Pitch for Housing on Glen Lake Schools' Land Hits Snag

A proposal to use forest land owned by Glen Lake Schools for affordable housing isn’t going anywhere, at least for the time being.

The school board on Monday declined to hear a presentation from the Sleeping Bear Gateways Council about the potential use of part of a 180-acre forested parcel for housing. Superintendent Jason Misner says the proposal “came on very rapidly” and needs to be paused before any further consideration.

“This needs to be slowed way down so we can figure out what we have (with this property),” he tells The Ticker. “It’s just where the board is at right now.”

The property in question, which sits along Benzonia Highway just north of M-72, has been owned by the school district since 1941. It was given to the school by the state of Michigan as one of hundreds of properties transferred to local school districts across the state under the School Forest Act of 1931.

These parcels were originally intended for demonstration of proper forest management, but the law was later amended to include public recreation as an approved use. If not used for these purposes, the land reverts back to the state. The property is managed for timber, but otherwise is not used for school-related purposes, Misner says.

SBGC is a nonprofit that works to "protect and enhance" the communities around the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It has taken a keen interest in finding solutions to seasonal and year-round housing challenges, which SBGC board member Mike Rivard calls a “huge issue.”

“We are lacking (thousands) of housing units in our area, and the cost of housing has also just exploded,” Rivard tells The Ticker. “If you look at the annual median income of certain groups like young teachers, they can’t afford to own a home in Leelanau County anymore, and it’s barely possible for them to find a rental home.”

Rivard says that after getting nowhere with a National Park Service-owned property, the group turned its attention to the school parcel after a conversation with a school board member.

Following many months of discussion with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Rivard says, the group secured a proposal from the DNR that involves the property reverting to the state, then being deeded back to the school district with a restriction that it only be used for affordable housing for public employees.

Though a conceptual plan shows up to 180 housing units and a buffer on a 40 acre portion of the property, exactly what would be built – and by whom – would still need to be pinned down, Rivard says. He stresses that the deal with the DNR would also have to be finalized and agreeable to both the state and school district. But the bottom line is that using the land for housing is possible, he says, and that's a big win. 

This was all to be explained by SBGC to the school board in a detailed presentation Monday, and Rivard is upset the board declined to hear group’s pitch. He suspects they got cold feet after a person posting anonymously in local “Overheard” social media groups called many aspects of the proposed deal – and how it came to be – into question.

“I understand that why (the board) canceled the presentation, and that’s because they felt like they lost control of the process,” he says. “There was somebody out there making all of these accusations, and who wants to move forward with that hanging over their heads?”

Among other things, the anonymous poster alleged that the DNR’s proposal was made “at the highest level” without a standard staff review, and that allowing school forest land to be converted in this way could put “all 82,000 acres of school forest at risk.” They also question why the school would give away a “very valuable asset” and says “the entire process to this point has had very little transparency.”

SBGC must find very low-cost or free land for the affordable housing concept to pencil out, Rivard says, hence the focus on publicly owned parcels.

Rivard hopes the district will hear the group’s pitch at a later time. 

“(Are they ever) going to allow us to come back and say ‘Here’s what we wanted to report to you, and here’s what the opportunity could be?’” Rivard says. “I don’t know whether this means this is a dead project for us, or it’s just a timing issue.”

Misner says if and when the group is invited back to present to the board will be up to the board. Board President Cory McNitt did not respond to a message from The Ticker seeking comment. 

SBGC gathered letters of support from multiple local business and civic leaders that either explicitly express support for the group’s proposal or speak to the dire need for workforce housing in the area.

“As property values rise and housing continues to be scarce, more and more local businesses will not be able to attract and keep median income workers and will be forced to curb hours of operation, operate seasonally or close their doors for good,” wrote Brad Anderson of Anderson’s Glen Arbor Market. “I support the Sleeping Bear Gateway Council and their efforts to find housing solutions for small communities impacted by skyrocketing land values.”