Jan 21: Town Hall Notes
On a freezing night and with some residents wrapped in blankets at City Hall, new Planning Commissioner Bob Buckner greeted the hardy guests who braved the cold to talk about zoning.
Marie Wayman again took to the easel and flip board to make sure all comments were recognized and recorded.
Emails and letters went out to all residents and property owners to invite them to this meeting and the coming meeting.
Comments from the public included great questions like:
Have we as community defined what we mean by “affordable” housing?
Understanding that one of the intents of smaller lot sizes in to potentially make housing more affordable, what keeps the homes built there from not just being market rate housing?
How many zoning appeals for minor building requests come to the Board of Appeals each month under the current code?
Can we start our work from the repealed code rather than starting from scratch?
Do we have to have a place designated from “adult” businesses? Absent a designated spot can they go anywhere?
Can we take some of the less controversial stuff off the table and focus on the sections of the code that have cause the most concern? Can we go article by article?
What will happen to our schools are more people cannot live in Harbor Springs
Do residents have more of a say than property owners who do not live her full time?
Can we resolve the conflict between personal property rights versus neighbor and city control of our property
Concerns included:
“By-right” duplexes may not respect the wishes of neighbors or the character of the neighborhood.
The 1976/2005 zoning code we have now is like a “quilt jacket” that has been patched together over time. The result has been a code that requires lots of appeals that need addressed.
Many of the more routine appeals, many of which are nearly always approved, require time and effort for homeowners because of the outdated code.
ADUs and other flexible uses of larger lots reflect some of the new realities faced by families.
Hope that we perhaps begin with the repealed code as a starting point for work on a new code as it has many advantages.
We may be missing the point of the exercise by focusing on specifics of the code rather than focusing on the big questions me need to struggle with as a community
Requests for the new code included:
No boat docks stored on front lawns
Grass or weeds should not be higher than 8” in residential yards (and clarity on how lawns are to be kept)
Have a hard limit on building heights in the CBD particularly
Preserve the character of historic homes