Update on Whitewater Township’s Consideration of a Short-Term Rental Ordinance; NAR Releases Updated State Flood Disclosure Tracker; Grand Traverse County Zoning Atlas Launched by Housing North
This week on the GAD Top Three, we start by reviewing a short-term rental ordinance that the Whitewater Township Planning Commission recently considered and moved to a subcommittee for further consideration. Next, we'll look at the updated state-by-state flood disclosure policy tracker recently released by The National Association of REALTORS®, identifying that all 50 states require disclosure of known material property conditions and supporting NAR's opposition to a FEMA one-size-fits-all approach to flood disclosure. Last, we cover Housing North's launch of the Grand Traverse County Zoning Atlas last week, part of the Northwest Michigan Zoning Atlas to help communities take the next steps toward more housing-ready communities.
1. Update on Whitewater Township’s Consideration of a Short-term Rental Ordinance
As covered in previous GAD Top 3s (April 28th, 2025 and May 6th, 2025) at the Whitewater Township Board originally considered a potential resolution prohibiting the rental of a non-owner-occupied dwelling for less than 30 days. This led to the submission of a proposed Whitewater Township Short-term Rental Ordinance Zoning Amendment by an organization known as Whitewater Residents for Responsible STRs. This draft Short-term Rental Ordinance can be viewed in the May Whitewater Township Planning Commission Agenda Packet (pages 45 to 48) along with other supporting documents.
At the June 4th Whitewater Township Planning Commission Meeting, Rachel Steelman, representing Whitewater Residents for Responsible Short-term Rentals introduced the Short-term Rental Ordinance Application. A motion was made and passed for this Short-term Rental Ordinance Zoning Amendment to be referred to the Resident Outreach Sub-committee (ROS) for further research before being brought back to the Whitewater Township Planning Commission for further consideration. We will provide further updates in the GAD Top 3 as they become available.
2. NAR Releases Updated State Flood Disclosure Tracker
The National Association of REALTORS recently released an updated State Flood Disclosure Tracker to reflect recent changes in state laws requiring disclosure of property conditions, including prior flood damage.
This is in response to a FEMA proposal (pdf) that would require states to adopt a federal flood disclosure form as a condition for participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). However, NAR’s research, conducted in partnership with the Legal Research Center, confirms that all 50 states and D.C. already require disclosure of known material property conditions—many of which include more detailed, flood-specific disclosures developed by state and local authorities.
NAR opposes FEMA’s one-size-fits-all approach, citing unnecessary duplication, increased administrative burden, and limited consumer benefit. Instead, NAR supports broader NFIP reforms, including the Flood History Information Act of 2024, which would require FEMA to share claims and disaster aid data directly with property buyers and renters.
For more information, visit NAR's Flood Insurance page. This content is courtesy of the National Association of REALTORS.
The Flood Disclosure requirements information for Michigan on the website can flicker and they are difficult to read. Images of the information listed can be viewed below this message.
3. Grand Traverse County Zoning Atlas Launched by Housing North
This past week, Housing North held workshops to explore the Northwest Michigan Zoning Atlas. The first workshop was held in Grand Traverse County on Thursday, June 26th marking the official launch of the Grand Traverse County Housing Zoning Atlas Project on the National Zoning Atlas platform. Additional workshops were held for Kalkaska/Charlevoix/Antrim in Kalkaska and Benzie/Manistee in Benzie county on June 27th; counties where work has begun to add their zoning data to the National Zoning Atlas as well. Housing North has declared that they expect to have all of Northwest Michigan entered into the National Zoning Atlas by the end of 2026.
The National Zoning Atlas is designed as a tool to use zoning data to inform local housing strategies, support development goals, and remove barriers to housing access. Specifically, the National Zoning Atlas provides the ability to determine where various housing types (single-family homes, missing middle housing, apartments, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and housing without parking) are allowed to be built by right or conditionally (subject to a public hearing). It also can provide local jurisdictional or county-wide zoning snapshots on land types (zoned, tribal, protected, un-zoned), zoning categories (primarily residential, mixed with residential, and nonresidential), housing units sizes (1-family up 4+-family housing) allowed (by right, subject to a public hearing, or prohibited), allowance of ADUs, and percentage of properties with parking mandates.
Check it out for yourself at https://www.zoningatlas.org/atlas.
