Glen Lake Community Schools will consider transferring ownership of an 180-acre parcel of “school forest land” in Empire Township for future affordable housing.
This comes as Leelanau County — and much of the region — faces a housing shortage that affects teacher recruitment and retention.
The Department of Natural Resources deeded the land in the 1940s to what was then the Empire Rural Agricultural School, which was later incorporated into Glen Lake Community Schools.
But Glen Lake Community Schools, and all other Michigan school districts that have this kind of forest land, are very limited in what they can do with it.
The state recently added “recreational use” to the list of allowed purposes. But besides that and general “forestry,” that’s it.
Mike Rivard is a board member of the Sleeping Bear Gateway Council. They’ve been brainstorming ideas for five years about workforce housing in the area.
He explained that they met with the DNR multiple times about school forests, asking if “there could be a way to repurpose these properties, or portions of these properties to be used for attainable housing in those communities that had a great need,” Rivard said.
In late September, the DNR presented a proposal to the school system, the Sleeping Bear Gateway Council, as well as state Rep. Betsy Coffia and state Sen. John Damoose.
Glen Lake Community Schools would deed the land back to the DNR.
The school system would then apply for a “public use deed” to get the land back in a manner that allows for housing development.
There are still some big challenges.
A public use land deed can initially only go to a municipal body, like the school district.
But “the school district does not want to be a developer,” Rivard said. “So they would like to transfer the property to a nonprofit organization, such as any community land trust.”
The whole 180-acre property would not necessarily all go towards housing, according to Rivard.
“Some of the topography would limit the ability to be used for housing, because there are some steep sections,” he said. “But they could certainly be used for public recreation.”
The development is likely many years out still.
School board members discussed the land deed in their October meeting, but did not vote on any proposal. Sleeping Bear Gateway Council is preparing a presentation to the school board about next steps.