LITTLE WONDERS

from TCBN August 2023

U-PICK BLUEBERRIES

Tiny homes in demand, but face zoning difficulties

By Ross Boissoneau

Are tiny houses the next big thing?

Maybe, maybe not. It depends on who you ask and where you are, as regulations differ from township to township, county to county.

Tom Adair hopes that’s the case. The owner of Eden Mini Homes said he sees them as at least part of the solution to the housing crunch.

“I’ve always been interested in affordable housing,” said the Rapid City resident.

As a public school teacher, he saw his summers as an opportunity to pursue his passion with his builder brother-in-law and at the same time help invigorate his hometown.

“I want to see Rapid City grow like Bellaire did,” he said.

Down the road in East Jordan, builder Aaron Weaver echoes these sentiments. Weaver’s Innovative Tiny Houses has a shop in East Jordan and one in Ohio. The website touts their Amish craftsmanship (he grew up in an Amish/Mennonite culture) and they can be built either on a foundation or a trailer.

“We’ve built a handful of tinies on wheels,” he said, with some built on a foundation in the Torch Lake, Boyne City and Leelanau areas.

Weaver’s average sized tiny is 500 to 900 square feet. A one-bedroom, onebath studio on a foundation can cost $120,000.

In spite of tiny homes’ potential to ease housing pressure, both Weaver and Adair report that zoning regulations are a sticking point.

“The only problem is where you put them,” said Adair.

He said some communities are accepting, others are less so.

“There are hoops to jump through,” he said.

Lauren Tucker, the executive director of the Home Builders Association Grand Traverse Area, agreed that zoning rules can make it tough for tiny homes.

“Zoning issues and setbacks (mean) you can’t necessarily build multiple units on the same parcel,” she said.

Another challenge: Builders see more profit in larger properties.

“When you look at the time (involved), will it be profitable? It’s not necessarily that they wouldn’t do it, but it’s the payoff,” she said. “When you look at land as a commodity, it makes more sense to build apartments.”

Architect Dwayne Johnson of Beag+Haus says while his company is headquartered in Grand Rapids and Ashburn, Virginia, the Traverse City native and his business partner, Marc O’Grady from Suttons Bay, build homes all over the country. That includes their first project, which was in the Traverse City area.

Their homes typically start around 900 square feet, which seems to relegate them to the small category rather than tiny. As Tucker noted, he said builders must be willing to take a smaller profit than on large projects.

Despite that, he said the firm is busier than he anticipated. While Tennessee and Virginia, where O’Grady now lives, are hot spots, Beag+Haus (Irish for small house) has built homes in Bellaire, and now has homes under construction on Spider Lake, Lime Lake and Little Traverse Lake.

“I thought we might do one or two projects a year,” he said. “Now it’s 15 to 20.”

Tucker also said some common tiny home projects, like those made from shipping containers or 3D printed, are not feasible. Others, such as those on trailers, have a hard time standing up to northern Michigan winters.

“Where tiny homes have been successful has been in more temperate climates. The heating and HVAC side is tough here,” she noted.

Tucker referenced the KOTI development in Acme Township as an example. Dan Kelly’s original vision for his Williamsburg property along M-72 was to build 156 single-unit condos, which he described as “microflats.” Owners could live in them and/or rent them out. The concept changed over time, and when KOTI debuted, it was as cozy two- and three-bedroom homes that Kelly and his company owned and rented out.

Garfield Charter Township doesn’t have a minimum size but does require a minimum cross-section of 24 feet.

Planning Director John Sych said in the five years he’s been in the position he has not had a request for a variance for a tiny home.

“People have talked about it, but no con- cepts have come across my desk,” he said. As for those on wheels, he said there are zoning regulations on how the land is used and acceptable living structures. For example, he noted that the Garfield Oaks mobile home community includes some smaller units that could potentially be called tiny homes. That gets to one of the real challenges, and it’s the one thing everyone seems to agree on: There’s no real definition for a tiny home. State regulations only require a domicile to have 85 square feet of living space, but local regulations are all over the place.

Shawn Winter, planning director for Traverse City, said the city does not have a minimum size for a home, but those on wheels are not considered an RV, not a residence, and cannot be on the same site on a property for more than 30 days.

On the other hand, those that are stick-built have more leeway. That includes those built as an ADU (additional dwelling unit) on the same property as an extant house. They have to meet the same standards as any other stick-built structure. Winter said the city has approved fewer than 100 ADUs in the past eight years.

Architect Sarah Susanka, author of the popular Not-So-Big House books, posited the theory that smaller homes with more details would give buyers greater pleasure and livability. The tiny homes seen on programs like “Tiny House Nation” often showcase styles and materials that would price many out of the market if used in the larger quantities required in a bigger home.

That fits with the Beag+Haus concept. Johnson said he and O’Grady, who grew up in the construction industry, are dedicated to building small, efficient and attractive homes that are integrated with wherever they want, the big attraction is the lower cost. innovative technology.

“It’s more affordable,” said Johnson. That cost saving was in part the appeal for one local builder and tiny home owner who prefers to remain anonymous, because of zoning issues.

The cost savings appealed to him and his wife, and they are currently living in a tiny home. He said the 170 square-foot home with two lofts is actually a hybrid design, built on wheels but currently set on a foundation.