On January 2nd there is a public hearing regarding a request by Mansfield Land Use Consultants who are acting as an agent on behalf of Blarney Castle Oil Company to rezone the property known as 2008 E.Eighth Street from R-1 (single family dwelling) to C-2 ( neighborhood district center). This particular lot (the wooded lot just to the North of the BP has station on the corner of Eighth and Munson) is targeted and abuts a single family residential neighborhood. It would eliminate a significant buffer between homes and busy Munson Ave. All those concerned with this should attend.
Information shared by a local resident.
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Mark your calendars...Jo & Jim are having their yard sale on June 28, 29, 30 and July 1. Let us know if you have picked a date for yours or if you'd like to join in at the same time as Jo & Jim.
The following excerpt is from the article, "Housing Complex, Eighth Street on the Table Monday" by Beth Milligan in the Traverse Ticker published on April 14, 2018.
"A 60-unit city housing complex, a $1.1 million project pavement project that includes the next phase of the planned reconstruction of Eighth Street, and a $915,000 sidewalk repair project could all move forward with a green light from Traverse City commissioners Monday. All three projects are on the agenda for the commission’s 7pm meeting at the Governmental Center. The Traverse City Housing Commission and Socks Construction plan to partner on East Bay Flats, a new development planned for a former Country Inn & Suites building (pictured) at 420 Munson Avenue just east of Northwestern Michigan College. The partners have a purchase agreement and hope to close within the ..." READ MORE HERE. And for those curious about the AirBnb, Granny flat debate, head here. These are my notes from the meeting. They are in no way comprehensive but my best attempt to keep everyone informed. For those in attendance, I think we can all agree the meeting started out presentations that were interrupted and became a big Q&A session. Therefore, these notes may seem disjointed or may not make a ton of sense. The information conveyed was all over the map. If I have missed anything, feel free to click the comments link above and add your thoughts or observations. Also if you feel any of these notes are inaccurate or mistaken, feel free to correct me and then I will make changes accordingly. Thanks for your understanding.
FINANCING This project is being privately financed by a group of investor’s - 13 year old non-profit. Apart from rent, HUD has nothing to do with the financial viability of the project. It’s a 5 year term, 25 year ??? (I couldn’t hear the end of this). They consider this development to be a philanthropic endeavor. He explained he is a financial investor in perpetuity. (Side note, a perpetuity is an annuity in which the periodic payments begin on a fixed date and continue indefinitely. It is sometimes referred to as a perpetual annuity. Fixed coupon payments on permanently invested (irredeemable) sums of money are prime examples of perpetuities.) They are pursuing affordability with a private sector approach: considering equity and debt. This is exclusively financed privately. They are targeting the “missing middle.” Typical barriers to a development of this kind are land acquisition and construction cost. TC Housing Commission and Socks Construction entered into the purchase agreement on December 21st, 2017 and it was a 90 day agreement. It was clarified that TC Housing Commission will own 51%, the private investors will own 40%, and Socks construction will own 9%. The goal of the project is workforce housing. They will be closing on the property within 3-6 weeks. As part of living at the apartments, you must prove your employment. Original consideration for location was the old third level crisis building which was purchased out from underneath the housing commission. On the East Bay Flats deal, they kept it under their lid until the financing was secured and the purchase agreement was in place. BUILDING CAPACITY Maximum occupancy of a one bedroom unit is 2 adults plus 1 child. Maximum occupancy of the studio unit is 2. At 60 units, this will be around 120 plus people. They explained that no-informal subletting will be allowed. STORAGE They are discussing on-site storage - have options: carports - issues with snow removal; old laundry room, in house storage. SCREENING Typical screening - multi-state background check, debt owed. Reasons for denial include criminal background within the last 5 years, work in conjunction with police departments and residents complaints are always investigated. COLLUSION Some people expressed concerns about a private construction company going into business with the housing commission. This is unusual. They explained it’s a write-off for socks, they plan to make money, and it’s an opportunity for them to learn about apartments. There were concerns of an ethical conflict of interest in regards to future bids for the city. The housing commission explained there is a process in which any entity has to bid for projects. East Bay Flats will primarily work with Socks in the build although for a few things they will get bids. FINANCIAL Additional concerns were expressed about the validity of the financial projections and the outlook for the economy and HUD funds. They explained further concern about the substantial needs of bureaucracy to run the development, the overhead involved, the risk inherent with this population, and questioned the validity of warehousing people to assist them. They have no concerns if the HUD funds run out as the way the individual apartments are designated can change at any particular time based on the economic climate and the ability of residents to pay their rents. Talked about changing the configuration of rooms and the structure of how they charge rent. Also explained it is unlikely that the investors will try to sell the building for profit as there objective is to hold the property long term. SERVICES TO THE YOUTH IN CONSIDERATION A large amount of time was spent discussing the services that will be provided to the youth who need support within the development and the validity of these programs. Alternative ideas to the programs that currently exist were offered - using current homes in the area and allowing individual homeowners to rent out rooms, airbnb, and granny flats. For students seeking education, have them seek housing at NMC, it’s reasonably affordable compared to $1000/month they will be charged at East Bay Flats. It was explained that no HUD funds can be awarded to students housed in dormitories. The average amount of time people spend in these support programs are around 2 years with the option of adding an additional 6 months. This type of program is called rapid rehousing. Concern was raised about whether this would be a magnet for people who need assistance from all around the state - and the program heads say that those individuals comprise less than 5% of the people they serve. There were questions raised if the number of residents who are at-risk can change over time and it was explained that it wouldn’t be financially viable if the building went beyond 15%. TRAVERSE CITY Traverse City is being used as a national example for these programs and services. Studies have shown that Traverse City is in need of 3,000 additional bedrooms. So 60 bedrooms makes a very small dent. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT It was also explained that the city has their eyes on the 8th street-munson avenue corridor for future developments. This project has the potential to expand to the other buildings within 3-5 years. Although those buildings may have similar purchasing structure but won't necessarily serve the same population of people or use the same programs. THE BUILDING & ITS OPERATIONS The property will be smoke free. Any plans for exterior improvements - blend building? main entrance will be in the middle of the east side next to the hotel, paint the building, maintain landscaping as is, maybe some screening, surveillance will be installed only at entrance. ZONING & TAXES The TC Housing Commission is currently exempt from paying taxes - the ordinance they are investigating will look to see if they can adjust that to have them pay the city for the services they provide, levying somewhere from 0-10%. It was discussed whether the city was concerned about a saturation point for the number of developments allowed in which the city will outgrow the infrastructure. They explained that this has been a concern of theirs as well but as far as they can tell we are definitely not close to reaching that. A commissioner explained this is a private property transaction. YOUR TURN OK, it's your turn. What did I miss? IMPORTANTMark your calendars. There is a Community Meeting taking place on THURSDAY April 12th from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm at the Governmental Center 400 Boardman Avenue Traverse City Michigan 49684. At this meeting the TC Housing Commission will officially unveil it's project to the residents and its partners will plan to make presentations about their involvement in the project. The purchase of the building is slated to take place 10 days after the meeting. This is an important meeting to be the most informed about the project. Please plan to attend.
This information was given to the residents who showed up for the tour. Tony Lentych asked us not to publish the information as it was a draft but some residents said they would like a copy so here it is. Keep in mind this was accurate information as of 3.18.18.
The following video was taken from the City of Traverse City Commission meeting on April 2, 2018. These are the legalities they are currently investigating regarding an annual service fee and a variance associated with an ordinance and the municipal services agreement.
4.5.18 We just received this additional information about the development as well.
Today a few neighbor's showed up outside the Country Inn & Suites and were prepared to be met by the city commissioners as well as other interested parties who wanted a tour of the establishment. As far as I know, there was one commissioner present Brian McGillivary and Tony Lentych of the TC Housing Commission but all other parties beyond our community members were there as some extension of the project. There were furniture people who were putting in a bid for the job as well as people who were vested in the "at-risk youth" portion of the development.
WHY THIS PROPERTY? THE PURCHASE Within moments of being there, we learned from the TC Housing Commission Tony Lentych that the property was in it's final phases of being purchased. At the end of this week, they plan to put their final money down and within 30 days are expected to close. This was an unexpected timeline and a significant compromise of transparency. Apparently, Socks Construction approached the TC Housing Commission, who has been trying to find a location for this type of development for over 20 years, about the project. The current owner of the Country Inn & Suites was looking at a quick sale to facilitate off-loading this particular building before the tourist season begins. Right now the building they are considering purchasing is made of concrete and in relatively good condition to retro-fit. The other two parts of the Country Inn & Suites will remain a hotel for a period of approximately 5 years after which the TC Housing Commission, if successful with this project, will likely purchase the rest of the buildings. The rest of the buildings are not made of concrete and likely would be a tear down-new build scenario. Despite this operation being touted as a small project with minimal disturbances to the community, they will be using it as a blueprint for future developments along the eighth street-munson avenue corridor. The stipulation was that the housing commission was not trying to keep people uninformed but that it was part of the nature of the opportunity this building purchase presented. The hotel was never officially listed for sale. Their intention for getting community feedback on the project is to hold a meeting some time next month. Let's be frank, the community feedback is only to effect the operations of the project but not to help determine whether the project is a good idea in the first place. That decision has already been made or at least will be made by the end of the week. It was also mentioned that businesses in this corridor seem to be suffering and that there has been significant turn-around over the past few years. This set up the area as an ideal location because of it's proximity to Northwestern Michigan College and the ease with which it's occupants can get to downtown. AT-RISK YOUTH & FINANCES We were also informed that 75-80% of the occupants were expected to be youth who needed affordable housing but had jobs and did not fall under the "at-risk youth" designation and 20-25% (10-14 units) of the occupants were to be the "at-risk youth." This means that the financial stability of the building will not rely on whether the "at-risk youth" are able to make their rent payments. The project is definitely a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) program but is apparently going to bring in $2000 more in taxes than the current hotel would. No one offered a comparison of taxes that would be raised if the facility was used to house people at a normal market housing rate (purchased by a developer without assistance). When asked if they are aware that federal HUD funds have depleted over the past few years without hope of being renewed anytime soon, they said that they knew that. Once the building is purchased the financial feasibility will depend on the 75-80% occupants who have jobs and can pay the rent out right (without assistance). OPERATIONS When asked about a 24-hour management office on the premises they explained that this was not their intention. The only staff on site would be a single or perhaps two "resident-assistance" type persons who would live there permanently to assist the at-risk population and to make sure everyone was abiding by their leasing agreements. They also explained that the at-risk population would be receiving additional assistance besides affordable housing while residing there (implied counseling, job assistance, career counseling, etc.) In addition, they told us not to discount a neighbor's willingness to report inappropriate activities. They said they would not allow subletting but did not indicate how they would handle kids allowing other kids to stay for extended periods of time. SAFETY Regarding safety, one proposal was having a fence installed along eighth street boundary (not sure how the fire department would feel about that or how likely plugging up an exit to the property would be). They also mentioned that they as owners could have dogs search the property whenever they wanted. Moreover, the "resident-assistant" would serve as a watch dog to make sure that everyone was doing what they are supposed to be doing. They did explain that they have evicted people before and also that drugs would not be allowed on the property. Parking permits were proposed as a way to quickly identify cars that do not belong on the property. There was little concern about the potential for increased crime and even less concern about how it will be handled should it become a prolific problem. ANSWERS STILL NEEDED Most importantly, how will it effect our property values? How will they prevent the property from becoming an eye-sore? What are the screening guidelines for the residents? How will this impact neighboring hotels especially if it is allowed to deteriorate? Will the infrastructure of the area support the increase in permanent residents? Thank you to everyone who came out today. Your opinions are important and we are trying our best to represent your concerns. CALLING ALL INTERESTED COMMUNITY MEMBERS! Tomorrow, Monday March 19th at 1:30 pm city commissioners have been invited to the Country Inn & Suites to tour the site. If a quorum shows it will change to an open meeting and anyone can attend. I am planning on showing up to this meeting and am hoping other community members can make it as well.
I'd love to develop a set of questions/comments that represent our concerns as a community. If you can't attend, please share any questions/comments you have and I will share them with all in attendance at the meeting. Here's what we have so far:
All voices are important. Please share your thoughts with us. This story comes directly from the Traverse Ticker and is one of major reasons behind forming this site. It is imperative that our voice is represented in order to ensure the best outcome for our community. After clicking through to the Traverse Ticker please come back to Cromwell Terrace TC and share your take on what is happening in the comments section above. Would you be interested in forming a united front to try to get our voices heard? "Traverse City Ticker
By Beth Milligan | Feb. 24, 2018 A former Munson Avenue hotel building could be converted into a 60-unit city housing complex offering apartments for both at-risk youth and individuals in the “missing middle” of the region’s income and housing markets. The Traverse City Housing Commission and Socks Construction plan to partner on East Bay Flats, a new development planned for a former Country Inn & Suites building (pictured) at 420 Munson Avenue just east of Northwestern Michigan College. The partners have a purchase agreement on the property and are conducting due diligence ahead of a planned April closing; if finalized, the deal will bring 46 one-bedroom and 14 studio apartments to the site. Construction is estimated to start in May, with the first units available in July and the development completed by November. Read more here." |
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