The city of Grand Haven and Housing Next, an organization that’s supported by the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation (GHACF) and the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area (CFHZ), worked together to update local zoning ordinance to reduce barriers to building affordable housing.

The new zoning ordinance was approved by the Grand Haven City Council in January and is aimed at improving housing choice and supply across the city, promoting greater mobility choices for residents, providing more equitable access to wealth creation and streamlining the zoning approval process for developers, among other key changes.

GHACF helped create Housing Next, which is a pilot program of the Greater Ottawa County United Way, through a five-year grant. Hadley Streng, president of GHACF, co-chairs the leadership council with CFHZ.

The updates to the zoning ordinance unlock more opportunities to support affordable housing projects.

One of those projects is Robinson Landing. GHACF, in partnership with the city of Grand Haven, Michigan Community Capital (MCC) and the Ottawa County Land Bank created the new development, Robinson Landing, to ensure new homes are affordable for households that earn less than 80% of the area median income.

Patty MacDonald, vice president of finance and administration at GHACF, guided their Impact Investment Committee toward an investment with MCC which resulted in the ability to move forward with the new development.

Robinson Landing will include approximately 32 single-family housing units on 7.58 acres of vacant land on the north side of Comstock Street in Grand Haven. The neighborhood will have a mix of homes that range in size to support various incomes and household sizes.

The community foundation shared with CMF that they have been intentionally focused on affordable housing for several years.

Holly Cole, vice president of grants and program at GHACF, works with their community partners, including the collaboration on the responsive grant committee, which is a part of the Housing Initiative Fund held at the United Way and creates or funds innovative projects with local partners. Grants are awarded by a panel of funders and housing experts assigned by the Housing Next leadership council.

Housing Next also helped to secure funding for zoning consulting services, helped to draft the new ordinance and provided resources and input throughout the process. According to the Grand Rapids Business Journal, the new Grand Haven zoning ordinance includes the following changes:

• Adds accessory dwelling units — secondary housing units on a single-family residential lot — and two-plus unit dwellings to more districts with a streamlined review process to improve housing choice.

• Reduced minimum lot size and dimensional standards to allow for more housing supply in established neighborhoods.

• Requires bicycle racks in all commercial developments to promote greater mobility choice.

• Establishes pop-up shop regulations to encourage small-scale entrepreneurship and more equitable access to wealth creation.

• Provides accommodations for electric vehicles to support sustainability.

• Streamlines the zoning approval process and makes it more user-friendly.

• Offers optional work sessions for commercial land uses and planned developments to support developers.

• Increases the zoning administrator’s authority to approve minor changes and improve efficiency for builders and developers.

• Requires all parking lots use low-impact development methods and stormwater best management practices to support sustainability.

• Establishes community garden regulations to enhance community building.

• Allows for the requirement of a health impact assessment for development in sensitive areas.

• Reduces parking requirements to allow for shared use and proximity to public parking.

Want more?

Read more about the project.

Learn more about Housing Next.