The GAD Top 3 (+ 1): A look back at efforts to support the public policy priorities of Aspire North REALTORS®
In my final GAD Top 3 writing, I’d like to take a look back at the work that has been and is still being done to accomplish Aspire North REALTORS' Public Policy Priorities, which are:
- Define and Incentivize Housing Attainability and Availability
- Reasonable Regulation of Short-Term Rentals
- Support the creation of a Statewide Septic Code
- Support Infrastructure Development that Supports Housing Development
1. Define and Incentivize Housing Attainability and Availability
The number one issue, not only in our area but around the country, the need for attainable and available housing remains (and will continue to be) the greatest need in the real estate industry and in our communities. Despite this, Aspire North REALTORS® has been identifying and working to support solutions in our communities for a long time. Thanks to the foresight of our association’s previous CEO, Kim Pontius, Aspire North REALTORS® was a member of the Housing Solutions Network, originally housed at Networks Northwest, which convened nonprofits, local governments, and private sector individuals to work on housing solutions for the region.
From the Housing Solutions Network grew the idea and the start of the Northwest Michigan Housing Summit. An event that held its 11th annual event just this past week. Aspire North REALTORS® has sponsored this event every year since its inception, and has always had Aspire North REALTORS® board leadership in attendance and often speaking at the event. From this involvement, Aspire North REALTORS® was part of a group that led to the original formation of Housing North in 2018, with the mission to advocate for greater housing development in Northwest Michigan. We even went so far as to provide housing to their first executive director when their organization was just getting started.
In partnership with Housing North, Aspire North REALTORS has tackled numerous projects, like receiving a National Association of REALTORS® grant for the start of the Housing Ready Program and being a catalyst for Housing North’s eventual development of the Grand Traverse County Zoning Atlas to show what is possible for greater housing development in Grand Traverse County.
Beyond Aspire North REALTORS' regional involvement in work to support greater housing development, individually, Aspire North REALTORS has spoken up to support zoning changes that can support greater housing options. Most recently, Aspire North REALTORS advocated for the City of Traverse City R-2 zoning amendment to allow up to four dwelling units per lot in the City of Traverse City’s R-2 Mixed Density Residential District. Thanks in part to Aspire North REALTORS' support, this zoning amendment passed on June 2nd and is already having an impact, allowing Homestretch Nonprofit Housing to build 4 for-sale housing units at 1027 Fern Street.
The work continues. Last week, Aspire North REALTORS hosted the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE) Consulting Corps, thanks to a grant we received to participate in the National Association of REALTORS® Transforming Neighborhoods Program. The consultants met with 35 different stakeholders to provide analysis and an action plan to increase housing options in Traverse City based on the housing needs for Traverse City by 2027 (1,010 rental housing units and 1,192 for-sale housing units) as determined in the 2023 Housing Needs Assessment. A final report will be provided by the end of the year, and provide more paths forward for greater housing options in our region!
2. Reasonable Regulation of Short-Term Rentals
Finding a balance for short-term rental operations in our region has never ceased to be an issue, as housing supply concerns have grown over the years. Aspire North REALTORS® has continued to work to find that nexus between protecting homeowners’ right to the comfortable enjoyment of their property while simultaneously protecting homeowners’ rights to buy, sell, and rent their property. Aspire North REALTORS' leadership in this area began in 2020 with the development of the Short-Term Rental Guide covering a 6-county region (Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau, and Wexford). This guide provides Aspire North members and their clients with a summary of the short-term rental policies across the region, allowing members to help clients find communities that match their preferences and allowing for comparison of short-term rental policies across the region as local governments consider what policy works best for their community. Up to today’s date, this Short-Term Rental Guide has remained relevant through continual updates by Aspire North REALTORS®, thanks in large part to the Curate Solutions tool provided by Michigan REALTORS® and members like you who keep our association informed as policies change across our region!
As time has gone on, our association has noticed greater and greater constraints being placed on short-term rentals in communities around Northwest Michigan. Generally, these increased limitations are cited as an attempt to maintain and/or increase more affordable and attainable housing options for residents. As an association, we began to question whether these short-term rental policies have this intended outcome. Are short-term rentals limiting housing supply in our region and driving home price increases? Inspired by a study released in 2024 covering the economic and social impacts of short-term rentals in three popular mountain resort destinations in Colorado and Wyoming, Aspire North pursued a study of its own to answer these questions for our area.
The result of those pursuits was a short-term rental study commissioned by Michigan REALTORS® for Aspire North REALTORS® in partnership with Southwestern Michigan Association of REALTORS (SWMAR) and West Michigan Lakeshore Association of REALTORS (WMLAR). In response to the input of Aspire North members, staff advocated to include Grand Traverse AND Leelanau County in this study, which was granted along with Allegan (WMLAR) and Berrien (SWMAR) Counties. Michigan REALTORS® will soon release the results of the study, and Aspire North REALTORS® is excited to provide this data to our members and the community. We hope that the results may serve as a guide toward short-term rental policies that support our members, their clients, and the communities as a whole.
3. Support the creation of a Statewide Septic Code
The issue of establishing a statewide septic code has been under consideration for many years, with renewed energy in our region starting at the 2019 Septic Summit, which we sponsored in coordination with FLOW (For Love of Water), Nature Change, Michigan Environmental Council, LWV Leelanau County and Grand Traverse Area, and NMEAC. As a local association, Aspire North REALTORS has continued to advocate for Michigan REALTORS' renewed consideration of a time-based statewide septic code to ensure that all properties are tested to keep our waterways protected. As conversations heated up for statewide septic code bills HB 4479 and HB 4480 and SB 299 and SB 300 in mid to late 2024, Grand Traverse County began efforts to establish its own county-wide septic policy. As a result of Aspire North REALTORS' work with the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department on its updated Sanitary Code (implemented on January 27th, 2023), the department encouraged the Grand Traverse County Health Department to connect and collaborate with Aspire North REALTORS® as well. Over the course of late 2024 and early 2025, Aspire North worked with Grand Traverse County Health Department staff and Grand Traverse County Commissioners to craft a septic regulation that supports great protection of our waterways in a way that is enforceable and does not create unreasonable conditions for homeowners or REALTORS. I can’t thank enough Aspire North members Kara Gelven, Nan Ray, and Peter Read, who gave their time to thoroughly review the Grand Traverse County septic regulation and provided edits to the policy in the best interest of an effective and implementable regulation. Thank you also to Matt Dakoske, Pam Mork, Rick Stein, and Clint Wheeler for their input, which guided these efforts.
With consideration to our association’s input, on May 21st, the Grand Traverse County Commission adopted the Grand Traverse County Regulation for the Evaluation of Onsite Water and Sewage Disposal Systems, which will go into effect on January 1st, 2026. There remains much work to be done as Grand Traverse County Health Departmental Guidelines still need to be completed before January 1st. However, thanks to the continued efforts of Aspire North REALTORS® members, our association is at the table and guiding these policy changes. Like this new Grand Traverse County septic policy, Aspire North REALTORS® continues to be a resource for information on septic, well, and sewer policy in our region and our state through our Local and State Sewer, Septic, and Well Information webpage.
4. Support Infrastructure Development that Supports Housing Development
Our association has always been keenly aware of the importance of infrastructure in supporting the development and livability of housing in our area. With this understanding in the summer of 2024, our association took up the cause of opposing Traverse City Proposal 1, and subsequently opposed Traverse City Proposal 2, to protect the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) tool that supports downtown infrastructure in the City of Traverse City and Brownfield Housing TIF, which is an important funding tool to build greater housing. Although this campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, this provided our association the opportunity to flex our muscle by receiving National Association of REALTORS Issues Mobilization support totaling $25,000 for this opposition campaign. The relationships built through this campaign supported the work of the Transforming Neighborhoods project this past week and are important to Aspire North REALTORS' continued advocacy efforts in the City of Traverse City and beyond.
Since this will be my last GAD Top 3, I’m going to ramble on a little bit 😊 None of these items above, or the future work that this association will accomplish for members, consumers, the real estate industry, and our communities, would be done without the great efforts of members like YOU. Thank you to all who gave their time serving on the Board of Directors, association committees, local boards and commissions, candidate interview panels, for participating in calls for action, and, of course, investing in RPAC. I am proud to have served alongside you for more than a decade. Thank you for being a powerful voice for the real estate industry, your clients, and our region. Thank you for the opportunity to serve alongside you. Keep up the great work 😊
