The Traverse City Planning Commission will consider allowing “granny flats” throughout the city.
Granny flats are small apartments attached to a garage or house. They’ve been allowed in the Traverse Heights neighborhood since 2013 but no one has requested a permit to build one.
City Planning Director Russ Soyring thinks loosening restrictions on granny flats might spur their development. Soyring hopes resistance to the concept may have cooled some over the last year-and-a-half.
“There’s been a lot of discussion, especially with the emergency shelter discussion, that what we really need to do is be addressing affordable housing and not be focused on temporary shelter for people that are experiencing homelessness," he said.
The planning commission will consider a plan to loosen restrictions on granny flats – and allow them throughout the city – at its meeting tomorrow night.
You can hear our extended interview with Planning Director Russ Soyring - including his thoughts on why no one has yet received a permit to build a granny flat - by clicking the audio link below.