Updates and Next Steps 8.8.25

Introducing Lynee Wells, AICP, data on developers, and mooring waitlists

This week’s We Love Harbor Springs is packed with pivotal updates that will shape our town’s future. From Planning Commission debates over zoning changes, district dimensions, and neighborhood petitions, to a long-awaited Harbor Commission review of waterfront moorings and a decade-long waitlist, the coming weeks are full of moments where public voices will make a difference. We spotlight the push to preserve downtown’s scale, share data challenging calls for taller buildings, and dig into the city’s budgeting priorities. You’ll also meet our new planning advisor, bringing best-practice expertise to these complex discussions. Whether you care about your block’s character, the harbor’s vitality, or the decisions behind City Hall’s closed doors, now is the time to read, show up, and speak out.

Brief

• Planning Commission: Thursday, August 14, Special Meeting at 5:30 p.m. on . Zoom YouTube. Regular meeting, August 21, 5:30 p.m. The agenda for the PC meetings can be found here.

• The PC Chair plans on holding five Open Houses before September 18th to showcase the new code and gather community feedback. The focus remains on completing dimensional standards for all districts and conducting land use discussions. 

• At the end of the July 31st meeting, PC Chair Bill Mulder once again suggested eliminating the Agricultural/Residential district.

• See the proposed Fall Planning Commission schedule on page 31. The time to speak up is now.

• City Council Meeting: Monday, August 18, at 7:00 PM. Zoom YouTube. The agenda for that meeting can be found here, (when available on City of Harbor Springs website).

• Harbor Commission: If you want to see improvements to the moorings/waterfront wait list, which is more than 10 years long, attend the Harbor Commission at City Hall or via zoom, on Wednesday August 13th at 4:00 PM. For the first time, in a long time, the topic is on the agenda. Harbor Commission is open to rethinking their process. (Agenda)

• Reminding everyone that in the Consent Agenda that items can’t include financials other than regular monthly’s. Councilwoman Wendy Reeve was right to pull the Blackbird Historical dissolution changes from the Consent Agenda and place them in discussion.

• There are two residential districts in downtown, around 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Streets and Glenn Drive, that have submitted property owner-signed petitions stating, “Duplexes in these two neighborhoods are unwanted.” We encourage people to contact us regarding working with your neighborhood to submit a petition.

• City Councilman Bob Buckner confirmed, “The Planning Commission counseled those petitioners that no decisions had been made on the issue of duplexes, and that that's yet to come once we've identified the districts and the dimensions of the districts as far as lot size and things like that.”

• To maintain your neighborhood’s character and preserve the undulating two-story heights with allowance for corner buildings built with architectural pride, we need property owners in these districts, full-time and part-time residents, to show up at Planning Commission meetings. Your voices matter whether you vote here or not. It’s your town. If you’d prefer WLHS to speak on your behalf, please email us with your thoughts or concerns. Your stories help shape our advocacy.

• In Public Comment, City Council or staffers or the lawyer was asked to tell the public the status quo to formally rescind Resolutions #8762, #9139, and #9174 — the actions that authorized Harbor Springs’ participation in the MEDC Redevelopment Ready Communities (RRC) Program. The City Manager, Victor Sinadinoski’s response was “I don't know what you're referring to, but council did resolve to remove the city from the RRC certification process several months ago, and we're out of the RRC certification process, so I don't know what else to say to that. So council resolved several months ago to disengage from the RRC process, and we are officially disengaged.”

  We would like to see those Resolutions formally terminated, not just terminated in an email.

Details

Asking for Help from Professionals

As the meetings and subject matters become more complicated, and to help bring more transparency and clarity to the conversation, we’ve brought on Lynee Wells of Aligned Planning. Based in Grand Rapids, Ms Wells is an urban planner and community zoning expert bringing 25 years of experience. We’ve brought Lynee on board to provide advice and consultation.

Her involvement will yield best practice insights, perspectives and guidance during Planning Commission, City Council, neighborhood and other leadership meetings as the Zoning Ordinance amendment process proceeds. Her role will help us understand what’s possible, what’s practical, and how zoning changes can either support or erode the things that matter most in a town like Harbor Springs.

“Growth can be characterized with various mindsets, and in Harbor Springs, there are many at play. There is a mindset focused on retaining and enhancing what is already working. This mindset sees what is there today…its charm, goodness and essence of place, it notices the nuances that make it unique. There is another mindset that sees these same qualities and desires to extract that essence and make it bigger and better and have more of it.

While neither is wrong, only the first one will continue the legacy of the unique place. The second will see that it becomes what the real estate market is delivering up and down the Lake Michigan coast and in other resort towns in America. The adage still stands, there can be “too much of a good thing.” Because when that happens, it is lost.” Lynee Wells

A comment to the above quote is from an urban planning colleague “I do think that more of something good is not necessarily better. And that always begs the question, what is good or better? Harbor Springs is currently a snapshot of all that has happened. To some that stasis is the pinnacle and adding more, sends it downward. But stasis is not a condition that can be maintained. Impermanence and all. Opening this up to “growth” and “progress” will indeed usher in what, as you say, the real estate market will deliver.

HARBOR SPRINGS RESIDENTS have to decide what scale we want. As residents, taxpayers and property owners and the community, the City Council and Planning Commissioners work for the residents. Our stand is that Harbor Springs remains the jewel‑box crown of the area, with its’ boutiques, marina views, and high‑tax‑base homes. We see our neighboring townships providing space for everyday housing for the people who keep our schools open, shops staffed, and as we see, even for most of our city staff. With E‑bikes and the Wheel Way knitting us together, the difference between “city” and “township” is ten minutes, not ten miles. Let’s embrace that geography: Focus city energy on quality building and public benefits, and let West Traverse, Little Traverse, and Resort Townships carry the accessory housing lift. The result will be faster, cheaper, and realistic.

Harbor Springs cannot build our way out of the national employee problem.

Harbor Commission to Review Moorings, Waterfront Use & Wait list Reform

At its next meeting, the Harbor Commission will take up a topic that touches nearly everyone who loves our waterfront — the allocation of moorings, overall harbor use, and the 11-year wait list for a city mooring. This review follows concerns raised about whether current practices best serve the public trust, balance resident and visitor access, and promote active use of our harbor.

Some potential ideas to shorten the mooring wait list and expand access include:

• Refundable Deposit – Require a $2,000 deposit, returned when the mooring is relinquished, encouraging turnover without penalizing active users.

• Tiered Fees + Launch Bundle – Raise the base rate $1,000 but include launch service, saving active owners the cost of a dinghy/outboard while making non-use more expensive.

• Use-It-or-Lose-It Rule – Track launch calls or visual inspections; two consecutive low-use seasons would trigger forfeiture with a deposit refund.

• Right-of-Return Credit – Those who voluntarily surrender a mooring can rejoin the waitlist in the top 10% for five years.

• Annual 5% Reallocation – Each year, reclaim the lowest-use 5% of moorings, a practice that has reduced waits to as little as 18 months in other harbors

• NM Moorings - establish a historic mooring field for the NM fleet

If you use the waterfront in any way — sail, motor, paddle, fish, swim — or if you have ever hoped to get a mooring, want to expand sailing opportunities, or think we could make better use of the harbor, this is the meeting to attend.

📅 Attend via Zoom or in person and speak up. Wednesday, Aug 13th, 4PM City Hall. Experience proves: when citizens participate, committees act.

DEEP DIVE into Downtown Properties

From: Patrick Kenney <kenneyp@premierplanning.net>

“At the last PC meeting, Jeff Grimm made a statement that struck an accord with me when he said, "Every single applicant or every single potential applicant that I've has come in to talk to me about the potential purchase of a downtown building has always asked, "Can I go three stories?" And when they hear no, half the time they walk away completely."

I don't doubt that the statement is what Jeff heard, but it sounded to me that he was saying the building height restriction was negatively affecting sales in the Commercial Building District (CBD) and this was a reason for the Planning Commissioners to increase the building heights.

Therefore, I wanted to confirm transaction history and we did a deep dive regarding all the buildings sold since 1/1/20. I looked at the roughly 52 properties that came to market. Except for Yummies, all of the properties sold within 63 days, which included from the first day on the market, through inspection, financing, and all the way to close. And this does not include a handful of properties that were sold before being listed.

All of the 52 properties sold within 5% of the asking price, not including those that sold for over-ask.

These sales all occurred with properties under the current restriction without the inclusion of a third story.

Demand is huge for what we have, not for what it could otherwise become in the eyes of developers. It is clear that we have not lost sales due to height restrictions.

The Planning Commissioners should not be confused by the notion that we need change to support turnover. Commercial Building District downtown sales are happening quickly and competitively just the way we are. Please don't try to fix a problem that does not exist.”

What do the City Council and City Manager consider important?

Based on recent agenda’s, not the things that actually affect residents public participation. People are unable to hear public meetings, and offers of help are discussed but not considered vital to the over all health of the community.

Budgeting

Last Monday’s City Council meeting turned to the Harbor Master building—a project that started as a modest proposal to add laundry machines for out-of-town boaters, and has now ballooned into a $1 million construction plan. Despite advancing the design and discussing it in multiple meetings, the city still hasn’t figured out how to pay for it. Audience member Carter Williams asked City Council to consider that the way to pay for projects should be figured out in advance before approval.

Letter about the Planning Commissioner Meeting

What Do You Love Most About Your Neighborhood?

After last night’s Planning Commission meeting, one question kept circling in my mind: What do I love most about my neighborhood? The undulating rooflines? The mix of buildings hinting at their past lives? The way no two blocks look quite the same? That variety — that lack of uniformity — is part of Harbor Springs’ magic.

But with proposed zoning changes on the table, I have to ask: Are we slowly erasing that magic? Are we trading character for conformity?

Some key points now up for discussion:

• Lot sizes: Should bluff lots shrink to a minimum width of 60 feet? Does that mean more density and less green space over time?

• Height limits: Would raising downtown’s height limit from 30 to 35 feet alter our streetscape’s rhythm and skyline?

• Conformity vs. Character: Are we “cleaning up the code” — or smoothing over what makes us distinct?

Our zoning updates are meant to reflect the 2022 Master Plan and the 2020–2021 community surveys. Those documents were built from our voices. Are the proposed changes aligned with them — or are we heading in a different direction without realizing it?

Smaller lots often mean higher density. That may work in some places, but do we want it for every neighborhood? And when there’s no financial loss in the CBD, as public comment reminded us, preserving character doesn’t mean blocking progress — it means making thoughtful progress.

The Planning Commission is asking important questions. Let’s help by staying engaged, informed, and curious — so the code we write today reflects not just uniformity, but people, neighborhoods, and community.

Ashley O’Reilly

Harbor Springs Resident

We hope this newsletter helps more residents feel informed and empowered to engage in this process. Contact us at weloveharborsprings@gmail.com