Council turns down zoning change to permit residential housing in warehouse
GAYLORD — A proposal that would have allowed temporary workers to live in buildings in the city's industrial parks was rejected by the Gaylord City Council on Monday night.
Josh Kent of the SunFrog apparel company was seeking a zoning ordinance change to convert part of the Crossroads building in the industrial park into housing for his temporary employees, many of whom come from overseas.
Kent employs temporary workers from overseas for several months before those workers head back to their native country. Many other businesses in the area do the same and finding shelter for those workers is a challenge in a housing-starved Northern Michigan.
The planning commission recently discussed the matter and recommended that the council reject the zoning change. All council members voted no on the request.
Whether a worker is an immigrant or a citizen, housing someone inside of a warehouse didn't sit well with councilman Al Witt.
"There is no transportation for them and there are no sidewalks for them to get to places in the winter. We don't allow housing in an area that is zoned industrial for a reason. There is noise and other issues. It's not residential," Witt said.
"Everywhere else that is residential is designed so you can get to the grocery store, the gas station and get your daily necessities," Witt continued. "My biggest concern is that these are human beings and they need to be treated that way. A lot of time with migrant workers, they don't get treated that way."
Councilman Mike Ryan was apprehensive about the change when it was first proposed.
"There was a lot of uncertainty and the people really aren't dedicated to the city and the county. Yes they have employment here but I was just uncomfortable with this," he said.
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Separately, council approved a commercial rehabilitation exemption certificate for a redevelopment project in the downtown. Gary Scott owns the old Gaylord State Bank building on Main Street and he wants to remodel the second and third floors to accommodate eight 2-bedroom apartments. He also plans to add space for retail tenants and make improvements to the building's exterior.
City manager Kim Awrey said Scott plans to invest about $2 million and has qualified for a grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).
"Their grant levels are up to $900,000 but it is a 25 percent match. So based on the numbers he provided to us it should be about $500,000," she said.
Scott expects to start work on the project this year and complete it by September 2025. In the paperwork Scott provided to the city, Awrey said he expects to create about 30 jobs.
"He will create about 30 and then retain about six jobs," said Awrey.
In his employment estimate, Scott is also including the tenants who will rent the apartments. Council asked Awrey if they can be counted as employees.
"No, not to my understanding. The only thing that would count would be jobs that work in the retail level," she said.
Currently, the taxable value of the property is about $296,000 and Scott wants to freeze the taxable value at that amount for a 10-year period. The school system would still receive taxes from the property but the Downtown Development Authority would lose some of its tax revenue.
The city has the option of reviewing the project in two years and if council is not happy with the results it can pull the tax freeze, Awrey said.
— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord council turns down zoning change to permit residential housing in warehouse
