New Community Vision, Peninsula Housing Talk Plans For Housing Project On Former Timber Shores Land

Late last month, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) and the nonprofit New Community Vision (NCV) purchased 212 acres of bayfront land previously earmarked for an RV resort called Timber Shores. GTB has already shared plans for its 188-acre share of the property, which include cleaning up and preserving the creeks, wetlands, and shoreline and creating publicly-accessible areas for hiking and birdwatching. But what’s the status of NCV’s plan to build an affordable housing development on its 24-acre portion?

According to Beth Verhey, NCV’s board vice president, efforts are well underway to bring that project to fruition.

“We did some things in the background last year – in terms of visioning and planning and consultancies – so we’re refreshing that now [that we own this land],” Verhey tells the Leelanau Ticker. “The most immediate first steps relate to preliminary site analysis, zoning analysis, and initial civil engineering analysis. Once that work is done, we’ll follow it up with community engagement sessions, to get public feedback on our preliminary plans.”

NCV is teaming up with Peninsula Housing, the nonprofit started by former winery man Larry Mawby in 2021 to address the county’s issues with insufficient housing stock and unaffordable prices. The project will be the second big development for Leelanau Housing, which last year got the ball rolling on a 10-acre housing project off Herman Road in Suttons Bay.

Getting into the development game, Mawby says, has come with a steep learning curve.

“As someone who has never done this before, I have learned a tremendous amount,” Mawby says. “With Herman Road, I thought we had enough engineering data and understanding before we started public engagement, and it turns out we didn't. We learned a little late in the game that a couple of the development options we were considering weren’t doable because of engineering issues that we didn't understand. We don't we don't want to do that again.”

Mawby’s team had initially considered a 75-unit rental complex on the 10-acre parcel in Suttons Bay, though an alternate plan called for a mix of 40 rental units and 15 single-family homes for sale. Now, Mawby says Peninsula Housing is looking at a 40-unit development, with a mix of rental and ownership units built across five phases. He expects approvals for that project will happen this year.

“Even if we're really successful at keeping the costs down, there's still the difference between what it costs [to build the project] and what people can afford for 40 units, and that ‘difference’ is something in the neighborhood of $4 million that I've got to figure out how to fundraise,” Mawby says. “That doesn't happen overnight.”

The NCV development also won’t happen overnight, though that’s partially because all involved want to make sure they’re taking their time. Even beyond the initial due diligence – “We don’t want to lead people to get excited about something that’s not doable,” Mawby stresses – the organizations expect a lengthy public engagement process to make sure the community's voices are heard.

“I think we need to make sure we’re offering several opportunities to engage the community over the period of spring, summer, and fall,” Mawby says. “We have so many seasonal residents in Leelanau, so many people who go away for the winter. And then we also have a significant number of people who are very busy in their work lives during the summer season, and really difficult to engage during that time. So, we know we need to do this over quite a few months. This isn’t going to be a situation where we say, ‘Hey, we’re going to have a public hearing at 6pm on a Tuesday night and that’s it.’”

Verhey says NCV will also host smaller engagement sessions centered around specific stakeholder groups. One example: a focus group with local employers, to understand housing concerns they’re hearing from current and prospective employees. 

One thing Verhey and Mawby are hoping to gauge is the appetite for development of this specific parcel given the pushback against the Timber Shores plan. That concept called for 355 RV sites and 15 tent sites across the full 212-acre property. Massive backlash against the project ultimately derailed it, particularly when Leelanau Township voters upheld a zoning ordinance that significantly restricted development.

Mawby is hopeful that the far more modest scale of the NCV development, combined with the need for housing in Leelanau County, will make for a warmer reception.

“The current zoning [for that site] permits around 30 units,” Mawby says. “I would be surprised if there's any desire to ask the township planning commission and township board to change the zoning to allow any greater density than that. And so, I think people will recognize that, even at maximum, we’d still be talking less than 10 percent of the intensive development that Timber Shores would have created. It’s going to be really small, comparatively. Now, could 30 units still be too much? I don’t know. But that’s what a several-months-long process of community engagement is going to answer for us.”