Traverse City commissioners Monday unanimously appointed Benjamin Marentette to serve as interim city manager through January, filling the position recently vacated by Liz Vogel. Commissioners also appointed Deputy City Clerk Sarah Lutz to serve as interim city clerk, stepping into Marentette's former position. The board Monday also approved rezoning two blocks of Union Street, accepted $550,000 in grant funding to remove and replace a Kids Creek culvert on Eleventh Street, and extended a contract for the city’s strategic planning process.

Marentette will serve as interim city manager through January 31, allowing time for a new commission to be seated following the November election who will then undertake hiring a new city manager. Marentette indicated he intends to apply to become the next permanent city manager. After turning down the role previously, Marentette said he has since received professional coaching and learned how to enforce work-life boundaries that provided him with the confidence to take on the role.

Commissioners Monday also approved rezoning the 300 and 400 blocks of Union Street between Sixth and Eighth streets from C-2 (Neighborhood Center) to C-4a (Regional Center) as recommended by the city planning commission. The board voted 5-2 to support the change, with Commissioners Jackie Anderson and Heather Shaw opposed. While the maximum building height is the same under both zoning designations – 45 feet – C-2 has a key clause that has been restricting growth in Old Town, City Planning Director Shawn Winter previously said. That clause states buildings can only go to 45 feet if one floor is residential – otherwise, the building height is limited to 30 feet. Winter noted that most properties in the two blocks are non-conforming with the current C-2 standards, so if the corridor was destroyed for some reason it couldn’t even be rebuilt as it is today. The new C-4a designation will help create consistent standards and bring buildings into zoning compliance, he said.

Commissioners also voted Monday to execute an agreement to receive a $550,000 state grant through the Watershed Center to remove and replace a culvert at the Eleventh Street crossing of Kids Creek between Division and Elmwood. The city will provide $150,000 in matching funds plus $50,000 in in-kind staff time for the project.

Finally, after recently adopting a new city strategic action plan, commissioners voted Monday to extend their contract with consulting firm Future iQ to “translate this strategic action plan to align with city commission objectives and key results,” according to a memo from Assistant City Manager Deb Allen. That process will include facilitated workshops and discussions with city commissioners, collaboration with staff “to identify where budgets and departmental plans can better align with these priorities,” and recommendations “on how to integrate these into future budgets and the CIP (capital improvement plan) and potentially make adjustments to this year’s budget,” Allen wrote. The contract extension is for an amount not to exceed $20,000.