Experiments in the City

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Oct. 1, 2022

Lawsuits involving Traverse City’s experimental fish pass project and restrictions on building heights have made their way to the state appeals court. Both involve appeals to decisions made by 13th Circuit Court judge Thomas Power. Power ruled the fish pass amounted to giving away city parkland, which would require a public vote. He also ruled that Proposition 3, which amended the city charter to restrict building heights to no more than 60 feet without a public vote, was valid and not in conflict with state laws regarding zoning. Lawsuits opposed both decisions.

(In the interest of full disclosure, Judge Power is a former classmate and current friend of this writer.)

A new voice in the fish pass debate was recently heard when Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed an amicus brief agreeing with the city’s position. She even managed to find and support a brand-new argument for the project. In addition to the usual rhetoric about protecting the river from invasive species and the positive economic impact and the widespread support, she added flood control.

This is what happens when politicians, or their staff, don’t do quite enough homework before trying to bolster their reasons for supporting something. The next time Attorney General Nessel and/or whoever wrote her statement are in Traverse City, they should take a long look at the lower Boardman River.

While replacing the Union Street dam is part of the fish pass project, and it’s true enough dams can serve the function of flood control, that hardly seems likely in this case. The upper Boardman River, on which dams have been removed, can flood under some extreme circumstances. But as such an event moved downstream, it would run into a pretty effective and natural flood control—Boardman Lake. To overrun the quite steep banks of the lower Boardman would require a flood cataclysm of biblical proportions.

It’s not likely germane to the lawsuit, but we still don’t even know exactly what the fish pass will do. Despite the involvement of a host of supporting organizations, tribal nations, and government entities that have had months and months to figure it out, we still do not know which fish species will be allowed to pass, which will be stopped, and exactly how that will be accomplished. In fact, we haven’t even been told which species would naturally swim upstream and into Boardman Lake if there was no dam or other impediments at all.

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In other city news, there is a new “affordable housing” proposal on East Front Street with 53 units and 22 parking spots, plus 12 additional spots for bicycles. If you’re wondering how that math works out, we were told the project is only 115 feet from a bus stop.

We have apparently decided those who qualify for affordable housing aren’t exactly like the rest of us. Most don’t have cars, don’t have visitors or family who have cars, likely have no children, never want to go anyplace not dependent on a bus schedule, and never want to, or can afford to, go anyplace outside of walking distance.

There’s nothing intentionally aimed at lower-income renters here; the obsession with limiting parking now being evidenced by city decision makers will apply to any new multi-family residential development. But it’s true enough the folks in the downtown high-cost condos can more easily afford life without owning a car.

It’s a safe bet that most or all of those officials who believe 53 residential units with 22 parking spots is a swell idea have cars themselves. It’s an even safer bet they aren’t standing at a bus stop in mid-January waiting for a lift to a grocery store because walking is untenable.

New urbanism is mostly a theory imposed on others, an experiment not unlike the fish pass. The clarion call is density with tall residential buildings and limited parking downtown. The fantasy is a critical mass of residents/tenants, businesses, and attractions in a relatively confined downtown space that becomes self-sufficient and self-sustaining with only a minimal need for personal vehicles. So far, the vision has not been shared by the majority of Traverse City voters.

Another test of that will take place at the polls this November when local residents will get a third opportunity to decide if they want a structure downtown to exceed 60 feet.

The fish pass is a true experiment, the tall building debate a kind of social engineering experiment. Both might work out splendidly. But the trouble with experiments is they might not work out at all.