Leelanau Enterprise: Northport Hosts Third Community Housing Meeting

By Meakalia Previch-Liu, mea@leelanaunews.com

People packed into the Northport Public School gym on April 28 for the third community housing meeting organized by the Village of Northport and Leelanau Township.

Present at the meeting was leadership from both local municipalities — Leelanau Township Supervisor Barb Conley, and Northport Village Council President Chris McCann and Village Manager Jered Ottenwess — as well as representatives from area-nonprofits focused on expanding attainable housing including Beth Verhey, vice board president of New Community Vision (NCV); Jonathan Stimson of Homestretch Nonprofit Housing; and Larry Mawby of Peninsula Housing. In addition, there were builders at the event with more information about the type of projects they work on.

“It’s extremely important to have these community meetings to be able to understand what people need and for people to be able to understand what we as governments or others can do about it,” Conley said at the meeting.

Ottenwess was the first panelist to talk about the Village of Northport’s efforts of expanding attainable housing over the last year. He said the affordable housing issue is particularly acute in Leelanau County, but it’s not unique as it is a national issue.

Northport village council has addressed the need for attainable housing in specific ways, Ottenwess explained, such as by creating and approving incentive housing ordinances last year — one for a workforce housing PILOT as well as an attainable housing facilities exemption. The attainable housing facilities exemption ordinance establishes an “attainable housing district” that encompasses the entire village of Northport, with the intent being to offer a tax incentive to owners of small-scale rental housing developments (1-4 units) that are affordable to moderate-income households. The workforce housing PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) ordinance encourages the development or rehabilitation of workforce housing by exempting such projects from ad valorem property taxes and instead providing for a service charge in lieu of taxes.

Ottenwess also talked about Northport’s efforts to produce conceptual site designs of the village-owned Seventh Street and High Street properties, two locations being considered for attainable housing development. 3-D renderings of those Seventh Street and High Street conceptual development designs were available for viewing at the meeting. Ottenwess said getting feedback from the public on those designs is part of the process in figuring out how the village moves forward before they make any final decisions.

“I’m glad to be a part of the process of trying to address what at times can seem like an insurmountable issue, but there’s a huge demand for attainable housing in this area and county, and I think the village is trying to do its part, it can’t solve it all, there’s a lot of macro issues involved, but the village council seems really committed to doing what it can with the resources it has,” Ottenwess said.

Conley then spoke about the efforts of Leelanau Township, noting how the board also approved a PILOT ordinance in 2025 to help make housing more affordable. In addition, the board has made the commitment to make a portion of township- owned land located north of the fire hall available for attainable housing and have put out a request for proposals for the possible development. The township hopes to break ground on the project by 2027.

Verhey of NCV spoke next about where they’re at with developing attainable housing on the 25 acres adjacent to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians’ nature preserve called Mashkiigaki. NCV’s property, which is on the former Timber Shores campground in Leelanau Township, was acquired in December 2024, and the nonprofit is currently in the midst of completing a conceptual planning process utilizing a conservation development approach. That approach means designing something that fits in with the natural surroundings which includes an open space and a focus on conservation.

Aside from informing the community of local housing efforts underway, much of the meeting was reserved for interacting with others and the information tables spread out around the school’s gym.

Sticky notes were used to gather feedback from people for general questions about housing. Some of the questions included whether rental housing was needed in Northport; what type of housing would people like to see; and if people had trouble finding a place to live in Leelanau Township.

The feedback left by attendees via sticky notes all noted that rental housing was indeed needed in Northport. People also left numerous examples of different types of housing they’d like to see and included everything ranging from single family townhomes and workforce housing to developing Habitat for Humanity homes and more rentals, such as apartments, for young people.

The interactive period was followed by a panel discussion that took questions from community members about housing. Questions for panelists varied from topics about restrictions to short-term rentals in the area to the hurdles builders face when trying to construct attainable housing in a community.

Mawby of Peninsula Housing said during discussion that one thing people need to recognize in Leelanau County and in Northport is even if you have things in place like the appropriate zoning and approvals, the cost of everything exceeds what people can afford to pay. Nonprofits like Peninsula Housing have a limited array of sources for funding of housing projects and is one of the main issues they face.

“The gap between the cost of doing construction, the development, and what people can afford to pay needs to be covered somehow,” Mawby said at the meeting. “One of the biggest impediments that we have is access to grant money or federal or state dollars that are directed at affordable housing to subsidize that gap. Most of the federal and state dollars go to urban areas, their programs really don’t direct money to rural areas.”

Those with ideas or suggestions regarding housing can contact the township or village offices directly as both municipalities continue to navigate what attainable housing should look like in the county.

See Article on Leelanau Enterprise

NCV thanks the Leelanau Enterprise and Meakalia Previch-Liu for allowing us to share this coverage with you.