Peninsula Pulse sustainability issue 2019
affordable housing in Door County
Defining Affordability Why Housing Matters News, Arts, and Entertainment (Section 2)
April 19–26/2019 • v25i16 doorcountypulse.com check it. read it. use it. Free
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SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 201
2041 Michigan St • Sturgeon Bay, WI 2041 Michigan St • Sturgeon Bay, WI
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Join us for the April 26-28, 2019
2019 2019
iin n Grre ee en 1 n ngg G n u n R 10 n s r e a u 0Y R Ye a r s
All All finishers finishers receive receive a a native native tree tree and and a a 10th 10th Anniversary Anniversary Cherry Cherry Wood Wood Medal Medal
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All All participants participants receive receive a a Green Green Layer Layer performance performance shirt shirt Schopfs Schopfs ice ice cream, cream, Lautenbach Lautenbach Orchard Orchard cherries cherries and and granola granola
fRIDAY, aPRIL 26 6pm The Green Door Legacy Round table
Housing -Living and thriving green in Door County Our panel: Virge Temme, Amber Beard and Mariah Goode Moderated by Myles Dannhausen, Jr. of the Pulse
8pm
Festival Reception
Stay after the Round Table for snacks, drinks, music and karaoke in the Great Hall. The reception is graciously sponsored by: Door Artisan Cheese, Get Real Cafe, Hatch Distilling, Island Orchard Cider, Kick Ash Products, Shipwrecked Brewing
Saturday, April 27 10 AM to 4pm Earth Care Exhibitors:
2019
Start Time: 10k - 8:00 am 5k, 2k - 8:05 am
County-Wide Celebration at Kress Pavilion
All events are FREE
Saturday JUNE 22
Hands-on kids activities
Wild Flower Seed Bombs Open Door Bird Sanctuary Demo Kids Yoga & more!
BookNook Gardens, Celebrate Water, The Clearing, Climate Change Coalition, Cool Choices, David Kellems, DC Land Trust, DC Master Gardeners, DC North, DC Thrive, Friends of Plum & Pilot Island, GEO-DC, Greens N Grains, Green Tier, Lake Michigan Wind & Sun, Menominee Rebuilders, NatureWise, Newport Wilderness Society, Northeast Wis Tech College, Sustain Door, and Wild Ones
Talks and workshops:
10:15
The Back 40 Mine and the Menominee by Menominee Nation Soil and Composting At Home by Annie Deutsch Kids Earth Yoga class by Ann Johnson of Serenity Bridge
11:15
Not All Plants & Trees Are Green by Tom Wolfe Eliminate Plastic & Implement a Green Purchase Policy
Awards Awards made made locally locally by by artists artists and and businesses businesses
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Did you know? Each flower broadcasts a variable electrical signal that tells a bee whether the flower has already been emptied by its coworker.
®
by DC Thrive
11:30 12:30 1:00 2:00
Gardening 101 demonstration by BookNook Gardens Open Door Bird Sanctuary Demonstration
Door County’s Garden Destination!
Birds, Bugs, and Backyards
by Jane Whitney & George Cobb, sponsored by The Ridges Zero Sum Home: A Game by Virge Temme
How The Door County Land Trust Works by Door County Land Trust staff
Power My Drive: Electric Vehicle Basics
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PENINSULA PULSE APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM
by Kathy Kuntz of Cool Choices
3:00
Escarpment 101 by Greater Escarpment Organization - DC Going Solar by Jane McCurry of Renew Wisconsin
7:00
Small Forest Concert with Jeanne Kuhns and Marybeth Mattson
Plus hands-on kids activities & films all day with food & refreshments available for purchase from Waseda Farms and Greens N Grains
Sunday, April 28 6pm “5XP” – An Artistic Reflection on the Earth Art will unfold in the late afternoon, come for the sunset and stay for a medley of Green messages of appreciation and inspiration from the artistic worlds of Prose, Poetry, Photography, Performance Art and Praise to produce an artistic, musical and meditative reflection on the Earth, our common home.
PLUS - Tree Planting on May 4 To honor Arbor Day & Earth Day there will be a public tree planting at the Mink River, sponsored by The Nature Conservancy, Forest Recovery Project and Climate Change Coalition of Door County.
Thank you to our Ad Sponsors:
7845 Church Street, Egg Harbor kresspavilion.org/eded All events are FREE!
Spring Opening Friday April 26 6939 State Hwy. 42 • 3 miles south of Egg Harbor Open Daily • (920)-868-3646 www.SunnypointDoorCounty.com
CLOSED EASTER SUNDAY
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
Open Daily at 9AM
New SPRING Arrivals NOW at On Deck in Sturgeon Bay!
On Deck in Fish Creek Reopens with All New Spring Merchandise on April 25th!
Sturgeon Bay | Fish Creek | Sister Bay
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920.868.9091
DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 PENINSULA PULSE
CONSTRUCTION SALE Continues in Sister Bay - Save 60% on Winter Stock
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The Purple Building in Egg Harbor 7821 State Highway 42 • Egg Harbor, WI 54209
Offer Ends June 30, 2019
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Call for a free estimate!
Professional, experienced installers and service techs
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Open: 9–5 Mon-Sat, Sunday by request (920) 868-1597 • www.spaverdesalon.com
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Junction Center Yoga & Zen
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Did you know? Missouri was the first state to amend wildlife conservation into its constitution by referendum on Nov. 3, 1936.
Held in the spirit of the late Hal Grutzmacher, a professor and Door County bookstore owner, The Hal Prize offers commentary and encouragement to promising poets, prosers, and photographers.
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PENINSULA PULSE APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM
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EDITOR
Jim Lundstrom ASSISTANT EDITOR
Alissa Ehmke CONTENT EDITOR
the sustainability issue
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
april 19–26/2019 v25i16 doorcountypulse.com
Myles Dannhausen Jr. COPY EDITOR
Paula Apfelbach CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Ryan Miller PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR
Len Villano LAYOUT ASSISTANT
Sharon Anderson ARTISTIC CONSULTANT
Renee Puccini EVENTS CALENDAR MANAGER
Grace Johnson PRODUCTION MANAGER/PUBLISHER
David Eliot MULTIMEDIA EDITOR
Aleah Kidd SALES MANAGERS
Jess Farley, Steve Grutzmacher INSIDE SALES/MARKETING ASSISTANT
Sherry VanSkyhawk COURIER
The Paper Boy, LLC
In our 13th Sustainability Issue we turn our eyes toward the affordable housing crisis and take a fresh look at what makes a community sustainable.
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER
Bryan Birnschein DISTRIBUTION EXPERTS
Jeff Andersen, Chris Eckland, Steve Glabe, Mike Grozis, Todd Jahnke, Susie Vania, Jacob Wickman
on the cover Illustration by Ryan Miller.
OFFICE MANAGER
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Introduction: The Housing Issue
Bedrock Flats: A Recycled Housing Development An early attempt at an affordable housing development fell to a familiar foe: NIMBYism.
7 Defining Affordability
8 DCEDC: Attainable Housing Makes a Sustainable Economy
9 IDEAS: Tiny Homes Seem Fun, But Are They A Practical Solution
10 A Place of Our Own Five residents discuss their struggles to find housing on the peninsula.
12 The Airbnb Effect: Vacation Rentals and Housing Stock Are short-term vacation rentals driving up rent and home prices?
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17 If You Build It, They Will Come Main Street Market builds a new 20-bed home for seasonal workers. IDEAS: Time is Ripe for Housing Trust Mariah Goode on how a housing trust could play a crucial role in creating options for first-time home-buyers to get a foot in the door.
18 Zoned Out: Communities Loosen Grip on Land Use
19 IDEAS: Can Homesharing Fill A Gap?
20 By the Numbers: The Housing Gap
IDEAS: Affordability Goes Beyond the Walls of a Home
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21 Greening Your Home
22 Celebrate Earth Day on the Peninsula
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IDEAS: New Life for Old Containers
2019 Farmers Markets Housing Resources Guide
INSIDE SALES/ASSISTANT OFFICE MANAGER
Kait Shanks CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Nate Bell CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Amber Beard, Celeste Benzschawel, Orlaine I. Gabert, Mariah Goode, Joe Heller, Ashley Lusk, Myles Mellor, Kevin Naze, Jackson Parr, Mary Pat, Matt Pothast, Jim Schuessler, Virge Temme, Patty Williamson
CHECK IT. READ IT. USE IT. IN PRINT & ONLINE DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM OWNER David Eliot FOUNDERS David Eliot & Tom Mckenzie
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DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 PENINSULA PULSE
IDEAS: In Wisconsin Dells, Dorms Fill Seasonal Housing Void
Ben Pothast
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 201
Sustainability 2019: The Housing Issue
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PENINSULA PULSE APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM
by Myles Dannhausen Jr. myles@ppulse.com From age 19 to 31, I was a year-round resident of northern Door County. I lived in 13 homes and apartments in seven municipalities from Egg Harbor to Liberty Grove. Some I owned; some I rented; in all of them I had roommates. I worked full time that entire time, and more than 60 hours per week for most of it. Two of those apartments were part of properties that accompanied the restaurant I owned, and just four of them were found through a listing. The rest came through a friend giving up a room, from a family member catching an inside tip or by stumbling into the right conversation at a bar or coffee shop (and my editors thought I was just wasting time on those stools!). The best of those homes came by pestering the owner of a vacation rental into leasing to me in the days before Airbnb made it easy to rent your home to vacationers. Three times I had to move because a home was going on the market. Two other apartments were summer rentals only. Two were taken to the vacation-rental market. Other times I moved when time was up on a room or a slightly better dump became available. My story is not atypical. A simple glance at real estate listings tells us that home prices are out of reach for the average Door County worker, but for hundreds – if not thousands – of fully employed residents of Door County, an affordable rental unit is even more difficult to find. The housing study released by the Door County Economic Development Corporation in February made this clearer than ever. It was ridiculed by many as pointing out the obvious. “We didn’t need an expensive study to tell us this,” was a common refrain on Facebook. That’s true, but a review of the study shows that it does more than just tell us what we already knew. Where the study breaks new ground is in quantifying the amount of housing needed and where. In sum, it showed a current gap of 470 workforce rental apartments, with 140 needed in northern Door County and 330 in the Sturgeon Bay area. The potential occupants of these apartments are identified as people who want to live here but can’t find housing. It also anticipates an additional 110 will be needed by 2023. In northern Door County, these are potential tourism-industry workers, tradespeople, even newspaper reporters. In the city, it’s all of those plus the hundreds of workers manufacturers say they need to keep up with demand. Throughout the county, there is a growing senior population struggling to find apartments as well. Municipal officials say the study is already helping to draw interest from builders. “It’s a useful tool,” said Egg Harbor Village Administrator Ryan Heise. “For example, I introduced myself to a builder in Neenah and sent them the housing study. That quantifies our needs. That conversation becomes a lot more serious a lot faster with that information at hand.” The study also looks at the incomes of those people looking for housing. The Village of Sister Bay and the City of Sturgeon Bay have led the way in developing more housing units. Sister Bay’s push began a decade ago, at the bottom of the recession, when builders such as Keith Garot were enticed by projects that would keep cash flow coming in, even if profit margins were smaller. Garot built dozens of townhomes that sold for $89,900 to $140,000 – a price point impossible to come by at that time.
But years later, only 27 of his original 75 townhomes are owned by people with Door County addresses. It is one of the biggest fears of communities when they approve affordable projects: the units simply become vacation rentals or second homes. But still, that’s 27 residents who likely wouldn’t otherwise own a home. It was a start. In Sturgeon Bay, roughly 150 rental apartments have come on the market in recent years or will come on the market soon. Sister Bay has 84 in the works. Both communities tout these as “workforce housing,” and they undoubtedly are filling a needed niche in the market. But if you define “workforce” using the median income of a Door County worker, these apartments aren’t even scratching the surface of addressing the affordablehousing shortage. Nearly all of these apartments rent for more than $810 per month, and many for more than $1,000 per month. At the February Housing Summit where the housing study was announced, Chris Loose of Lakeshore CAP put this in perspective. Using the benchmark of 28 percent of income going toward housing costs, a household making the median household income of about $54,000. With no debt or child-care payments, this household can afford a $1,275 monthly housing payment. But who is this mythical worker with no debt? “Add in $250 in student loans and $300 for a car payment, and you very quickly can afford much less,” Loose said. A modest medical condition, high health-insurance costs, or a child-care payment make the situation even worse. These people, realistically, should not even enter into the thought of buying a home yet.” If the recession of 2008 taught us anything, it’s that we shouldn’t push home ownership for all as the key to economic prosperity. But what if people can’t even afford to rent? In Door County, that’s increasingly the case. Remember all those
apartments Sister Bay and Sturgeon Bay are touting? Well, as Loose puts it, not a single one of them would qualify as affordable for a person making the median household income in Door County if they have even a modest car payment, studentloan payment or credit card debt. The Forgotten Factor in the Seasonal Housing Gap 488. That number hasn’t been mentioned in any of the housing discussions I’ve been a part of in the last decade and a half, but it plays a major role in why we’re so desperate to find housing for seasonal workers. That’s the number of fewer students in Door County’s four mainland high schools today compared to 20 years ago. That represents 488 potential workers. (When I graduated from Gibraltar High School in 1997, I knew very few contemporaries who didn’t work 40-plus hours per week by their freshman year of high school.) Add in the fact that many of them would likely return to the county to work as 19- and 20-yearolds, and we’ve lost six years’ worth of workers. What was one of the best things about all of those workers, besides the fact that they were available on fall weekends? They all had housing. Now the county’s businesses have to replace those lost workers with employees imported from outside the county and outside the country, few of whom have a connection to a local resident and all of whom need a bed. Builders Cite Hurdles to Affordability For builders, the path to affordability is a math problem. Land prices, sewer and well costs, minimum lot sizes and density limits all drive up costs. Add the spate of natural disasters, tariffs on imported lumber and steel, and a tight labor market, and you
Public sewer and water infrastructure lays the groundwork for building affordable homes and apartments, but such infrastructure is in short supply in Door County. The shaded areas in the map at left show the only places where there is both public sewer and water. The map at right shows areas with just public sewer.
Hope for Action Despite the laundry list of roadblocks standing between home-seekers and affordability, there are signs that the county may finally be at a tipping point that spurs dramatic action. The housing study is opening the eyes of municipal leaders at a time when many of them are feeling the pinch in their own businesses or families. The Town of Liberty Grove, Village of Egg Harbor and Town of Gibraltar have all indicated a willingness to make land available for affordable homes or
apartments. The Door County Economic Development Corporation has made housing a priority, as has the Interfaith Prosperity Coalition. In the pages that follow, we’ve gathered voices from all corners of the housing struggle. You’ll find the stories of retirees seeking apartments, mothers desperate for a good home for their family, and business owners finding solutions for their workers. You’ll find ideas that are practical and some that are seemingly far-fetched, but they’re all taken from the conversations we’re hearing in boardrooms and coffee shops. Could shipping containers play a role in closing the seasonal housing gap? How about tiny homes and campgrounds? On the home-ownership front, Mariah Goode explains the possibilities of a housing trust to create affordable home stock in perpetuity, and Virge Temme discusses the many factors outside the home structure that influence affordability. And Jim Lundstrom looks at a development felled by a common housing nemesis: Nimbyism. Jackson Parr examines how zoning changes have opened windows to more development options and changes that could take them even further. He also explores how the growth of vacation rental sites such as VRBO and Airbnb are affecting home and rental markets. There are many more issues to dig into, and we’ll get to them in time. But with this year’s Sustainability Issue, we hope to simply throw a lot of ideas at the wall to start or further conversations. Thirteen years ago, Dave Eliot and I cooked up the idea of the Sustainability Issue based on the idea of sustainable development. We wanted to pause once a year to take a look at how Door County could evolve without costing ourselves the things we value so much here. At the time, our minds were on the environment, but now it’s on something else we value: our people. If our leaders, business owners and residents fail to address our myriad housing issues in a meaningful way, our economy won’t be able to support itself. There will be no cooks to work the line, no plumbers to stop the leak, no nurses to care for our elderly, no young families filling the halls of our schools – and eventually, a community that no longer reminds us of the place we fell in love with in the first place. In short, the Door County we know becomes unsustainable.
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
have construction costs that are up 30 percent by some estimates. “There’s just no way you can build the stuff any cheaper with the cost of material and labor and land prices,” said Tim Halbrook, who has built nearly 90 apartments in Sister Bay in recent years. “And a lot of these properties have to be rezoned, so then you have a bunch of neighbors opposing it.” Not only is there little housing below $180,000, but much of what exists in the $180,000 to $350,000 range is dated and comes with a ticket for a new roof, heating and cooling system, or other high-cost repairs and upgrades. (I saw this up close when I looked at 31 houses in this range when my wife and I decided to move home in 2017.) “In Green Bay, where I’m from, there are used houses a young couple can buy for $150,000,” Halbrook said. “There are no houses up here you can buy for $150,000. That same house up here might be $250,000, and it needs a ton of work. They’re overpriced, and people have done nothing to them.” Minimum lot sizes add to the cost to build in rural areas, and minimum home sizes make it hard to get tiny homes or tinyhome complexes off the ground. Public sewer and water infrastructure makes it much easier to build more affordable homes, but only Sister Bay and Sturgeon Bay have both, and a few other communities have just one of the two. A look at the accompanying maps shows just how little of the county’s land is covered by public water and/or sewer. A well and septic system can add $15,000 to $25,000 to the cost to build a new home. If communities allow for greater density and smaller lot sizes, shared wells and septics can bring costs down, but then you have to find a builder who wants to take on that project instead of a higher-profit, $400,000 home.
What Is ‘Affordable’ Housing in Door County?
DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 PENINSULA PULSE
Decades ago, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defined housing as “affordable” if it didn’t cost the household more than 30 percent of its gross income. On a community level, “affordable” housing is defined as that which households of median income or below can rent or purchase for no more than 28 to 30 percent of gross household income. Many people further refine or clarify that definition, specifying that the housing expenditures should include all associated costs – utilities, and for homeowners, mortgage principal and interest, taxes, fees and insurance – and that the grossincome figure should be exclusive of other debt such as student loans, car payments, child support and credit cards. Remember, too, that those purchasing a home typically need to put a down payment on the mortgage. Mortgage affordability is generally considered to be two and a half to three times one’s annual income. “Household income,” which is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, encompasses the income of the householder and all other individuals who are 15 years old and older in the household, whether they are related to the householder or not. “Median household income,” also defined by the U.S. Census, is the income of the household(s) located exactly in the middle of an ordered list of all household incomes. In Door County that number is just shy of $54,000. Households earning 60 to 120 percent of that are typically the target for workforce housing initiatives, which in Door County puts the range from $32,400 to $64,800. Households on the low end of that range are assumed to be able to afford housing costs of $810 per month, and $1,620 on the high end. But that comes with a gigantic catch: it assumes the household has no debt. If a household has a modest car payment of $150 per month or a student-loan payment of the same size, “affordable” very quickly drops below $650 per month. If a household has both of those expenses or is lucky enough to find day care on the peninsula, it falls below the $500 range before factoring in rising health-insurance and medical costs. That $54,000 household income split between two wage earners comes out to about $13 per hour. That’s $5.75 more than the Wisconsin minimum wage. Of the 200 housing units civic leaders boasted of building in Sturgeon Bay and Sister Bay in recent years, nearly all of them rent for more than $800 per month, and most cost significantly more.
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SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 201
Attainable Housing Makes A Sustainable County
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PENINSULA PULSE APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM
by Jim Schuessler Door County Economic Development Corporation Writer and humorist Mark Twain popularized the phrase that he attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” If the British PM were alive today, perhaps he could somehow spin two things into a positive: the mess that is Brexit and – of critical importance to the mission of Door County Economic Development Corporation (DCEDC) – the decline in Door County’s population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county’s population has declined 2.9 percent during the past 15 years, and Sturgeon Bay’s has declined 5.5 percent during that same period. The median age of Door County is growing at four times the national average. Student enrollments have been declining. These are headwinds affecting sustainability. What say ye, Mr. Disraeli? The challenge here is not jobs. In fact, there are hundreds of jobs available in local companies, many offering great wages and benefits. The consistent year-over-year growth of J-1 visa workers points to the need for added workforce. If we are to fill the available jobs, people need an affordable place to live. Therefore, Door County’s sustainability is intertwined with the development of attainably priced housing. More headwinds: Local wages for adults aged 25 to 34 have not budged in more than a decade. Nationally, student-loan debt exceeds $1.5 trillion, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve. Seven million car loans are more than 90 days in arrears, something not seen in the depth of the Great Recession. Young people who would consider moving to Door County may be arriving with accumulated debt. New apartments are coming online – and they are needed and appreciated – but at rates of $800 to 1,200 per month, these prices may be out of reach for people who are starting out. DCEDC, in collaboration with other individuals and groups, is working on addressing the need for attainable housing for people with median household incomes of $32,400 to $64,800, representing 60 percent to 120 percent of Door County’s Area Median Household Income.
To address this need, DCEDC’s Attainable Housing Subcommittee is evaluating municipal-owned land and existing infrastructure, focusing on municipalities that are actually interested in attainable-housing development. The Development Subcommittee is also developing a list of resources, including the Wisconsin Housing Economic Development Authority and U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as organizations that are already achieving success in attainable-housing development, such as NeighborWorks Green Bay. We also need appropriate zoning and property covenants to achieve housing that meets specific needs. Meanwhile, DCEDC’s Attainable Housing Subcommittee is planning a series of presentations about the recently completed Housing Analysis. The presentations will take place in Northern Door on May 21, in central Door on May 29 and in Southern Door on May 30. To achieve our attainable-housing goals, several criteria must be considered: • Building structures within town centers or communities with existing infrastructure • Choosing sites close to schools, public transportation and other resources for more walkable and bikable communities • Designing units and outdoor spaces with passive-design strategies to reduce energy needs naturally • Using LEED and Energy Star checklists to decrease energy consumption • Selecting durable fixtures, equipment, hardware and finishes that are easy to repair So why should anyone care? Well, consider that attainable housing supports vibrant and sustainable local development. It provides the opportunity for people to live near their work. Shorter commutes make it easier to attract and retain workers and reduce traffic. Workforce housing supports jobs in key sectors that serve residents and visitors alike. Moreover, sustainability is tied to stable housing that serves as a foundation for individual and family well-being. Children who move less often do better in school. Adults and children experience better physical and mental health. Families are more likely to achieve upward mobility and self-sufficiency. Pragmatically, our ecosystem is not suitable for significant population growth. It is, however, suitable for well-focused development that helps to ensure equity and sustainability so that Door County can remain a singularly special place. Statistics point to the need for policy to achieve sustainability. The collaborative work of stakeholders can ensure that we achieve a strong foundation for future generations to build upon.
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
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DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 PENINSULA PULSE
Tiny homes are trendy, and the tinyhome lifestyle is the subject of several television shows, but could they also help solve the housing shortage on the peninsula? Mariah Goode, Door County’s land use services director, said there are several roadblocks that make the 400-squarefoot homes a long shot, but the size of the structures isn’t the main problem – it’s zoning laws. The minimum size for a single-family home on a foundation in Door County is 750 square feet. A cluster of tiny homes, on the other hand, could be a different story. The caveat here is that they’d have to be built in a zone intended for multiple-occupancy developments (whether on wheels or not). These zones typically have sewer and water access, but Sturgeon Bay and Sister Bay are the only communities in Door County that have both. Tiny homes could also be built as secondary housing units on properties that already have a single-family residence on them. In this instance, rentals would need to extend more than seven days. Tiny homes follow the same concept as the “granny pod,” another type of small, secondary dwelling unit that’s made from old shipping containers. They have become popular in some areas for housing elderly people or couples, typically the landowner’s parents. The pod shares sewer, water and electric service with the main house. Putting a home on wheels changes the game for tiny homes in Door County. According to Goode, there are no zoning regulations that would prohibit mobile tiny homes (fewer than 400 square feet, like any
other camping unit) on privately owned campgrounds for seasonal housing. In this case, tiny homes would be considered temporary dwelling units, allowing occupancy for a maximum of eight months of the year, similar to the Heritage Lake development outside the Village of Egg Harbor. Baileys Grove Campground may seem to be an ideal set-up for tiny homes because most of its sites have access to water and electric, and some have access to sewer facilities. There’s also Wi-Fi, laundry and restroom and shower facilities. Owner Josh Kropuenske said he’s considered the concept of tiny homes but ultimately decided against it. Out of 115 campsites, 30 are already reserved for seasonal campers, some of which are rented by transient workers. Those campers are there from the time the grounds open to the time they close, and there’s a waiting list for the seasonal spots. Plus, Kropuenske has rented to seasonal workers before when he worked in the hotel industry, and he found himself breaking up parties early in the morning. The campground setting seems to be an attractive idea because it’s affordable, but noise would be a problem in that setting, he said. The seasonal sites he does rent are often to young people, but they are committed to the full-time camping lifestyle, he said. It works better in individual cases. “That model fits a little bit better than it does devoting a section of the campground for businesses to put trailers in there,” Kropuenske said. “It’s a lot easier when it’s the person responsible who is actually the person staying there.”
(Above) Units at Heritage Lake Resort outside Egg Harbor start at just 350 square feet. There are 230 homes at the 80-acre complex – none larger than 750 square feet – yet the heavily wooded grounds never feel urban. Photo by Len Villano.
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SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 201
A Place of Our Own: The Challenge of ‘Home’ in Door County
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PENINSULA PULSE APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM
A Place of Our Own: The Challenge of “Home” in Door County is an interview project that puts front and center the stories of year-round residents living with the consequences of the lack of quality, affordable housing in Door County. It’s sponsored by the Interfaith Prosperity Coalition, an organization representing the community and various Northern Door churches that’s committed to facilitating access to affordable housing. Culminating this spring in a series of short videos and a traveling exhibit, A Place of Our Own provides a forum for these residents to share their struggles to create a true home for themselves and their families. The following excerpts come from five of the project’s stories that represent different aspects of the struggle to find housing on the peninsula. Photos are courtesy of David Skidmore. For more information about A Place of Our Own: The Challenge of “Home” in Door County, contact Kathleen Toerpe at justdoorcounty@gmail.com.
Garrett Doubleday On finding housing as a new business owner:
I had worked here in past summers. I developed relations with a business owner and had talked about doing an apprenticeship. It led me to eventually taking over this business. Once I knew I was making that commitment and moving here full time, I knew I had to find my own housing. I particularly like Fish Creek. It just happens to be where my store is. It’s a nice, small town; it’s quaint. It seems like it would be in a movie, with the storefronts and by the water. But I was looking in all kinds of places, on Facebook and in the newspaper. I had contacted previous employers to see if I could stay at their residence while I was doing the search – just as a safety net – to at least have a place to live instead of commuting the two and a half hours I was before. I even asked gas-station attendants if anyone they knew was renting out anything. Now I live in Sturgeon Bay. It wasn’t as convenient as I might like. It’s about a half hour’s drive each way, so I do the commute daily, about an hour. It would have been nicer to find something more affordable closer, but I knew that probably wasn’t a possibility just because of the prices. I know a lot of people who haven’t been able to find jobs in other places, people I grew up with. And I always say, “Well, there’s always a lot of jobs here in Door County, and it seems like they pay well and are good jobs.” But they always end up asking where they would live, and I never have a good answer for them.
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
Emily Johnson
Tom Van Susteren
On the struggle to find affordable housing in Door County:
Paige Funkhouser On what affordability in housing means:
On the challenge of finding housing after retirement:
Rachel Pesina On how Door County’s housing challenges have affected her family:
I was born and raised up here, so I know the whole area pretty well. You know, it was fun – we did a lot of hiking when I was little. We went to a lot of beaches, a lot of the state parks. So, it was nice growing up here, then coming back with my kids, showing them the same things that I used to do when I was little: the state parks, the beaches. Just having fun. I moved to Milwaukee for a few years. Then we lived in Vegas for a few years. I came back here to help take care of my dad. His health isn’t the greatest. So I’m here for my family. I’m here to help my dad in any way I can and just support him as much as I can. It is hard to find family housing up here. There’s not too many places to go. They always say, oh, we’re building these affordable apartments, over here, over there. And then when they actually build them and you find out a two bedroom is $1,200, well, that’s not affordable living. That’s not affordable living in my eyes. It makes me feel defeated that I can’t find that permanent place to call home for me and my children. Having to move around. Like any child, they want a dog. And I told them, as soon as we get that year-round place, we can get a dog. So they already know in their heads that they can’t have certain things because there’s not that security of having a year-round place. And that breaks my heart.
I’m 67, and one of the reasons I moved here is I really admire Door County as a place to get older. I’m not old yet, but I’m going to get old. I really admire the situation for the aging community here. The county seems to foster that. The Y has classes for mobility, and I think that’s really important. I see the aging community, and I want to be part of that. So, this is where I want to get old. This is where I want to live the rest of my life. I had a good career, and I have two pensions and Social Security, and I do work part-time at a grocery store in Northern Door, but you can’t get to the end of every month and wonder if you’re going to make it. I really drilled down and looked at every possible housing situation here. I actually just drove the streets to see what it was like, and I made a list of places that rented. I don’t want to own again, and I pretty much came up with … not much. I called all these places, and there’s a waiting list, or they don’t even pick up the phone because they have so many people trying to get in. It seemed pretty hopeless, but I persisted. Door County is not unique in that dignified living conditions for people is a problem. If I really had to, I can leave. That’s the only Plan B there is: Find a place to live or leave. What will Door County do? They have to find some way to invest in themselves. I think it has to be an investment in the community and in its own people.
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I’ve worked for nonprofits in Door County, and I’ve worked jobs where I’m very much in the public eye, at what people would consider a white-collar job. But what people don’t realize is that in Door County, those white-collar jobs don’t necessarily pay what they would in the rest of the country, nor do they necessarily offer benefits. Because that’s how a nonprofit often scrapes together is by trying to keep labor costs low and do what they can to budget very frugally themselves. So affordability, if you’re talking monthly costs for rent – $500 to $700 is really what enables me to live without worrying about keeping the heat on or worrying about what kind of groceries I can buy. It gives me a little bit of money to be able to go to my friend’s restaurant maybe once a month – maybe every couple of months – to go out to dinner, to go and see people and support the businesses in the community that I love. If Door County wants to attract more people like me who are willing to help our community, to work for nonprofit organizations that help to keep the entire community an awesome place to live, we’ve got to help everybody find housing – all different levels. Especially as our population in Door County gets older, having a community of mixed ages makes our community more vibrant. Sharing of knowledge is necessary, and it’s fun. It’s a fun place to live, and I want to help keep it that way, and I know we need housing of all levels in order to keep the doors open. There’s no easy solution, and it’s going to be a bunch of puzzle pieces that Door County has to put together to address the housing challenges.
It’s extremely frustrating. I love the community I live in; I love the people in the community. I want to live here. I want to help my community grow, and I want to start a future here. And I don’t understand how such a tight-knit community can’t see that we can’t support our own. I’m not the only one. There’s other people as well, and to me it doesn’t make much sense. We claim to have this wonderful, close community that’s always supporting each other, yet our younger working generation and our older working generation are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. How is that supporting your community? So, for me, it’s been very frustrating. It’s hard to start somewhere when you have nowhere to start. I’m an active part of your community. I work – in the summertime, 70 hours a week. At the restaurants, most of us are seasonal workers, making sure that people have places to go at night. I don’t think that people realize that businesses would not be able to function if it weren’t for people like me and my fellow service-industry workers. There’s been a huge shortage of staff because no one can afford to live up here, and even if you can afford it, no one wants to when what is available is not livable. It is extremely discouraging that the community that wants to be as close and tight-knit as they are – this is how they treat the staff. This is how they treat their fellow community. I’m part of your community, and I deserve to have a decent place to live where I don’t have to worry about getting sick. I don’t have to worry about sleeping with hats and gloves on because my heat doesn’t work. Or a place where I don’t have to see the sky through my roof. Or have snow fall on me when it’s snowing in my bed. And so, for me, that was a big blow – that the place I grew up in, people who claim to love and support you so much, that’s what we offer.
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 201
The Airbnb Effect: Vacation Rentals and Housing Stock
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PENINSULA PULSE APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM
by Jackson Parr jackson@ppulse.com It’s a common refrain: If rich people weren’t scooping up every available affordable home and converting it to an Airbnb to make even more money, affordable housing in Door County wouldn’t be an issue. But the boom in tourism that has closely followed the growth of vacation-rental platforms has funneled millions into the region. The tension between the tourism economy and the sustainable growth of the community has no greater stage than vacation rentals. The benefits of additional rental options for visitors are clear, but the costs are elusive. They show up in displacement of local residents paying perpetual rent, businesses that can’t afford to buy a motel downtown to house their employees and, some argue, the gentle tearing of our community fabric. The growth in the number of property owners who rent out their space is profound. Since the Door County Tourism Zone Commission (DCTZC) began tracking data on room tax, it has issued 397 additional permits for the property type called Cottage/Cabin/Home: an 86 percent increase. Meanwhile, hotel, resort, inn and B&B permits have remained relatively flat throughout the decade. But Kim Roberts, DCTZC administrator, cautions that it’s hard to make any inferences from the data. Year-round residents who rent their home out for a single weekend while they are away add to that permit count, so many of those permits do not represent a loss in available housing stock. “Do I hear a lot of people purchasing homes just for rentals? Not really,” Roberts said, adding that rentals are often a way to keep family properties in the family. “This is such a complicated issue because there are so many factors that go into it.” Matt Horton has bought and maintained a handful of homes around Baileys Harbor as Airbnb properties. “I would love to rent to long-term people up here, but there is no possible way that I could do that,” Horton said, explaining that the carrying costs of the house would force the monthly rent out of range for the local workforce. Bailey Koepsel is all too familiar with rental costs and Door County real estate prices. She has been looking for a home to purchase since last year. “I think our biggest problem has probably been how hot the market is versus how many homes – or lack of homes – come up in our price range,” Koepsel said. “Ideally we would love to live in Northern Door, but real estate prices north of Sturgeon Bay are just obscene.” Koepsel mentioned a home that went on the market in Sister Bay for $250,000, and the listing advertised it as a good candidate for a vacation rental. She put in another offer on a home in Sturgeon Bay, but the seller took an offer with no contingencies. “No survey, no home inspection,” Koepsel said. “We would guess that was snatched up by someone who is going to use it as an
Airbnb because if you’re going to be living there, you would want a home inspection.” Horton said many of the homes he converts are tear-downs that have been sitting on the market for months with little interest. Meanwhile, he employs local residents at a living wage to clean and maintain the properties, pumping money back into the local economy. Koepsel is skeptical of the economic cycle of vacation-homes revenue. “The money the owners get from that [rental] probably does not come back to us into our economy because the owners are most likely not living up here,” Koepsel said. Sturgeon Bay is trying to balance the positive and negative effects on the economy with the need for housing.
Rob Esposito is developing a vacationrental property in downtown Egg Harbor. Although he understands there could be problems for the housing stock with converting traditional homes into vacation rentals, he believes the conversation about housing in Door County has never been more prescient. “It’s not going to solve itself overnight,” Esposito said, adding that the impact of vacation rentals on the housing stock that was explored in the recent housing study was inconclusive. “Let’s identify the problems and find the right people to solve those problems.” It is unclear what long-term effect the restrictions in Sturgeon Bay would have if implemented, but they would surely reduce the number of rentals in the city, which is
“We used to require a 30-day minimum rental period, which more or less killed any vacation rentals,” said Marty Olejniczak, community development director for the City of Sturgeon Bay. “There’s some talk of going back to minimum rental periods.” A provision in the 2017 state budget changed the way in which municipalities can restrict vacation rentals. Now a municipality can require minimum rentals of seven days but no more, which is believed to be a win for the shortterm-rental industry. Although Sturgeon Bay cannot go back to the 30-day rental requirement, the city is exploring restrictions that would slow the growth of vacation-home rentals. “Are the tourist rooming houses taking away what could have been a nice, affordable unit? The jury is out on that,” Olejniczak said. Horton is critical of the proposals in Sturgeon Bay. “If the problem is long-term housing, let’s not create another problem,” Horton said. “Travel trends have changed.”
already showing sluggish room-tax growth compared to most of the other Door County municipalities. The specific effect is hard to define, but the economics would say the income potential of vacation-rental properties in Door County has driven up home prices. Continuing this trend may further price out the local workforce, which has a median income 9 percent lower than the state, in a market with median home values 4 percent higher than the rest of the state. “I think what has been kind of aggravating for us is, we’ve all heard the discussion of, ‘How do we get young professionals to stay in Door County?’” Koepsel said. “You’re not going to get them to stay in Door County if they can’t buy a house in Door County.” “There seems to be more of an emphasis than ever before,” Esposito said. “I think that’s the real solution. I think the important thing is we keep talking about affordable housing.”
(Top) Rob Esposito is developing The Flats on Church Street, the first vacation-rental complex built specifically for the Airbnb/ VRBO market in Egg Harbor. Photo by Len Villano. (Above) A rendering of the interior of one of the studio units in the complex.
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
Those priced out of homes are forced into an increasingly unaffordable rental market.
IDEAS: Affordability Goes Beyond the Walls of a Home by Virge Temme
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growing number of developments are now mandating maximum house sizes rather than minimum – something unthought of a decade ago – and are integrating nature into their projects, replacing hot roofs and asphalt paving with roof gardens and green spaces. In response to the global scientific consensus that buildings are the main contributors to greenhouse gasses, architects around the globe are designing houses that can reduce or eliminate carbon emissions. Advocates of programs such as LEED, the Living Building Challenge, the Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Building and PHIUS are developing climatespecific responses to right-size solutions for particular environments. How can these measures mitigate our affordable-housing dilemma? First, developments such as cohousing and planned urban infill can reduce our reliance on vehicles, which can consume as much as 15 percent of a household income. They can also promote task and tool sharing to the financial burden of expensive day care, elder care and maintenance costs that eat up 25 to 40 percent of income. On top of that, community vegetable gardens may reduce a household’s grocery bills by as much as 20 percent. Additionally, smaller dwellings on smaller lots have a lower life-cycle cost. Smaller, net-zero-energy homes – those that consume less energy than they generate – cost only 3 to 7 percent more to construct than traditional homes. From the first month of occupancy, these homes can net an economic gain by offsetting water, sewer and energy bills. The federal government and housing-loan industry have recognized this and are initiating programs to underwrite loans they previously avoided, knowing the slightly increased mortgage costs will be offset by monthly utility savings. What can Door County do to take advantage of these beneficial innovations? We can start by building smaller homes on smaller lots. We can use existing building stock and reimagine empty storefronts as apartments with small groceries and bakeries to serve new urban dwellers. These measures will require modifications to our zoning codes. But other cities and towns have already moved in that direction, so proven strategies for successfully adapting municipalities to forward-looking design measures already exist. Door County has no shortage of creative minds, and by working together, we can address the immediate housing needs and develop long-term sustainablehousing solutions for our future.
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The United States, Canada and most of Europe are in the throes of the most severe housing shortage in more than 60 years. The last time there was this level of shortage was after WWII, when these countries, still reeling from the Great Depression, were suddenly faced with accommodating returning veterans, along with hundreds of thousands of displaced people and refugees. Today’s shortage is primarily due to the 2008 Great Recession, which was caused by the sudden collapse of a housing-market boom built on an unstable foundation of home purchases made by owners who were unable to keep up with their mortgages. After a nationwide wave of foreclosures, banks were unwilling to give low- or no-down-payment home loans for fear of default. Developers were likewise reluctant to build spec homes because they were unsure whether prospective customers would be able to obtain financing. To encourage new-home purchases, the Fed dropped interest rates to an all-time low. However, instead of purchasing new, more expensive homes, homeowners took the opportunity to stay in their current homes and refinanced at the lower rates. This dampened new construction and dried up available existing housing. In addition, the overall cost of construction skyrocketed, making new homes unaffordable to the average worker. One reason for the increase was the cost of labor. Many younger workers find construction unappealing and are choosing different career paths. Now, as contractors vie for workers in a diminishing pool, wages for good tradespeople are climbing, and these costs are being passed on to consumers. One more significant factor emerged when President Donald Trump imposed tariffs and began threatening trade wars with countries that supply construction materials. Those two actions alone pushed the price of materials up by more than 15 percent. Compounding this are the effects of climate change on housing. Unprecedented wildfires, floods and increasingly powerful hurricanes have caused the loss of thousands of homes and reduced available resources, driving up the cost of products such as steel and wood. Many homes are being taken off the market and converted to Airbnbs to subsidize household incomes. Remaining homes on the market are often either overpriced or in such poor condition that they require substantial and costly improvements. Decent, properly priced
homes now stay on the market for only two or three days. All told, the average cost of a new home is nearly 30 percent higher than it was just three or four years ago. For young adults, home ownership is especially unattainable. Many are paying down large college loans or have otherwise been unable to save enough to afford a 20 percent down payment. Instead of buying a home, they are forced to rent in an increasingly expensive rental market. It is anticipated that rents may increase as much as 25 percent during the next five years. But profound crisis sometimes presents a spectacular opportunity. For instance, the 1930s and ’40s ushered in bold, new visions of workforce housing and completely changed the way the Western world looked at neighborhood development, urban planning, and single- and multifamily housing design and construction. That era introduced plywood, tract housing and winding suburbs. Green lawns and homogeneous neighborhoods became the norm. Residential neighborhoods became isolated from industry and other services, and an automobile-based society was born. Today our housing solutions must address resiliency as well as affordability because a warming planet will cause more frequent and severe catastrophic weather events. Developers, architects and planners from many nations are contributing progressive visions to address global housing needs. Three primary patterns of change have emerged from these independent initiatives: zoning revisions, smaller dwelling sizes and improved energy and water efficiency coupled with reduced or eliminated carbon emissions. Around the world, new communities are introducing nature into the built environment because exposure to nature can reduce stress and improve mental and physical health. Co-housing communities throughout Europe and North America are bringing together like-minded individuals who live in separate, small dwellings but choose to share services such as child care, shopping, transportation, building maintenance and gardening. In our cities, urban infill, including housing located above commercial storefronts, is energizing communities and fostering fiscal interaction. In pockets of development throughout the United States, homes are getting smaller. The Tiny Home movement may prove to be a short-lived fad, but it has awakened the public to the possibility of living comfortably in small spaces that are creatively designed to accommodate more activities in fewer square feet. A
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 201
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IDEAS: In Wisconsin Dells, Dorms Fill Seasonal Housing Void by Celeste Benzschawel The struggle to find affordable housing is more than a lifestyle problem in Door County – it’s a workforce problem. People are already turning down jobs or shying away from applying for jobs on the peninsula because of a lack of housing. Phil Berndt, membership director of the Door County Visitor Bureau, offered a seasoned perspective on it. “Some may question why a community should take on any part of this liability,” he said, “but without an adequate workforce, we soon lose out on the quality experiences that make Door County such a special place –
has community kitchen spaces where residents use their own utensils and cleaning supplies. Rooms tend to have three or four beds each, a full bathroom, microwave, fridge and air conditioning. Residents also receive pillows and blankets. In Door County, neighbors have opposed proposals for dorms because they think such facilities would encourage a party atmosphere. Discussion of building a dorm on land in the Village of Egg Harbor halted in 2016 because business owners said it wasn’t financially viable. The 20-unit, 40-bed proposal would have required a long-term commitment from business owners at $480 per bed, per week.
sense rules such as no smoking in the buildings, no tampering with fire equipment, no weapons and no violence. Rooms are inspected weekly for cleanliness, and residents with repeated violations are evicted. The facilities are also designed for safety. All residents receive a key card that they must present at any time while on the property. Local police and security officers patrol the grounds, and security cameras monitor all indoor and outdoor common areas. With these rules and safety precautions in place, it seems unlikely that a party atmosphere could exist. Not only would breaking rules result in eviction, but it would also result
But there are two local examples of seasonal dorm operations: Landmark Resort has successfully operated a dorm for decades, and Birch Creek Music Performance Center houses summer students ages 13 to 19 in two dorms in the Town of Egg Harbor. Birch Creek’s original dorms date to the 1980s, with the most recent renovations and additions made in 2008. The nonprofit funded the structures through donations, and Executive Director Mona Christensen said they serve as more than housing and include kitchens and practice rooms, which makes it hard to estimate their exact cost. The campus gets running water from its own septic system – a costly project. But the housing has been successful for both residents and faculty. Strict policies and a 10-to-one student-tocounselor ratio ensure that everyone is well behaved. Hiawatha employs similar rules to ensure that the dorms are kept quiet and in good shape. Eviction is the most common punishment listed on its Occupant Rules page – even for lack of cleanliness. No drugs and alcohol are permitted on the premises; no guests are allowed on any part of the property; and gatherings of six or more people are prohibited, along with common-
in potentially losing a job – sponsors for J-1 workers and J-1 employers are notified when a situation occurs. “It’s my understanding that housing is treated as a privilege extended to those who agree to adhere to the common-sense rules that preserve the quality of life in the dorms,” Berndt said. “Most of the employees who apply to live in the dorms are students who are working two or three jobs and rely on the dorm as a safe, quiet place where they can sleep. Employees who don’t subscribe to this mindset should look elsewhere for housing.” Mary Maniak, manager of the Hiawatha residence halls, said she’s had no issues with partiers during the five years she’s been there. The management has taken a threestrikes-you’re-out kind of approach in enforcing the strict rules, but they also encourage a fun and friendly atmosphere, sometimes hosting organized events in the common areas. Rent is affordable for the residents as well. It varies, but during the busy season, rent is $90 per week. In the off-season, it’s $75 per week. “Hopefully we, as a community, will take this opportunity to lead the industry – before our reputation is compromised,” Berndt said.
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The Hiawatha Residence Halls in Wisconsin Dells include common areas for entertainment, dining, and cooking. The dorms have helped house the area’s thousands of J-1 visa student workers that keep waterpark resorts running each summer. Submitted.
and that’s a mindset that may take time to cultivate.” Through his work with the destination-marketing organization Destinations International and the J-1 Summer Work Travel Program, Berndt has had the opportunity to examine the housing shortage in seasonal destinations around the globe and sees a potential model in Wisconsin Dells. There resorts have built dormitories for their workers, including 4,000 J-1 students every year. Before the dorms were built, conditions were cramped, with multiple students living in a hotel room at a time. There were health and safety concerns, too: spaces often lacked proper managers or laundry facilities, Berndt said. The hotels clashed with the desired aesthetic of the area with hanging laundry and bikes visible to visitors. Now workers in the Dells have safe alternatives. Hiawatha Residence Hall, for example, built in 2014, is the most popular destination for seasonal workers – mostly J-1 students who arrange housing through their employers – because it’s close to many of the resorts and restaurants where these students work. There’s a laundry facility, a community space and an administrative office. Each dorm floor
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SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
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When Leathem D. Smith of Sturgeon Bay invented the Safeway shipping container in 1945, he revolutionized the shipping industry. Seventy-four years later, could that same idea revolutionize housing in Door County? In Europe, shipping containers have been a popular way to fill housing gaps for more than a decade, particularly in temporary situations. In London, Hope Gardens is a “meanwhile” complex: a housing structure built without permanency in mind. The midrise of shippingcontainer homes is meant to provide temporary housing for people who have hit a rough patch, putting land to use until the city assigns it a different use. In Denmark, floating shippingcontainer complexes are now in use to house students, but there are landlocked versions as well. Last fall my nephew (and former Peninsula Filmworks intern) Jacob Dannhausen-Brun spent a semester living in a shipping-container dorm while he studied at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby, a suburb of Copenhagen. The singlestory complex featured five containers
surrounding a central container hub of bathrooms, kitchen and dining facilities. “The rooms were kind of mundane and boring and didn’t have any kind of living room, but only being there for a couple of months, they were an awesome place to meet people and experience other cultures,” he said. “Lots of conversations happened in the kitchen, and we often made meals together. Because it was a bunch of international students from throughout the world, we would often make food from our own country and share it with the others.” They were also one of the cheapest options available to him. On the flip side, the dorms were hard to keep clean with 10 students sharing the space “and kind of boring with the cookie-cutter atmosphere.” Although shipping containers are often thought to be a green solution to housing issues, that’s sometimes not the case. Used containers are often damaged, threatening their structural integrity if stacked; and many are treated with chemicals to withstand the elements. But some container homes have been outfitted for less than $20,000, and when coupled with a common area for dining and bathing, they can be affordable and modular.
(Above) When Jacob DannhausenBrun studied abroad in the fall of 2018 in Lyngby, Denmark – outside Copenhagen – he lived in a shippingcontainer dorm complex. Photo by Christine Dannhausen-Brun.
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 201
RESALE SHOP
SPRING CLEANING TIME! REMEMBER TO DONATE BEFORE YOU DISPOSE DONATIONS ACCEPTED TUES. - SAT. 10-3; SUN. 11-2
SHOPPING HOURS
MON. - SAT. 10 - 4; SUN. 11- 3 On the Scandia Village Campus Off Canterbury Lane & Hwy. 57 10578 Applewood Road, Sister Bay 920-854-9669 • bargainsunlimited.org
$10 off your purchase of $10 or more!
Bedrock Flats: A Recycled Housing Development Only effective 4/6/19 - 5/3/19
$10 off your purchase of $10 or more! Only effective 4/6/19 - 5/3/19 Coupon valid at the Door County Habitat for Humanity ReStore Only. Cannot be combined with other offers. Coupon must be surrendered at time of purchase. One per customer, some restrictions apply. Valid only during effective dates.
Open for the Season NEW FOR 2019 Expanded Selection of Garden Supplies Gift Items • Planters
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PENINSULA PULSE APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM
Monday-Friday • 8am-5pm 337 N. 14th Ave • Sturgeon Bay 920.743.9794
by Jim Lundstom
not allow us to keep the cute, little
Navis, it has nothing to do with the fictional prehistoric city where the animated series The Flintstones took place and everything to do with the bedrock just below the surface of the land. “Bedrock Flats begins with me moving to Door County in the mid1980s and everybody talking about what a housing shortage there was,” Navis said. “This was way before J-1 Visa [seasonal workers]. At that time, college kids came up by the bajillions. What people did at that time was park in a parking lot at the state park and live in their cars. They could take showers there.” Navis trained in environmental design with the intention of going into architecture, but rather than housing, her interests were in “alternative energy design, super-insulated things, recycling.” All of that kicked in when she saw an ad for a Fish Creek resort that was selling cottages for $50 each. “I thought we could make a little housing project,” she said. “It all happened within two weeks. We [she and business partner Marvin Lehman] found a piece of property on County E that was really inexpensive. There was nothing there, just a blank piece of land. So we bought all the cottages.” They subdivided the eight-acre parcel into eight one-acre parcels. “We moved the cottages ourselves,” Navis said. “Unfortunately, zoning did
housing project was meant to be. “They had I don’t know how many really beautiful, little cottages, all again with a full kitchen and bathroom,” Navis said. “We bought them all and moved all 25 little buildings. It was a two-year project moving all of those buildings.” By combining the cottages, they ended up with two duplexes, one triplex and one single-family unit. “It was only summer seasonal housing, but we housed a lot of people, a lot of college kids,” she said. “It was the only thing of its sort of that time.” However, neighbors were not keen on the development. “The neighbors were really unhappy,” Navis said. “They were claiming there would be prositution and drug dealing and parties. Even the partying was not an issue. We were in a lawsuit for five years. They would just keep filing new charges. If it got thrown out of Door County court, they filed it in Kewaunee County.” The first lawsuit claimed zoning violations. “I worked from day one with Rick Brauer of the zoning administration,” Navis said. “Everything was totally above board.” Eventually, they winterized the cottages. “We had some people who lived there for years,” she said. “We sold
jim@ppulse.com Coupon valid at the Door County Hab-self-contained cottages with a kitchen bathroom. They needed to be a itat forAnyone Humanity ReStore Only. Cannotand driving on County E minimum of 750 square feet. So we be combined with otherwondered offers. Couponconnected them to each other.” regularly has probably about the street sign that reads must be surrendered at time of purchase.While moving the Fish Creek “Bedrock Flats.” Does Fred Flintsone cottages to Bedrock Flats, they Onelive perthere? customer, some restrictions aplearned of another set of cottages for ply. Valid onlyoriginal during effective dates. sale in Ephraim. It seemed as if the No, said developer Kathy
the single-family house in the back. The people who bought it had horses. The last charge was when one of the horses escaped from the corral, and the charge was livestock roaming freely on the property. It was crazy. It was just crazy.” Growing tired of the legal issues and of being a landlord for so many properties, Navis eventually sold Bedrock Flats, but she still believes it was a good idea. “It was really an inexpensive way to recycle those cottages and keep them out of the landfill, and make livable housing for summer employees,” she said. “I thought it was a good idea.” Two years ago, Navis had the idea of recycling another building – this time an Egg Harbor bed-and-breakfast that was located on the corner where the Kress Pavilion now sits. The village would have had to demolish the building at a reported cost of $20,000 had someone not bought it. Navis bought the building for $1 and had it moved just a couple of blocks away on a half-acre of property behind Lull-Abi Inn. “Now we’ve got two year-round apartments, one large apartment for J-1 Visa students, and two Airbnbs, which kind of floats the boat financially,” she said. Navis has obviously spent a lot of time thinking about Door County’s housing problems. “I don’t think there’s one solution to our housing problem. It has to be lots of solutions,” she said. We have all these falling-down barns. If the zoning ordinances and building codes were changed a bit, people could actually put housing in these buildings. Then it’s spread out. It’s not one big clump of housing. I think it really has to be a very broad solution.”
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
If You Build It, They Will Come Main Street Market building new home for its summer J-1 Visa workers by Jim Lundstrom jim@ppulse.com Kaaren Northrop recalls a time in the not-too-distant past when summer employees would show up for work and ask, “Where am I living?” “The whole process is way more difficult now,” she said. “Now when you fill out the paperwork for J-1 Visa students, you either have to have a place for them to live or help them find a place to live. It’s a heck of a lot easier if you have a place for them to live.” Northrop, of Main Street Market in Egg Harbor, said the grocery store has been hiring seasonal employees through the J-1 Visa program for 20 years. This winter, Portside Builders of Sturgeon Bay has been fighting the elements to finish a brand-new, 3,500-square-foot home in Egg Harbor that will house this year’s crop of the store’s summer employees, the first of whom are due to arrive May 20. But that was after deciding to tear down the home that had stood in the same spot and had housed Main Street Market employees for about a dozen years. “It was a summer home, and the woman who owned it, her family built it,” Northrop said. “She retired here, so they put an addition on the back end that was winterized. It was a bedroom, bathroom, living room and the remaining kitchen in the house that was heated. The rest of it wasn’t. She lived there and actually came to work for us.” When the woman died, her family kept it, but when they decided to sell, they sold it to Northrop’s parents, Dave and Vonnie Callsen. “It was really always a summer home, so it was kind of oddly laid out,” Northrop said. With some adjustments, they turned the home into living quarters for their J-1 Visa employees. “It was always full,” she said. “The first few years we had it, we probably had 10 or 12 kids, and I had people begging me to let them live there because they had nowhere to live.”
About five years ago, they opened the house to a single year-round occupant, a college student who was about the same age as the J-1 Visa students. “We had to kick him out the week before they tore the house down,” Northrop said. But the old vacation home was slowly deteriorating. “Every year we would do something to it,” she said. “Three years ago, we redid the whole entire kitchen – brand-new cabinets, counters. We redid the flooring and the laundry room. Last spring we carpeted the whole upstairs and did another bathroom.” It seemed there was always something to repair in the old house, so last fall they invited Portside representatives to look at it and give an honest opinion. “They said, ‘Tear it down,’” Northrop said. “We knew we had to have employee housing. For someone like us who needs that many people in the summertime, you have to have someplace for them to live. The old house was becoming a liability. We spent way too much money the last two years on it.” So they decided to bite the bullet and have a new home built, and they came up with an efficient replacement home that by Northrop’s estimate can easily house 20 people. “It turned out to be somewhat economical to build this,” she said. “It could be a template for others. If this works and it works well, maybe you can get some investors to build more of them.” As you walk in the front door, there will be a living room and communal kitchen. To the right is a long hallway leading to eight bedrooms. A shared bathroom sits between every two bedrooms. “I had this idea to lay it out like this,” Northrop said. “It’s actually a very efficient layout. Everything’s exactly the same. One color for everything: white. There’s a laundry room that’s five times better than my laundry room. All the same flooring throughout. The bid came in quite a bit lower than anticipated. It’s a 3,500-squarefoot house, but [it costs] less per square foot than your average house because of efficiencies. This is not a normal house.
Alan Shefchik and Jason Boes from Portside Builders with Kaaren and Steve Northrop of Main Street Market in Egg Harbor. Photos by Len Villano.
Things you would put in a normal house wouldn’t work in here.” It was also designed so they could shut half the home down in the winter, should they have a year-round resident again. “I have at least four kids coming back this summer who were either here last year or two years ago,” Northrop said. “They thought the old house was nice, but I’ve been sending pictures, and they are excited.” She said other Egg Harbor businesses will also benefit from the housing Main Street Market supplies because many of the
employees work more than one job while here. “Egg Harbor really is fortunate,” she said. “It’s really nice for our kids who live here and work for us because everything is close. They can ride bikes everywhere, and they have no problem getting second jobs.” Just across the street from Main Street Market’s employee housing, Bob and Noreen Pollman have their own employeehousing project in the former Cape Cod Motel. The Pollmans were vacationing in Florida and unavailable for comment as this Sustainability issue was going to press.
IDEAS: Time is Ripe for Housing Trust the housing and that they use the housing as their primary residence. Some trusts also require at least one occupant be a member of the local workforce. The Door County Housing Partnership will require all of these things. The price-related restrictions are what keep the housing affordable in perpetuity. The trust sets formulas that regulate the rent that can be charged, or the maximum price for which owner-occupied housing can be (re)sold. These are then enforced by the trust through deed restrictions or “ground leases,” in which the trust owns and then leases the land to the people buying/building homes on the land. Such leases are typically renewable and inheritable 99-year leases, and they allow the homeowner the rights of conventional homeownership, except that the use and resale of the homes must conform with the trust’s restrictions. The so-called “resale formula” is set so the owners will earn a profit on the sale, but the
housing will remain affordable for the next qualifying buyer. The Door County Housing Partnership board of directors is working on pricerestriction details. Depending on the project(s) undertaken, a housing trust can also be responsible for everything from construction to maintenance to landlord oversight, and it can operate as a community advocate, educator or fundraiser. Ultimately, the trust’s main purpose is to ensure a steady, long-term supply of affordable housing for the community. The Door County Housing Partnership has been set up as an independent nonprofit organization, so it has the flexibility to work on its own or with any partner – individual, government agency, municipality, nonprofit, business or developer – to acquire or develop affordable workforce housing in the county. And, as a nonprofit organization, any gifts from individual donors of funds, land and buildings will be tax deductible.
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The recently rejuvenated Door County Housing Partnership aims to increase the permanent supply of affordable housing in Door County, specifically for year-round residents who work in the county. The Housing Partnership is modeled after what is often called a “community land trust,” but to prevent confusion with the Door County Land Trust conservation organization, the partnership’s board members refer to the new organization as a “housing trust.” As you’re probably aware from the pages of this newspaper, there are many people, organizations and local governments already working on the housing-related issues facing the county, so why (re)establish yet another organization? One reason is that many regulatory and funding mechanisms used in other areas of the country to ensure the ongoing and consistent provision of affordable housing are not options
under Wisconsin law, so we need to pursue different strategies. The most important reason is that the trust can ensure the perpetual affordability of the housing inventory it acquires or establishes. And, the housing can be legally restricted to be available only to local workforce households. There are no municipalities or nonprofits in the county doing those things. Housing trusts can be structured in many ways – as a direct affiliate of a municipality or as part of another private nonprofit organization – but most housing trusts share some common operational features. First, they use available public funds and charitable donations to subsidize the cost of housing purchases and/or developments so the resultant dwellings are affordable for the targeted residents. Second, they set restrictions on occupant eligibility, use and price. Trusts typically require housing occupants be at or below certain income levels when applying for
DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 PENINSULA PULSE
by Mariah Goode
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 201
“This is the reason tiny homes can’t go on a lot all by themselves. Most of them are adorable, but we can’t allow [just] adorable small things — we have to allow small things that are also dumpy.” Mariah Goode
Zoned Out: Communities Loosen Grip on Land Use
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PENINSULA PULSE APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM
by Jackson Parr jackson@ppulse.com No matter the financial resources, motivation or incentive to develop affordable housing, any project may run up against the concrete wall of local zoning codes. Zoning administrators are acutely aware of the ways in which zoning can stifle or promote housing development, and they are working on that piece of the puzzle. Zoning codes regulate things such as the size and type of development on a property and the use of the land. They are the reason you can’t build a gas station in a residential neighborhood or a single-family home in the heart of Sturgeon’s Bay’s 3rd Avenue. But they are also the reason why apartment proposals dissipate and tiny homes are outlawed, and they play a role in galvanizing neighborhood opposition to a proposed housing development. There is a web of zoning administration across the county. Villages such as Ephraim, Sister Bay and Egg Harbor, as well as the City of Sturgeon Bay administer their own zoning. The county has jurisdiction over the zoning in most of the remaining unincorporated townships although a few towns (primarily in Southern Door) have exemptions from the county’s zoning code. There are a few zoning standards that cut across jurisdictions and can aid in developing affordable housing if done properly. “About 15 years ago – this is before the housing bubble burst – we had a similar situation where affordable housing was an issue,” said Marty Olejniczak, community development director for the City of Sturgeon Bay. “One of the things that was looked at was impediments in the zoning codes.” One of those impediments was the minimum size of a lot. Allowing smaller lots means a developer can slice a large lot into smaller pieces, fitting in more homes than were allowed before. Sturgeon Bay lowered the required lot size in some of its zoning districts, although Olejniczak said no changes were made in the Residential-1
(R-1) district immediately outside of the downtown commercial district, where most of the city’s single-family homes are. Mariah Goode, head of the Door County Planning Department, said the county also looked at lot size about seven years ago and created “conservation subdivisions.” Basically, developers can subdivide larger lots into smaller pieces as long as they leave a portion for open space. “What I think it does is it allows for the creation of smaller lots, which is going to make things cheaper in the long run for whoever the parcel might be created for,” Goode said. After shrinking lot sizes, the square footage of the unit itself was another piece of low-hanging fruit for change. Sturgeon Bay reduced the minimum floor size to 800 square feet, but again, not in the R-1 district, where it is still 1,400 square feet. The R-1 restrictions limit the ability of developers to build smaller homes – which would likely be more affordable – in the primary residential district. Olejniczak said Habitat for Humanity avoids constructing new homes in the R-1 district because its dwellings are considered too small. “When people try to donate R-1 lots, they just put them back on the market,” he said. At the county level, Goode said she is also exploring the effect of minimum square footage, set at 750 square feet for a two-bedroom home and 1,000 square feet for a three-bedroom home. “It does present a stumbling block if someone has a design that is very small,” Goode said, transitioning the conversation inevitably to “tiny homes,” which usually consist of fewer than 400 square feet of space. “This is the reason tiny homes can’t go on a lot all by themselves. Most of them are adorable, but we can’t allow [just] adorable small things – we have to allow small things that are also dumpy.” For Egg Harbor Village Administrator Ryan Heise, clarity in the zoning code is key. “It gets so unclear when you’re trying to have a conversation with someone who is making an investment,” Heise said. “There are no surprises in a developer’s project. If you go through that conditional use
process, you don’t know what you’re going to get. Those transactional costs have a big effect.” Explicitly defining things like tiny homes, accessory units and workforce housing in the zoning code can give developers clarity before they pitch a project to a local plan commission. “It helps if you get the definition without having to go through a conditional use process or permit,” Heise said. That conditional use process is another stumbling block for many developments. It opens up the nuances of a proposed project to the whims of the local zoning administration and the litany of comments that public scrutiny brings. Sarah Bonovich, the developer behind the 64-unit Tall Pines Estates development in Sturgeon Bay, said the process was smooth but strangely specific. “There were some hurdles that we had to navigate that we haven’t had in other cities – like the finishes and the exterior had to be approved,” Bonovich said, adding that Olejniczak and others were exceptionally helpful in that navigation. “They needed to approve the stone we selected.” Although this depth of process for one of the largest housing developments in years has merit, raising the threshold of what types of projects trigger a public hearing and strict scrutiny from local officials could grease the wheels of housing development, albeit at the cost of some local control. There are still ways in which zoning codes can be modified to encourage housing development. Olejniczak would like to see many of the changes the city made a decade ago applied to the R-1 district. Goode is exploring the possibility of providing developments targeted at workforce or affordability, or those that use environmentally sustainable infrastructure, and more leeway on things such as lot size and density. The county is assisting local governments in identifying municipally owned properties that may be suitable for housing development. The first question to ask is, what’s the zoning?
“If you go through that conditional use process, you don’t know what you’re going to get. Those transactional costs have a big effect.” Ryan Heise
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
Senior citizens make up 28.9 percent of Door County’s population, compared to 15.6 percent nationwide.
IDEAS: Can Homesharing Fill A Gap?
by Ashley Lusk
clients recently asked me to explain what twerking is and what hashtags are for. Let’s just say that the conversation ended with an 85-year-old man trying to twerk in his kitchen. All kidding aside, seniors sometimes have trouble keeping up with technology, which leaves them feeling frustrated and helpless. A young, patient homesharer could be exactly what they need. I’ve done a lot of research about how to establish a homesharing program in Door County, and I’ve found that there are many resources available to help in creating a successful program. The National Shared Housing Resource Center, for example, offers a guide book for a fee, and it recommends attending a conference in Vermont called Training for Emerging Homesharing Programs. Establishing a successful homesharing program in Door County could be a lowcost path to chipping away at the housing shortage. A simple website could connect homeseekers with homesharers. And how would it work once it’s up and running? The homesharing application process requires a criminal background check and three personal references. The homesharer and homeseeker also need to complete a questionnaire that helps to match like-minded individuals. Before a homesharing relationship is established, both parties sign an agreement stating exactly what their expectations are of their living situation. If you’re interested in helping to sponsor such a program or getting involved with Door County Homesharing, contact Ashley Lusk at ashleyptraining@yahoo. com.
Seniors sometimes have trouble keeping up with technology, which leaves them feeling frustrated and helpless. A young, patient homesharer could be exactly what they need.
DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 PENINSULA PULSE
I moved to Door County in 2009, and like so many other young workers, I struggled to find a place to live. Jobs were plentiful, but housing was scarce. All six potential employers I interviewed with offered me a job – contingent on me finding a place to live. Fortunately, I was able to find a small cottage in Ephraim for $650 a month. Because the rent was way outside my budget, I shared the space with my boyfriend and three J-1 students whose housing had fallen through. It was a chaotic and cramped living situation. During the last 10 years, I’ve lived in some pretty awful apartments throughout the county. Anything in my price range ended up being dumpy and run down. Though I was working multiple jobs, I couldn’t afford more than $500 a month. After taxes, my monthly income was somewhere around $1,500. When I added up my basic expenses – medical bills, car insurance, health insurance, utilities and groceries – I wasn’t left with much to leeway for housing. Almost any young person who moves to this county can attest to a similar budget crunch and housing shortage. Enter the idea of homesharing, an arrangement in which two or more unrelated people share a house or apartment to their mutual advantage. Each person has a private bedroom, but common
areas such as the kitchen and living room are shared. Household responsibilities can be shared, or services can be exchanged for reduced rent or free rent. Homesharing originated in the United States in the late 1970s, but it grew more popular in Europe by the early 1980s and has since spread to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, Switzerland and the UK. In a case study, the first match in the UK paired an elderly woman, Josie, with a young working man, Trevor. Josie had recently suffered a stroke and needed support at home. Trevor lived with Josie for three years until she was able to regain her independence. Some homesharers have extra room in their home and like the idea of having someone around the house. Some people need help with household chores to remain living comfortably in their home. Others may want to supplement their income or help someone save money by offering affordable housing. Homesharing offers companionship and security to those who don’t like living alone. Successful homesharing programs often involve senior citizens. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, senior citizens make up 28.9 percent of Door County’s population, compared to 15.6 percent nationwide. With the county’s housing shortage and the aging population, establishing a homesharing program could be a win-win situation. I’ve been working with the geriatric community for many years now, visiting their homes as a personal trainer. My role can shift from trainer to computer tutor to furniture mover to printer fixer to errand runner. I also bridge the gap between generations. One of my elderly
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SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 201
By the Numbers: The Housing Gap compiled by Myles Dannhausen Jr.
580
70
Additional rental apartments needed in Door County by 2023
Number of new homes priced below $180,000 needed in central and northern Door County by 2023
560
200
9,990
Additional seasonal housing beds needed in Door County by 2023
Number of Door County housing units occupied on a seasonal basis
Senior rental units needed in Door County by 2023
44
$835
Estimated average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Door County
Percentage increase in the median home price in the United States from 2012 to 2018
$230,240
Median home price in Door County – 23 percent higher than the national average
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37,000,000
PENINSULA PULSE APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM
Percentage increase in average hourly wage earnings in the United States from 2012 to 2018
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64
Percentage increase in the average price per square foot to build a home from 1998 to 2017
Number of American households in 2016 living in housing units that cost more than 30 percent of household income, the level considered affordable by the Department of Housing and Urban Development
1,660
The average square footage of a home built in 1973
2,687
The average square footage of a home built in 2015
Sources: Door County Housing Study, U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Service, The Hill
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
The Clearing FOLK SCHOOL
Greening Your Home by Amber Beard Little actions can add up to big results. Here are some recommendations from Amber Beard, the owner of projekt hABitat, a sustainability and wellness consultancy in Door County.
• Use nontoxic and environmentally friendly laundry detergents and cold water to wash your clothes, and hang them to dry whenever the weather permits. • Replace your incandescent bulbs with LEDs. Although compact fluorescent bulbs are energy efficient, they also contain mercury, which is toxic. All around, LEDs are the better choice. • Avoid K-cup-type coffee machines. The used plastic pods have nowhere to go except into a landfill.
• Start composting non-meat food waste. If you don’t have a yard, there are in-kitchen versions that can do the job without the smell. • Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth, and ensure that all taps seal tightly when they’re turned off. A single faucet dripping for one week can add up to 182 liters of water lost! • Install a low-flow showerhead in the shower and aerators in your faucets if they’re not already water-efficient.
• Reduce bag waste by taking your own bags to the grocery store, and choose produce that isn’t already in plastic packaging (or take your own produce bags).
• Swap your pillow – and even your mattress – for those stuffed with organic wool. Besides being organic, the wool can protect against dust mites and bed mites, which contribute to allergies and asthma. Conventional pillows and mattresses are treated with chemical retardants such as bromine to prevent fire, and they can be toxic to skin and air.
• Use nontoxic cleaning chemicals, or clean with vinegar, a natural way to kill bacteria, germs and mold.
• Buy toilet paper with recycled content.
• If you use air fresheners, look for the nonaerosol varieties that use 100 percent essential oils rather than scents made of chemicals and synthetic fragrances.
• Unplug your TV when it’s not in use; otherwise, it’s sitting in standby mode when you aren’t watching. Also look for other electricity “vampires” in your home and unplug them.
• Avoid pre-rinsing before putting dishes in your dishwasher, and always run a full load and allow the load to air-dry at the end.
• Turn down your thermostat in the winter when you leave the house each day or when you’re away on vacation. Or, use a smart meter and program it so that it turns on only at certain times of the day.
• Add plants to your space. They’re beautiful and can improve indoor air quality. • Use organic sheets and towels. Conventional cotton linens drive a great deal of the world’s insecticide use. Choose alternatives such as organic cotton or even bamboo. Silky bamboo sheets are softer than Egyptian cotton and have wicking properties that aid sleep.
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• If you have a garden, make sure any pesticides you use are the most environmentally friendly on the market, and try making your own, such as garlic oil spray.
April 22nd, 2019 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Crossroads at Big Creek, Sturgeon Bay
Free & Open to the Public
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doorcountylandtrust.org/wildwords19
DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 PENINSULA PULSE
• Ensure there is a space of at least three inches between your refrigerator and the wall behind it to allow for air flow. This will help your fridge run efficiently.
• Use Energy Star-qualified appliances. They use 10 to 50 percent less energy than standard appliances.
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June 14 Birding Afield: Mink River Natural Area Habitats
Celebrate Earth Day on the Peninsula April 20
Hey, we are sustainable everyday at the Healthy Way! Grab-n-Go Food Available
___________
Open Daily ___________ 142 S. 3rd Ave • Sturgeon Bay 920.746.4103 wa sh• w attcc ifsih hh th theitfe i teh w h sue whe e •
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• Peninsula State Park will participate in the statewide Work, Play, Earth Day event, 9 am – 12 pm. Volunteers should wear work shoes or boots, long pants and gloves to plant trees, clear brush and pick up litter. Individuals and groups are welcome; children must be accompanied by an adult. Meet at the Nicolet Beach parking lot. • Take a special Earth Day hike at the Hein’s Creek Preserve with the Door County Land Trust to learn more about the Native Americans and early settlers who once lived in the dunes. Explore the preserve’s boreal forests and its distinctive lakeshore microclimate during a relatively easy, one-mile hike, 1-3 pm. Wear sturdy shoes. Register online at doorcountylandtrust.org. • The Sturgeon Bay Library, the Wisconsin Public Television Reel to Real program and the Door County Seed Library will screen the film SEED: The Untold Story at 11 am at the library and host a short discussion afterward. Join the movement to preserve seeds!
The Shoreline April 21 The Shoreline Restaurant IN GILLS ROCK Restaurant
IN GILLS ROCK
Open Daily For Lunch & Dinner OPENING APRIL 25! Full Bar THURSDAY 5 PM- 8 pm
Friday 5 pm - 9 p m 920.854.2950
Saturday 11 am - 3 pm & 5 pm - 9 pm Sorry No Reservations Sunday 11 am - 3 pm & 5 pm - 8 pm
Open Daily For Lunch & Dinner Full Bar Full Bar
920.854.2950 Sorry No Reservations Open Daily at 11 am (Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays)
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PENINSULA PULSE APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM
www.doorcountypizza.com Phone: 920.854.5455
New Entrance at Northwest Corner of the building is Now Open
Joe Jo’s Pizza and Gelato 10420 Water St. (Hwy. 42) Ephraim, WI 54234
CONSTRUCTION THIS WEEK
• Jane Shoup, a Purdue University Northwest professor emerita of biological sciences, will present “An Earth Day Lament” at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 10 am. She will cite water and climate-change issues that are examples of critical “inconvenient truths” facing our planetary environment.
April 22 • On Earth Day in 2009, Crossroads at Big Creek dedicated a Great Lakes exhibit in the entry of its Collins Learning Center, and muralist Patty Clark documented the process. Celebrate 10 years of Great Lakes education by attending a 2 pm screening of the resulting film, The Making of the Great Lakes Exhibit, and enjoying the exhibit. • Ten storytellers will participate in Wild Words at Crossroads at Big Creek at 7 pm, taking the stage to share their interpretations of the theme “Celebrate the Lands and Waters of Door County.” Enjoy light refreshments and the chance to talk with the storytellers after the program. Wild Words is a collaborative storytelling project
of the Door County Land Trust, Crossroads at Big Creek and Write On, Door County that’s being produced as a part of the Celebrate Water Door County initiative. For more information, visit DoorCountyLandTrust.org or call 920.746.1359.
April 23 • Stop by the Egg Harbor Library in the Kress Pavilion at 4 pm to watch Born in China. Filmmaker Lu Chuan follows the adventures of the majestic panda, the savvy golden monkey and the elusive snow leopard from China’s frigid mountains to the heart of its bamboo forest.
April 24 • Join Door County Thrive for its second annual community seed swap and potluck, 6 pm, in the Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor. Whether you’re a newbie gardener or a seasoned farmer, you’ll acquire some new knowledge, contacts and inspiration. Take a potluck item to share, plus your own plates, bowls and utensils.
April 26
(drawing on the 26th)
10576 Country Walk Drive • Sister Bay 920-854-2391 • www.shopthepig.com
April 28 • The EDED wraps up with an artistic reflection on the Earth starting at 6 pm. Participants will spread green messages through prose, poetry, photography, performance art, praise and music. The evening will end with refreshments and conversation.
May 4 • The Ridges will host its annual Spring Clean-Up, 9 am – 12 pm, sprucing up the center and range lights, spreading mulch and cleaning up some of the extended properties. Take your own work gloves, and please share your wheelbarrow if you have one. Lunch will be provided. Call 920.839.2802 to register so organizers can plan for lunch.
• The three-day Every Day Is Earth Day Festival (EDED) at the Kress Pavilion opens at 6 pm with a roundtable discussion on “Making Your Life Earth Friendly.” It will focus on green building and implementing green practices at home. Experts include Virge Temme, Amber Beard and Mariah Goode. Myles Dannhausen Jr. of the Peninsula Pulse will moderate. A reception will follow.
April 27 • Day two of the EDED features an open house, 10 am – 4 pm, that welcomes groups hosting informational booths and includes presentations, films and exhibitions curated to help you make your life more Earth friendly. • Calling all volunteers! Celebrate Earth Day by getting Newport State Park ready for another busy season, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm. All ages and skill levels are welcome. Take work gloves, lopping shears, pruners, hand saws and/or other helpful tools. Lunch will be provided. Meet at the park’s maintenance shop.
Progress inside the store continues to take shape and the shelves continue to fill in. Stop by to see how far we have come. Enter to Win a $50 Piggly Wiggly Gift Certificate 4/19 - 4/26
• Join the Door County Land Trust for a nighttime hike to hear a chorus of frogs, 7-8:30 pm, at the Ephraim Preserve at Anderson Pond. Discover how to identify frogs by sound, and learn about the efforts to monitor populations of frogs – indicators of the health of the ecosystem – in the county. Wear good walking shoes, and take a flashlight.
Photo: Len Villano
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 201
EAT WELL. BE SWELL.
• For the fourth year in a row, the Climate Change Coalition of Door County, the Forest Recovery Project and The Nature Conservancy will join area high school students to celebrate Earth Day by planting trees around the county between April 22 and May 4. This year’s plantings will conclude on May 4, 10 am, at Mink River with a tree-planting event that’s open to the public. Learn more at climatechangedoorcounty.org.
Door County’s Complete Tree Care Service Serving You for Over 40 Years
Have our Certified Arborist stop over today for a consultation!
Call Now to Schedule Your Spring Tree Treatments & Mulch Deliveries
6541 Elm Drive ~ just minutes from Jacksonport off County Rd. V • (920) 823-2259
Do you want more local flavor in your diet? Dozens of Door County producers and growers supply fresh food to markets around the peninsula several days a week. Find farm-fresh eggs, flowers, produce, locally baked breads and much more as you cook with the seasons. Meet your farmer; learn new recipes; put a face to your food at your community farmers’ market. Many of the markets are updated throughout the season with artisan and heritage demonstrations, so watch the Peninsula Pulse’s events calendar for details. At press time, the Pulse was aware of the following farmers’ markets slated for the upcoming growing season:
Tuesdays Lakeside Park, Hwy 57, Jacksonport 920.839.5253 9 am – 1 pm, May 21 – Oct. 15
Wednesdays Settlement Shops, 9106 Hwy 42, Fish Creek 920.868.3788 9:30 am – 1:30 pm, June 5 – Oct. 16
Fridays Harbor View Park, 7809 Hwy 42, Egg Harbor 9 am – 1 pm, May 24 – Oct. 25
Saturdays Corner of the Past, Hwy 57 and Fieldcrest Road, Sister Bay 920.854.7680 8 am – 12 pm, May 25 – Oct. 5 Market Square, 421 Michigan St., Sturgeon Bay 920.746.2914 8:30 am – 12 pm, June 1 – Oct. 26 Maplewood Farmers’ Market, S1867 Hwy 42, Sturgeon Bay 2-6 pm, June 15 – Sept. 1
Sundays Baileys Harbor Town Hall, 2392 Cty Hwy F, Baileys Harbor 920.839.2366 9 am – 1 pm, May 19 – Sept. 29
If you know of a farmers’ market to add to the list, email pr@ppulse.com.
Available in Door County
Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) info@wheda.com, 1.800.334.6873 Works with lenders, developers, local governments, nonprofits, community groups and others to implement low-cost financing programs. USDA Rural Development – Rural Housing Service rd.usda.gov/wi, 715.345.7600 Offers programs to build or improve housing and essential community facilities in rural areas through loans, grants and loan guarantees for single- and multi-family housing, child care centers and more.
try the app!
Ad funded by the Door County Alcohol and Other Drug Coalition & the Sister Bay Advancement Association
Lakeshore CAP info@lakeshorecap.org, 920.743.0192 Helps individuals and families to achieve economic self-sufficiency and well-being through results-based programming in Manitowoc, Door, Sheboygan and Kewaunee counties. Department of Housing and Urban Development hud.gov Offers programs, loans and information about buying a home, senior citizens, homelessness, housing discrimination, renting, housing research and more. Energy Star Portfolio Manager energystar.gov An online tool to measure and track energy and water consumption and greenhousegas emissions, compare cost savings and find incentives, rebates and special offers on energy-efficient machines. Foundation for Rural Housing wrh@wisconsinruralhousing.org, 608.238.3448 Provides housing-assistance funding in 69 Wisconsin counties and supports community-based solutions to improve housing conditions and promote stability. Habitat for Humanity dvandyke@doorhabitat.org, 920.743.2869 Partners with families in need of decent, affordable housing to build strength, stability and self-reliance. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Movin’ Out info@movin-out.org, 608.251.4446, ext. 7 Provides a range of housing solutions for adults with disabilities and for families with children with disabilities. WI Housing Search wihousingsearch.org A housing-locator service created to help people list and find safe, decent, affordable, accessible and, when necessary, emergency housing. Wisconsin Weatherization Assistance Program benefits.gov, 1.866.432.8947 Provides energy-conservation services – such as insulating, sealing air leaks, installing energy-saving products, and repairing or replacing inefficient furnaces or other appliances – to eligible households to reduce home energy costs and save energy.
NOW OPEN WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY OPEN AT 5PM
One of the First and One of the Last Original Door County Taverns! Happy Holidays from our Family to Yours!
One of First and One of the Last Original Door County Taverns!
Fix winter’s damage Regrade/regravel Your driveway or private road
Put our Bobcat to work on your property www.countryacresbobcatservices.com
Smilen Bob
Bayside Tavern
“Best Small Town Bar in Wisconsin” - the Thrillest
Drinks | Dining | Shops Bayside Tavern S E R V I N G F O O D D A I LY ‘ T I L Drinks | Dining | Shops
11PM
D O W N T O W N F IS H C R E E K | 92 0 . 8 6 8 . 3 4 4 1 | B AY SI D E TAV E R N .C O M
S E R V I N G F O O D D A I LY ‘ T I L 1 1 P M
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Call Jonathan at 920-421-1335
EMac
DOORCOUNTYPULSE.COM APRIL 19–26/2019 • v25i16 PENINSULA PULSE
Legion Park, 620 Lake St., Algoma 920.487.2041 9:30 am – 1 pm, June 23 – Oct. 27
HOUSING RESOURCE GUIDE
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE 2019
2019 DOOR COUNTY FARMERS’ MARKETS
1989.
The retirement plan began over two cups of black coffee. Not by coincidence, it was toasted with a 30year-old single malt in
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jacinda duffin broker · owner
12345 address road fully renovated, 100 years of history city 2876 county road Q. ephraim url.com EphraimClassic.com
2019.
A toast-worthy plan does more than help ensure you can maintain your lifestyle, now and well into the future. It also helps you be prepared for what’s next. Whether that’s managing your legacy through a well-crafted estate plan or making the most of charitable giving. A Raymond James advisor can lay the groundwork with your fulfilling next chapter in mind. LIFE WELL PLANNED. JON BLAHNIK Financial Advisor
MIKE STEPHANI Financial Advisor
JACK KELLER Financial Advisor
4050 State Highway 42/57 // Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 920.743.9833 // raymondjames.com/blahnik
920.868.2828 · 9402 hill st · fish creek, wi · TrueDoorCounty.com visit online or call for a complete listing collection
Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. © 2019 Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Blahnik Investment Group, Inc., is not a broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. 19-BR7AA-0014 TA 1/19
It’s Ok To Ask For Help Join us for an open round table discussion!
Do you or someone you know have ideas of services and programs needed for the senior and disabled population in Door County? Join us as we reinforce that It’s Ok To Ask For Help! We will be hosting open discussion at the Sunshine House for you to share your thoughts and ideas. These talks are open to the public and are a round table style conversation to help us determine community need and if new services and programs should be considered. Our first discussion will be held on April 24 at both 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. These conversations will be open to the public for input and conversation. On May 15 we will have Dave Ferguson, MD, CSA and Marggie Hatala, BSN, RN from IKOR Life Care Management for a presentation and more conversation from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. with a light lunch served. May 29 at both 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. we will continue the open forum discussion to learn more about the needs that have been discussed as well as new ideas shared. For more information, or to participate in these discussions, contact Marsha Lau at (920) 818-1482, and remember that It’s Ok To Ask For Help! R.S.V.P preferred but not necessary. This initiative is funded in part by The Womens Fund of Door County.
Sun�lower Cottage SUNSHINE HOUSE INC.
Creating community options for people of all abilities!
Life Enrichment Program
a service provided by Sunshine House Inc.
creating a meaningful day through individualized care
Sturgeon Bay Campus 55 W. Yew Street Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 (920) 743-7943
WOOD ORCHARD MARKET
OPENING APRIL 26th
Open May through November • www.WoodOrchardMarket.com • 920-868-2334
Located in beautiful Door County, just north of Egg Harbor on Hwy 42 Truly Unique
Art and decor fill the walls with style and design. The children’s area is complete with gifts for all ages.
Totally Delicious
Seasonal Fruits & Vegetables, Cherry Salsa, Jams & Jellies, Fresh Bakery and So Much More - Samples Galore!
Very Door County
Lighthouse Gifts - Cherries Galore Apples like no other.
Where visitors become friends and family. CRISTA & MARK KOCHANSKI & FAMILY
JANICE & STEVE WOOD