5 of the nearly 50 acres are useable. LivWell had proposed to build a new neighborhood featuring a mix of 73 residential units, playgrounds, public trails, and a community garden on the property.

However, TCLP announced Thursday that LivWell has “exercised its contractual right to conclude the purchase agreement.” With the agreement ended, “TCLP is taking the opportunity to pause and thoughtfully evaluate its next steps and potential opportunities for the property moving forward,” the utility said. “Any decisions will be guided by the utility’s mission, operational needs, and commitment to delivering long-term value to its customers and the community.”

If board members decide to again try to dispose of the property – or any portion of it – that process “will be conducted through the public solicitation of proposals and offers, consistent with the utility’s established approach to property transactions,” according to TCLP.  Multiple residents and community groups have advocated to see the property – which features rolling terrain and scenic views of West Grand Traverse Bay – become a public park, but a purchase offer has not yet materialized to support that vision.

Street Projects
With work underway on Fourteenth and Eleventh streets – both projects that are expected to be complete by September 12, weather permitting – crews will start work this coming week on two new city streets: East Ninth Street and Griffin Street.

East Ninth Street will undergo a full reconstruction from Union Street to Cass Street. Planned work includes new curbs and asphalt, watermain, sanitary and storm sewer upgrades, bioswales, and galvanized service replacements. According to the city’s website, no parking is allowed on the north side of East Ninth Street between West Union Street and Lake Avenue on even days and on the south side of East Ninth Street in the same stretch on odd days.

Griffin Street is set to be paved between Pine Street and Locust Street, with work to also include sewer replacement and a water main extension. City staff earlier this year described improvements from the Mobility Action Plan also planned in the Griffin Street work, including “sharrows” – arrow-shaped pavement markings indicating a shared lane environment for cars and bikes. The markings don’t establish a separate bike lane but rather serve as a visual reminder to drivers to share the road with cyclists. A multi-use trail connection from Locust to Union across a city-owned parcel north of Speedway is also planned.

City commissioners earlier this year approved a not-to-exceed $3.8 million contract (including contigencies) with Team Elmer’s for city street reconstruction work this year, a package that included East Ninth Street, Eleventh Street, East Twelfth Street, Fulton Street, and Griffin Street. All streets on the list are expected to be complete by mid-November, City Engineer Anne Pagano tells The Ticker.

Zoning
Finally, Traverse City planning commissioners will discuss several potential zoning changes Wednesday. The board has been looking at updating the city’s conditional zoning ordinance, which allows a property owner to voluntarily propose conditions for using and developing land in exchange for the city rezoning the property. According to the ordinance, construction associated with an approved conditional rezone must be 75 percent complete within two years and 100 percent complete within three years, with the possibility of a one-time, one-year extension. Some developers have struggled to meet that timeline, which prompted the planning commission to reexamine the policy.

Deputy City Planner/Sustainability Coordinator Leslie Sickterman says that after reviewing a dozen other area ordinances, only four allow conditional rezoning – and only one of the four have “any time limit.” The city could consider removing the time restriction entirely, changing the 75 percent rule to instead be a construction benchmark (like requiring footings to be installed and inspected), taking the language out and leaving the ordinance silent on the issue of conditional rezoning, or prohibiting conditional rezoning outright. City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht is advocating for its removal, explaining in a memo: “While conditional rezoning is permitted under Michigan law and provides flexibility, it also increases risk to the city because the process is not well defined and could easily become an impermissible negotiation between the applicant and the city. Since the city is not required to offer conditional rezoning as an option under the law, it may be worth considering whether to amend the zoning ordinance and remove it.”

Planning commissioners will also consider tightening up the city’s rules on commercial façade materials and design standards – the vagueness of which recently prompted extensive debate when the board approved a new hotel on Front Street – and discuss a zoning text amendment requested by applicant Scott Jozwiak to remove residential density limits in hospital districts. Those districts have a maximum density limit of 29 dwelling units per acre, but Jozwiak pointed out that the purpose of such districts is to “accommodate medical centers, hospitals, and related functions, including supportive housing types. Regulating dwelling density in this district does not serve a clear planning objective and, in practice, poses an unnecessary constraint to redevelopment opportunities.”

City Planning Director Shawn Winter notes that the city’s trend has been toward removing density limits, suggesting the board also consider addressing density limits in the NMC and Hotel Resort districts. Planning commissioners Wednesday will also discuss creating a policy for public office hours, which could establish a schedule in which planning department staff and commissioners are available to meet with the public and answer questions or discuss projects and policies.

Pictured: TCLP property on Cedar Run Road. Photo credit: Traverse City Ticker, Tim Pulliam.