Progress in Petoskey
Many of our Northwest Michigan communities are engaged in a program through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) called Redevelopment Ready, often referred to as RRC (Redevelopment Ready Communities).
Becoming a Redevelopment Ready Community through MEDC is a long process that guides best practices and helps to streamline planning and zoning. It is by no means a silver bullet for redevelopment, but it does afford access to technical support and funding mechanisms through the MEDC. It helps a community define priorities and identify specific sites while creating a shared vision for residents and voting bodies. In rural Northern Michigan, we have limited opportunities to engage with statewide organizations like MEDC because most of our communities cannot meet the requirements of walkability or a mixed-use commercial district, or in other words a Main Street. The City of Petoskey has been certified as an RRC for years and still has a difficult time matching projects to MEDC funds and support. This year, through the dedication of City staff and the shared capacity of our Housing Ready Program support, MEDC will help three separate projects break ground within Petoskey City limits!
316 Lake Street is a mixed-use redevelopment within the Central Business District of Petoskey. It will create six upper-floor dwelling units using MEDC’s Michigan Community Revitalization Program funding and collaboration with the City of Petoskey for a historic Facade Grant and Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act tax incentives. Both the City of Petoskey and the development team, Howard Properties, are eager to see this project begin this summer.
The Wine Guys Restaurant Group is working with MEDC’s Rental Rehabilitation Program (through Community Development Block Grant funding) to rebuild the unused and unfinished upper-floor office space above the City Park Grill into five new apartments. The City of Petoskey is overseeing the grant with the help of the Northern Lakes Economic Alliance.
Also beginning this summer within Petoskey City limits is the Lofts at Lumber Square. Over the last few years, with affordability in mind, the Petoskey Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation collaborated with G.A. Haan Development to purchase and develop the old Hinkey Lumber yard lot on Emmet Street into 60 new apartment units. They were awarded money from MEDC’s Revitalization and Placemaking grant with additional funding through the Community Revitalization Program. The parcel was a priority redevelopment site for the City of Petoskey as designated in their RRC Master Plans.
It is important for our Housing Ready communities to recognize the challenge of small-scale in-fill projects as well as the major site transformations of giant redevelopment opportunities. Helping a private property owner in a downtown district invest in an upgrade that will have a long-term positive impact on the quality and viability of the local economy, can be just as time-consuming as assisting a large development team. Both are impossible without significant support and funding.
Rural units of government now have better access to tax incentive tools that identify “Enterprise Zones,” or districts within a community. If we inform those development incentives with a set of priorities and ideas, then communities and developers become partners, not opponents. Additionally, the opportunity for public input to inform the planning process, allows more decisions to be made administratively during development, which saves time and money.
The best first step for our communities is the plan, priorities, and shared vision. Whether it is through the RRC program, an intense Master Plan re-evaluation (especially using the Michigan Association of Planners 2022 Housing Toolkit), or some infrastructure engineering and studies, all intentional community development begins with a well-informed plan. Thankfully, more statewide entities like Michigan Statewide Housing Development Authority and the Office of Rural Development are recognizing, like MEDC, that our rural communities need access to the larger funding mechanisms, but first, they need a good plan.
Townships and municipalities often use planning consultants (both for-profit and non-profit) for Master Plan Reviews every five years, but a Sub-Area Plan can be initiated at any time and is a great way for a community to get help with a smaller area or neighborhood. Universities sometimes offer opportunities for students to create limited community planning projects for lower fees than a consulting firm.
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