July 28 – TRAVERSE CITY – With two projects underway, the Traverse City Housing Commission is eyeing a third: more apartments in Orchardview.
The group of 21 apartments with income-based rents is on Carter Road in the city’s northwest corner. Karl Fulmer, executive director of TCHC, said plans are to add 30 more and renovate existing ones.
It’s part of an ongoing process in which the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development seeks to change the ownership and financing structure of public housing, Fulmer said.
TCHC would share ownership with a private sector company and another company would manage it – as is the case with East Bay Flats.
Rents would still be kept affordable, but instead of direct subsidies from HUD, the housing commission would seek tax credits for low-income housing through the state, Fulmer said. Orchardview would accept rental assistance vouchers like Housing Choice, but otherwise tenants would pay a fixed, affordable rent based on area median income.
“It would be similar to any tax credit project in the area where you can accept vouchers but have set rents, meaning people are income qualified to live there and the rent is the rent,” he said.
First, TCHC is looking to rezone the property to multifamily housing from its current residential conservation district zoning, Fulmer said. This is the urban planner’s recommendation, as the current zoning does not exactly correspond to the existing use.
Planning commissioners will hear public comments on the rezoning on Aug. 6, and their package includes what Fulmer said is a conceptual outline of where the new apartments could be located.
It’s still early days for a project that might not break ground until 2026, but so far the idea is to build two new buildings with a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, according to Fulmer and a site sketch. They would be located along an extension of an existing driveway that would curve back onto Carter Road.
Housing Committee member Mitchell Treadwell said he is excited about the opportunity to expand affordable housing.
“I can’t say specifically what it will look like or what the prices for these units will be at this time, but it is an additional opportunity to create more housing in Traverse City,” Treadwell said.
Arsenic in the soil from the site’s past as an orchard would require some mitigation, Fulmer said. In most cases, plans aim to avoid development where arsenic levels are highest.
Tests in 2012 showed arsenic ranging from 4.2 milligrams per kilogram around the play area to 16 milligrams per kilogram in an overgrown corner where excavators piled up topsoil during construction, as previously reported in the Record-Eagle. Michigan’s criteria for direct residential contact is 7.6 milligrams per kilogram. Higher levels pose a risk if dirt comes into contact with skin, is inhaled or ingested.
Regulators at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy asked TCHC in 2019 for information about its plans to prevent arsenic exposure. The housing commission was already warning residents against digging in the ground when they signed the lease.
Tony Lentych, then director of TCHC, said the commission fenced off part of the property where arsenic levels were highest.
It also sought a site-specific determination of arsenic exposure risks, ordering another round of soil sampling around the apartments and asking EGLE to consider factors such as snow cover.
In August 2021, Lentych announced that EGLE determined that no further action was needed at Orchardview regarding arsenic in the soil.
“TCHC is pleased to confirm to its residents, the public and housing partners that the site is safe for any and all residential uses,” Lentych wrote in a statement.
Fulmer said he plans to seek tax credits from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority on Oct. 1.
Meanwhile, TCHC is busy with two other housing projects, both of which have been under construction for years.
In mid-July, contractors demolished the Teboe Florist at 1223 E. Eighth St. to make way for TCHC’s Parkview Apartments, planned as 46 units of affordable housing for seniors. Construction was expected to take 18 to 24 months, and the store’s former owner suggested it as a location for more housing when she closed the deal in 2018.
South of town, construction workers are leveling the site where TCHC contractor Wolverine Building Group will build the first phase of the Flats at Carriage Commons, Fulmer said. Crews are expected to begin installing infrastructure next week and foundations in mid-August for a clubhouse and 48 apartments. The first phase works should be completed in September 2025.
Plans are to build a total of 210 apartments in three phases and develop 18 single-family homes in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Grand Traverse Region, Fulmer said.
“We are excited to be able to issue notice to proceed with a construction contact for this project,” he said. “I know I’ve only been here 10 months, but I know those who have been here a lot longer than me are relieved this is finally happening.”
