Sleeping Bear Gateways Council On The Hunt For Affordable Housing Land

When it comes to the county’s housing crisis, the Sleeping Bear Gateways Council figures it’s time for action. Time for concrete steps.

It’s not that this nonprofit group hasn’t taken action until recently. They’ve commissioned studies, made attempts to work with various entities to secure land for housing and made other moves toward ensuring that working people have a place to live.

But now, as land prices continue to climb, they are in full-on fundraising mode. Specific housing plans are important, but they want to buy land ASAP and figure the rest out later.

With a goal of enough land for 300 housing units (not necessarily all together) the group has raised about $600,000 in money and/or commitments in the last few months, leaders there say. The money is exclusively for buying land, board member Mike Rivard tells The Ticker.

“We decided that we’re going to buy land and warehouse it, because the longer we wait, the more expensive it gets, and the less opportunity there will be to buy parcels that (make sense) for affordable housing,” Rivard says. “You can’t solve this problem if you don’t have the land.”

The fact that they’ve been able to get this much support in such a short time suggests the issue is important to county residents, Rivard added. They doubled their initial $300,000 fundraising goal and are continuing to solicit donations and pledges.

“It kind of justifies what we're doing (when) our neighbors in the community are willing to put money to work to try and find ways to solve this issue,” he says.

Acquiring land could also be a powerful catalyst in terms of getting a project off the ground, Rivard says.

“Once you have the land, you attract the attention of nonprofit developers and other sources of funding that people want to support if they see there's action,” he says.

The group is eying four properties – three in Empire Township and one is in Kasson Township. Three would be bought, while another would be leased long-term. It’s possible that all four of these come to fruition, or that none of them do, but for now the group is dedicated to raising money regardless.

Rivard and SBGC board vice president Jon Lanphier declined to identify the specific properties being pursued, citing the preliminary nature of the discussions and the intense competition for land in Leelanau County.

Lanphier says there was “some confusion” about the Gateways Council’s structure and intentions during recent discussions with the Glen Lake school board about school-owned land. The council is in fact an entirely volunteer-run, registered nonprofit with the sole purpose of helping the community, Lanphier says.

 “It’s really important to us that (the public knows that) this $600,000 was raised not as an investment,” he tells The Ticker. “Donors aren’t going to get any of the money back in any way, shape or form, except helping the community.”

The lack of affordable housing stands to cripple the county in the future if something isn’t done relatively soon, Lanphier and Rivard say. Businesses everywhere are sounding the alarm, as are public agencies that provide essential services.

“If you talk to the Glen Lake Fire Department, they can’t hire someone and have them live in the county, and that’s not the optimal situation where some of them have to drive an hour and a half to get to work,” Rivard says. “And (the road commission) will tell you that truck drivers can’t afford to live in the county, and that’s not optimal because they’re the first ones that have to provide services for other essential services like fire department and ambulance.”

Aside from money and land, Lanphier says SBGC could also use help in the form of local townships and other entities being willing to rethink long-held zoning practices. 

“We’re into taking a one acre lot and putting four homes on it – high density housing,” he says.“We need leadership to understand that in order to get people working in our area, we need high density areas (instead of) five acre lots where these guys are building their two or three or four or five million dollar mansions.”

Photo credit: Traverse City Tourism