Suttons Bay Planning Commission Withholds Approval For Inland Seas Project; What's Next?

A major expansion at Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) hit a speed bump last week. As The Leelanau Ticker reported in June, ISEA plans to convert the historic Millside building in Suttons Bay into additional educational space and a boat maintenance workshop. But at a meeting last Wednesday, the Village of Suttons Bay planning commission opted not to approve ISEA’s site plan, which leaves the nonprofit without the conditional use permit it needs to proceed.

ISEA Executive Director Fred Sitkins doesn’t think the expansion is in jeopardy. What the planning commission decision does mean, though, is a project delay.

“This whole process has taken a little bit longer than we had hoped,” Sitkins says. “Originally, we were hoping this project would be going out to bid shortly after the New Year. That's not going to happen.”

At issue is the question of whether or not Dame Street, an east-west street that runs between the current ISEA headquarters and the Millside building, is a village road. The village works with Sara Kopriva, a partner at Beckett&Raeder, to review site plans like this one, and she informed ISEA in an email earlier this month that, based on her “preliminary review of the submittal,” she had “determined that Dame St is a Village road and will be treated as a front for purposes of this approval.” Crucially, such an interpretation affects setback requirements for the project.

Per Sitkins, ISEA and its consultants contend that Dame Street “is really more like a driveway” than an actual road.

“We’ve done extensive research on this, through the same surveyor that the village uses, and our research displayed that [Dame Street] is not a road or a street,” Sitkins tells The Ticker. “Rather, it was deeded to the village as a piece of property, just to provide access to the to the marina. Otherwise, it doesn’t really fit any definition of a road. The dimensions are such that it’s skinnier than an alley.”

Scott Jozwiak, a consultant for ISEA, made such an argument to Kopriva in an email dated November 11: “We recognize your interpretation that Dame should be treated as a front for setback purposes,” Jozwiak wrote. “However, we respectfully disagree. Dame is not a platted or dedicated public right-of-way. It originated as an easement granted to the Village and was later deeded as Village-owned property in 1992, not as right-of-way. Nothing in the deed or Village records indicates it functions as or was ever dedicated as a public street.”

The Village of Suttons Bay has a zoning ordinance that demands a minimum setback to keep businesses close to the road. “That makes sense for St. Joseph Street, because you want the businesses right on the sidewalk,” Sitkins says. “But I don’t think the intention of that ordinance applies to a road like [Dame], which is essentially just the entry road into our parking lot. We’re not in the business district.”

Between the setback question and several existing zoning nonconformities at the Millside building, the planning commission held off on approving ISEA’s permit.

“The zoning administrator wanted to do more work on these issues before the village planning commission approved the site, so that’s why they ultimately were advised not to approve it yet,” Sitkins says.

Since last week’s meeting, Sitkins' team has provided “some additional documentation” to the village he thinks should help iron out the disagreements. “I also just sense an obvious desire from the folks on the planning commission to see this project move forward,” he adds. “Everybody in this community has been beside themselves at excitement that something is finally going to happen to this building, because it’s been dilapidated for a long time.”

The planning commission will have another chance to approve ISEA’s permit at its next meeting, on December 17. But if that approval doesn’t come through?

“We could add on to the building and bring it closer to the road, but of course, that’s not something we want to do,” Sitkins says. “We want to use the existing footprint of the building – not just because it will be a lot less expensive, but also because Dame Street is already too narrow. If you bring the building closer, I just have some safety concerns with that.”

On the fundraising side, Sitkins says ISEA is “sitting at about $10.2 million” on its Campaign for the Future of Great Lakes Education, which includes the Millside renovation. That’s about $900,000 shy of the $11.1 million goal, which ISEA is still hoping to hit by the end of the year. The nonprofit had about $3 million left to raise when it went public with the campaign this summer.

Initially, Sitkins had aimed to take the Millside project out to bid early in 2026, in hopes of finishing construction by the end of next year and opening the new facility in January 2027.

“If this [permit approval] gets done in December, we may still be on track to have bids in April, maybe May at the latest,” Sitkins says. “Then, we'd be starting construction in the May/June timeframe. What we're really pushing against it is that we want the facility open in the spring of 2027, so that we can capture our whole spring schoolship season. That’s our busiest time of year, and it’s where the need for this facility is the greatest.”