Grand Traverse County to review new community development plan, housing study

Grand Traverse County commissioners took up a plan that could determine whether housing, transportation and development decisions move faster, or simply pass through another layer of county process. The special Board of Commissioners meeting was held at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the second-floor Commission Chambers at the Governmental Center in Traverse City, after motions at the June 3 regular meeting converted what had been a study session into a special meeting.

The agenda centered on a Community Development presentation and a separate housing study discussion. County records show the board designated funding last year for two additional full-time positions tied to expanding Community Development services, and McKenna Associates and its subconsultant Placecraft were hired to handle community engagement and initial planning work.

The project’s stated goals are practical and immediate: understand community needs, define what Community Development should do to meet internal planning needs, and help the county work more effectively on planning and development matters. That makes the department’s first test less about structure than speed, especially in a county where residents regularly encounter delays across land use, housing and infrastructure decisions.

Grand Traverse County already has several development-related tools on the books, including the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, the Economic Development Corporation, the Land Bank Authority, the PACE program and a revenue-bond program. County officials are now weighing whether a more centralized department can connect those pieces, reduce overlap and make it easier to move projects from concept to approval.

The county’s Citizen Participation Plan, adopted Sept. 24, 2014, shows that Grand Traverse County has long used a community-development framework for housing work through its Planning and Development Department. That plan says the county administers Community Development Block Grant funds and calls for consulting with adjacent communities, regional planning entities, the state, the Traverse City Housing Commission and local housing nonprofits on housing needs.

Housing pressure remains part of the same discussion. A separate report says the new housing study is one of four Grand Traverse County housing-needs studies conducted over the past 20 years, and the consultant’s proposed timeline could put the study in front of the board by the end of the summer. For commissioners, the issue now is whether the county can turn that study, and the proposed department, into a faster path for real decisions in Traverse City and across the county.