East Bay Township tax plan faces viability questions after key opt-outs

Grand Traverse County, the Bay Area Transportation Authority and Northwestern Michigan College have all opted out of East Bay Township’s Beach District tax increment financing plan, stripping three major public institutions from a 20-year district that was expected to capture nearly $6.5 million.

NMC’s unanimous vote on April 27 removed an estimated $1.3 million that would have been captured over two decades. County commissioners voted April 14 to exempt county taxes from capture, and BATA followed on April 23, leaving East Bay Charter Township with a much narrower base for a plan built around the US-31 Beach District corridor from Avenue B to Holiday Road.

The corridor improvement authority was established in October 2025 after a public visioning process that township officials said drew more than 700 participants. Township website materials say more than 440 people responded to an initial survey, followed by a design charrette, pop-up events and a second survey. The district is intended to finance a 20-year package of improvements, including safer pedestrian crossings roughly every quarter-mile, sidewalk completion, winter sidewalk maintenance, a pedestrian pier near the north end of Four Mile Road and placemaking work. Possible changes to the Bayline bus route are also part of the concept.

The money at stake is not small. East Bay’s early projections showed annual capture starting at just over $33,000 in year one and rising to more than $652,000 by year 20. With the county, BATA and NMC out, the district loses the public leverage that was supposed to help seed those improvements. What remains is a smaller pool of taxable value inside the Beach District, along with the USDA Rural Development planning grant and a Michigan Coastal Management Program grant that township officials say already support the effort.

NMC President Nick Nissley said the Beach District falls outside the college’s core role and that the college’s tax dollars should stay focused on teaching and student success. That stance matters because the college alone would have contributed a significant share of the total capture, while the county and BATA decisions further narrow the financing plan.

The East Bay Beach District Corridor Improvement Authority still has monthly work ahead, and the township board can still move ahead with its Development and TIF Plan. But after the three biggest public opt-outs, the central question has shifted from whether the corridor deserves reinvestment to whether the financing structure is still strong enough to deliver it.