Michigan
Zoning limits bills prompt cities and towns to fight Michigan lawmakers
Mayors and township supervisors across Metro Detroit are alarmed about state housing legislation that they said could result in much denser development that would tax local infrastructure, though advocates argued it would reduce the cost of housing.
The legislation, introduced in February, has pitted local officials against some state lawmakers who contend that Michigan needs to address local regulations that restrict the building of more affordable housing. The bills, now in a Michigan House committee, would allow for smaller lot sizes and smaller setbacks, paving the way for more affordable homes, said State Rep. Kristian Grant.
“What we know is that over the last 20 to 30 years, zoning regulations that may have been well-intended when they started have gone further and further and have really become a redlining tool to keep people out of communities,” said Grant, a Grand Rapids Democrat who is championing the bills.
But local government officials said the bills take a one-size-fits-all approach to zoning across the state and that local infrastructure, including sewer and water systems, can’t support potential increases in housing density. They countered that the bills do not ensure that the new housing will be sold or rented at affordable prices.
Multiple communities, including Bloomfield Township, Clinton Township, Romulus and Sterling Heights, have passed formal resolutions opposing the legislation. Dozens of officials from across Metro Detroit gathered at a February press conference, organized by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, to blast the legislation.
“There’s never been an issue in Lansing in the time that I’ve been working on legislative advocacy that has galvanized our membership and local leaders statewide in favor or against something so much ― in this case, against a bill package,” said Kevin Vettraino, SEMCOG’s director of planning.
The Michigan Municipal League, SEMCOG and the Michigan Townships Association have organized a letter of opposition that more than 2,000 officials across the state and over 100 residents have signed. The issue is about local control, they said.
“We are strongly of the opinion that we are closest to residents and that we should have a say,” Bloomfield Township Treasurer Michael Schostak said. “We have the ultimate say on our issues that impact the local community.”
But Grant argued that zoning is one of the issues that increases the cost of housing. Americans live differently than they did several generations ago, as more families have single parents and some married people don’t have kids, she said, necessitating more housing units.
Grant said her legislative package is not focused on “getting rid of zoning in any kind of way.”
“It focuses really closely on five zoning laws that are very directly correlated to housing,” she said. “It also does not remove local input.”
Not all local officials in Metro Detroit oppose the legislation. Ann Arbor officials support the proposals as addressing the unaffordability of housing by increasing the supply and thus lowering the price.
Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor said the legislation doesn’t eliminate local planning, but rather “ensures that there are minimum levels of housing opportunity everywhere.”
“This package provides a floor,” Taylor said. “It doesn’t provide a ceiling.”
Home builders explain why zoning rules are costly
Zoning rules often make it prohibitive for developers to build smaller starter homes, said Dawn Crandall, executive vice president for government relations at the Home Builders Association of Michigan.
“If they have, say, one-acre minimum lot sizes, … that increases the cost of a home just in the land,” she said.
Crandall said the costs of land and building materials, as well as lending issues, have made home development more expensive. Zoning law changes are “one piece of the puzzle” to increase the state’s housing stock, she said.
“This is just one way that we can look at maybe putting some guardrails and some stability across the state for builders who sometimes build in numerous communities,” Crandall said.
But SEMCOG’s Vettraino said the bills don’t ensure that newly constructed units are affordable. He pointed to a development under construction in Harper Woods that is targeting families earning 60-120% of the area median income. He said that this ensures that the units are “affordable currently and into the future.”
“There is no confidence that the end result of that bill package results in affordable housing, because it gives all the decision-making to the developers,” said Amy O’Leary, SEMCOG’s executive director.
Grant countered by noting that the current low supply of new housing is driving up costs. and. She pointed to Austin, Texas, where a Pew Charitable Trusts article said policy reforms starting in 2015 “aimed at encouraging the development of new housing, especially rentals,” resulted in rents decreasing as more homes were built.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said he hasn’t been able to pinpoint how the package helps reduce the cost of home construction.
The city is already conducting quick reviews of site plans — Dearborn’s site plan guide says reviews take about 20 days — and working on pre-approved housing designs for single-family homes and duplexes, he said. The moves are intended to speed up construction by vetting certain home designs in advance to ensure they comply with local zoning and building codes.
“We are doing all the right things, but the cost of construction is just high,” Hammoud said.
Romulus Mayor Robert McCraight said he’d rather see lawmakers give developers an incentive to build higher-density housing by subsidizing infrastructure costs, such as utilities and roads, that have to be paid before home construction can start. That can cost $100,000 per house, he said.
If legislators can find a way to provide that kind of incentive, McCraight said, “Now you’re talking.”
What the zoning bills say
House Bills 5529 and 5530, which are sponsored by Grant and state Rep. Jennifer Wortz, R-Quincy, respectively, would prohibit communities from establishing a minimum parcel size of more than 1,500 square feet for detached single-family residences served by public water and sewer, according to a SEMCOG summary of the bills.
Grant said land is expensive.
“If we require people to buy large amounts of it for one single-family home, not only does that take away from someone else who could have built on that land, but it prices people out,” she said.
House Bill 5583, sponsored by state Rep. Matt Longjohn, D-Portage, would ensure that the zoning in communities in or adjacent to a Metropolitan Statistical Area, such as Metro Detroit, doesn’t require setbacks larger than 15 feet at the front of a building or five feet at the side or rear. A setback is the space between where a property line starts and where a housing unit is built.
The setback changes would allow more land to be used for housing, Grant said.
Grant’s House Bill 5582 would restrict zoning ordinances from requiring more than one parking space per dwelling unit in a multifamily development. And House Bill 5584, sponsored by Rep. Joey Andrews, D-St. Joseph, would make duplexes “a permitted use” in any zoning district that allows single-family residences.
Developers would be able to submit a proposal for a duplex, but local governments could still set requirements for duplexes, including regarding the design of the building or its parking, Grant said.
“What the bill is essentially saying is that you cannot, off the bat, just make duplexes illegal to build in your community,” she said.
How the proposed legislation would increase housing density
SEMCOG’s Vettraino said the bills don’t specify how the setback sizes and minimum parcel sizes were determined. The legislation would allow 1,500-square-foot lots with homes that are 500 square feet in size and “minimal setbacks,” he said.
“What does this really look like?” Vettraino said. “When you do the math for a single acre, this would result in as many as 29 single-family units on a single acre.”
The legislation doesn’t talk about setting aside land for green space, utilities or infrastructure, but if 30% of the land were reserved for those elements, there would be 20 single-family units per acre, he said.
“This still is far more dense than anything that we currently have in the region,” Vettraino said, adding that Hamtramck is the densest city in Michigan at 18 housing units per acre, followed by Detroit at 12, Ypsilanti at nine and Center Line at eight.
The smallest lot sizes in Sterling Heights are 7,200 square feet, which are typically 60 feet by 120 feet, said City Planner Jake Parcell, which equates to just under six homes per acre.
Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool said a few thousand housing units need to be built in the city in the coming years.
“Now, is it smarter to do it in the way we’ve been doing it, or is it better to have legislation that just mandates density anywhere in the community residential areas?” Vanderpool said.
The city manager pointed to the Lakeside City Center project, which will include “a couple thousand” housing units. The project will turn the Lakeside Mall property on M-59 into a mixed-use center, with restaurants, hotels, housing, park space and more.
Officials debate setback concerns
In Oakland County, which is home to hundreds of lakes, officials worried that reduced setbacks — meaning the space between where a property line starts and where a housing unit is built — could put developments too close to wetlands.
Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett said his community has had “major flooding” in recent years — something he said the proposed bills don’t take into consideration.
The Oakland County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution opposing the bills out of committee in March. Gwen Markham, a Democratic county commissioner from Novi, said the setback for wetlands in the county is currently 50 feet. One legislative proposal would allow up to a 25-foot setback from wetlands, inland lakes or streams, and high-water marks for the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair, according to the SEMCOG summary.
“Wetland setbacks protect buildings, whether it’s homes or businesses or public buildings,” Markham said.
“The local officials don’t feel as though you can just tell us across the board, ‘You need to be able to do this.’”
Ann Arbor City Councilwoman Lisa Disch disagreed, arguing that Oakland County could create natural feature protections in its zoning code that would address bodies of water and coexist with the proposed rules.
Macomb officials worry that communities could be ‘upended’
Macomb Township Supervisor Frank Viviano said that when he and his wife were deciding where they wanted to raise their family, they chose an area where they thought they could “get value” and liked the surrounding community.
“Now, if these bills were to go through, the community that I invested to, and the community that literally hundreds of thousands of southeast Michigan residents invested into, could be upended, meaning that we could have a duplex next to us, five feet from our property line,” Viviano said.
Clinton Township Supervisor Paul Gieleghem said he and other township officials believe the proposed changes would reduce property values.
“Reducing the value of someone’s home is literally pulling money from them,” Gieleghem said, adding that a family’s single largest investment.
“We are for development and affordable housing options, but where the infrastructure exists to be able to support it,” Gieleghem said.
Kelly Karll, the manager of SEMCOG’s environment and infrastructure group, said municipal engineers are responsible for making sure roads, water, sewer and stormwater lines in an area can safely support what’s being built.
“So when the state overrides local control with one-size-fits-all-type mandates like this, it breaks that connection between development decisions and the capacity checks that engineers are required to make,” she said.
Karll said the bills would allow “major increases” in density in places where infrastructure was sized for a significantly lower level of use.
But Rep. Aragona said he and the other lawmakers are not trying to “overwhelm any type of system.” If they have to amend the legislation to ensure that infrastructure isn’t overwhelmed, they will, he said.
“We don’t want anybody’s basement flooding or any streets getting ruined because … there’s not enough impervious surface or what have you,” Aragona said.
Some opponents are backing another proposal, called the MI Home Program, which was introduced as House Bill 5660 by State Reps. Mark Tisdel, R-Rochester, and Samantha Steckloff, D-Farmington Hills.
Under the MI Home Program, the state would spend $160 million annually for five years to accelerate housing construction and rehabilitation and promote updates to local zoning regulations, a Michigan Municipal League document said. The homes built or rehabbed using the state money would be required to be sold to people earning within 120% of the area median income, SEMCOG’s O’Leary said.
“If they want to actually fix affordability, they need to put some funding behind it,” said Orion Township’s Barnett, who supports this bill.
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Michigan
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LANSING, MI — A man has been accused of possessing substances to operate a methamphetamine lab after authorities found him inside the largest academic building at Michigan State University earlier this week.
Xin Tong, 31, was charged with malicious destruction of a building over $20,000 and felony controlled substance, operating or maintaining a lab involving methamphetamine, according to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office. Tong was discovered inside Wells Hall at around 9:30 p.m. local time on April 26 after campus police responded to a call about a suspicious person, odor, and substances on the floor.
He was initially charged with misdemeanor trespassing after he was found carrying multiple bags in the building, according to court documents. After a search was conducted, officers found multiple substances that are known to be used to manufacture methamphetamine.
Authorities said he was also in possession of an expired student identification card but had no apparent current affiliation with the school.
During an arraignment hearing on April 29, Ingham County Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Nicole Matusko told a judge that Tong was not a current student at Michigan State University and had not been enrolled since 2022. Police and university officials have not responded to questions about how Tong gained access to the building or how often he frequented the building before April 26.
The announcement of Tong’s arrest came two days after the university suddenly closed Wells Hall at the start of final exams week. The university initially said the building would close for the day on April 27 after an “unknown chemical” was found, but later shifted course and announced it would be closed all week.
Michigan State University Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Emily Guerrant did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Tong’s affiliation with the school, the Lansing State Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
Damage still being assessed
Campus police listed his offense date in court records as April 10, 16 days before authorities said they found him in the building with chemicals and materials that can be used to manufacture methamphetamine.
Campus police said in a statement that Tong had sodium hydroxide pellets, hydrochloric acid, methanol, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, and butane, all of which can be purchased legally through retail stores or online.
Court documents said the substances caused an estimated $20,000 in damages, specifically in doors and flooring at the university. During a news conference on April 29, Michigan State University Police Chief Mike Yankowski said the damage is still being assessed, but is a “significant amount more than $20,000.”
Tong is being held at the Ingham County jail on a $500,000 cash bond, according to court records. He would face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $25,000 if convicted on the methamphetamine lab charge, and up to 10 years and/or $15,000 or three times the amount of the destruction, whichever is greater, if convicted on the property destruction charge.
A jail inmate database indicates the U.S. Department of Homeland Security placed a bond hold on Tong, effective April 28. Tong is scheduled for a preliminary examination on May 14.
Michigan State University building evacuated hours after police found bags with unknown substances
Yankowski said officers responded to a malicious destruction of property call on April 23. Officers also responded to other calls about unknown substances found on floors and doors throughout Wells Hall, but Yankowski did not specify when those calls occurred.
When officers responded to a call on April 26, they found Tong on the fifth floor of the building with four to five bags, according to Yankowski. Officers received a search warrant to review the bags around 4 a.m. on April 27, at which point several labeled and unlabeled containers with unknown liquids were found, Yankowski said.
“All of this was occurring early on Monday morning, and because of the presence of those unknown substances, the MSU Police Department made the decision to evacuate Wells Hall so we could have a better understanding of what these substances are,” Yankowski said.
The announcement that Wells Hall was being evacuated and closed came shortly after 10 a.m. on April 27, hours after a search warrant was obtained and after some students arrived at the building for final exams. He said the investigation continued from April 27 into April 28, when the building was closed again, and an additional search was conducted.
Yankowski did not say whether Tong was seen on the cameras entering the building. He said Wells Hall is typically open from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. local time during the week and closed on weekends, though it is sometimes open for events.
The investigation remains active, and the department is continuing to review digital evidence and awaiting lab results from the Michigan State Police, according to Yankowski.
Campus police say they did not ‘locate a methamphetamine laboratory’
In an update on the investigation on April 30, Michigan State University police said they “did not locate a methamphetamine laboratory inside Wells Hall.”
“The suspect was found in possession of chemicals and/or equipment that could be used in the production of methamphetamine, which were contained within his personal property,” according to campus police. “The felony malicious destruction of building criminal charge is based on allegations that between April 10 and April 26, the suspect intentionally damaged and/or destroyed property within Wells Hall.”
Wells Hall was supposed to hold 50 exams on April 27 before the closure was announced. The building is just east of Spartan Stadium and about a half-mile walk away from the Breslin Center, where around a dozen graduation ceremonies will be held at the university before the end of the weekend.
Bralyn Campbell told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, that he was halfway through the final exam in his second-year Japanese course when an alarm sounded inside Wells Hall on the morning of April 27. He said students had noticed a bunch of police officers outside, but did not learn until later that they were investigating whether there was a meth lab in the building.
“I thought it was interesting because we weren’t told anything about what was going on, just that there was a potential, like, chemical leak,” Campbell said. “When we saw the news that it was like a meth lab thing, it was like a couple days after.”
Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY; John Wisely, Detroit Free Press
Temperatures have gotten chilly over the past couple of days as we say goodbye to those 60s, 70s, and even 80s. Southeast Michigan is settling into a cold stretch of temps in the 50s.
While we typically should be in the mid-60s for this time of year, Southeast Michigan will round out this week with temperatures staying firmly in the low to mid 50s.
Chilly high temperatures usually mean chilly low temperatures, too. This stretch of cooler highs will also result in near-freezing lows. Expect morning lows to fall into the 30s for the rest of this week, triggering a Freeze Watch for all of Southeast Michigan Saturday morning from midnight to 9 a.m. If you have any sensitive plants or vegetation, try to bring them inside, or at least cover them to protect them.
Unfortunately, before we get there, we still have cold air on Thursday night to watch for.
Temperatures in the mid 30s to near freezing tonight have brought a risk of frost in Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Lapeer, and Sanilac counties.
A frost advisory is in effect from 10 p.m. Thursday through 8 a.m. Friday.
Fortunately, temperatures will rebound back into the 60s next week, but the 8-14 day temperature outlooks show we have a fair chance of below-average temperatures as we enter May.
For your latest NEXT Weather forecast, watch on air, online, or streaming on PlutoTV.
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