Is Empire the answer?

Village citizens speak out on affordable housing

By Linda Alice Dewey
Sun contributor

If you want to solve Glen Arbor’s affordable housing problem, some say look no further than Empire.

The first thing to understand about Empire (population 1,100) is that it is comprised of two distinct governments — Empire Village, the square mile area that includes “downtown,” Storm Hill and the New Neighborhood; and Empire Township, which contains the village and surrounding land all the way up to Glen Lake. The 376 people living in the village are also residents of the township.

Here, the Sun speaks to several prominent village citizens who have varied responses to the issue of affordable housing. All, however, agree on one thing: they love Empire. “It’s a great community for families and young adults,” replies Village Council member Chris Frey. “We have all the amenities — two beautiful parks, two baseball fields, tennis courts, a library, a dentist, gas station, two banks, a market, post office, an insurance agent and municipal water.” That’s in addition to a hardware store, shops and being situated on Lake Michigan located next to a beautiful National Park.

When asked about affordable housing in the area, Empire Museum’s Dave Taghon answers, “Of course it’s a wonderful concept and idea; but it almost seems like an oxymoron, don’t you think? Affordable housing in this area?” Taghon refers to the high cost of land.

Retired landscape architect and planner Frank Clements sits on the newly formed Leelanau County Chamber’s nonprofit Leelanau Peninsula Economic Foundation, a think tank for economic development strategies. “I’ve been working in the field for several years,” he recalls, “have seen several attempts, and haven’t seen it totally successful yet … everybody’s trying.”

Chamber of Commerce president Paul Skinner waxes enthusiastic on the subject. “I applaud anybody who wants to address that situation, because it is a problem that the majority of — the “staff,” I’ll call it — that work within the village have to locate themselves out in the township or out in Benzie County due to the cost of ownership.”

A major concern of many is the “graying” of the village’s 376 residents. According to Skinner, the median age has climbed 10 years each decade since 1980. It is now “just shy” of 60. Retail business owner Diana Oberschulte is especially concerned for Empire’s elderly. “Our average age here is ‘senior,’” she states, “and we absolutely positively need housing and support services for our older people.

“I was the director of the Commission on Aging for Leelanau County in the early ’80s,” she explains, “and I learned that our seniors do not want to leave their communities.” Oberschulte is aware that many elderly folks who do live alone in their Empire homes become isolated. “I have seen it time and time again, that they live in their own homes, and they age and don’t have the support or camaraderie they need …” Oberschulte would welcome an affordable independent-to-assisted living facility in the area, such as Michigan Shores in Frankfort. “We absolutely need it, and I will be glad to do everything I can to make it happen,” she pledges.

Taghon is comfortable with the changes in the population. “To me, it’s still a good mix … Our retail is doing fine. It’d be nice to have a little more commercial space,” he admits. “We’re landlocked by the National Park, of course. But as far as the residential goes, I have no problem with it.”

Many we spoke to believe that some kind of affordable housing should be built in the village, but controversy surrounds the amount of government aid that should be involved. “To some degree, there has to be,” says Clements, who suggests something like tax credits. Tim Barr, owner of Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor, is emphatic. “We need to keep the government out of it to some extent, because welfare doesn’t work.”

Though he is not against affordable housing, Barr thinks there’s more that can be done to alleviate the problem. For example, “Bussing,” he states, “from Maple City or northern Benzie County … The commute isn’t that far. Affordable is affordable in Maple City and in Benzie County, for those people who are getting paid a decent wage. I have staff members who have bought homes and found some way to do it.” Then Barr says it flat out. “The bottom line is, you have to pay people more to encourage people to work here. And if you pay people more, you get a better work staff.”

Some think it’s possible to create affordable housing on existing vacant village land. “I do think that in our village, there are many 100-foot lots that could — and perhaps should — go back to 50 foot lots, so that they’re more affordable,” Oberschulte observes. “There was a time when they wanted all these lots to be 100 feet. Now we don’t need all that space.”

Skinner goes even further. “The land cost is so high that you need to get the density on the land. Instead of one house on a lot, you put two on it. You could put four row houses on two 50-foot lots.”

Unfortunately, the current lack of sewer systems means each residential lot must include enough land for a drain field, which usually stands in the way of creating smaller lots. But that problem was overcome in at least one instance when the New Neighborhood’s developers created their own community drainage system, an idea which Skinner, Frey, Barr and Clements support. Says Clements, “I live in the New Neighborhood, and it works. It’s affordable. Our homeowners’ fees are minimal to maintain it, keep the electricity running, and pump.”

Skinner believes that, in the future, it would be wise to mix affordable dwellings in with those sold at the higher market prices. “If you mix your development,” he explains, “you get a far better neighborhood and a far better community. The whole thing just blends in.”

For an already existing successful venture into affordable housing, everyone points to the 18-unit Empire Apartments on Michigan Avenue across from the Empire Methodist Church, which is owned by UPCAPS in Escanaba. UPCAPS Site Manager Lori Nash reports that all units are occupied, and all 18 are subsidized according to income level. To qualify, residents must be working; and incomes must fall within a minimum-maximum range. Dave Taghon informs us, “There’s several people in there that have been there for 25 years.”

Depending on who you talk with, Empire is in danger of becoming either over- or under-developed. Clements wants to see things stay balanced and compares this area to Wisconsin’s Door County. “I look off at Door County across from us,” he says, “and they’ve grown a little more than we have but maintained balance. You go there, and there’s not a flagship hotel, no franchised motels, just small private inns and bed and breakfasts. They haven’t overdeveloped with high-rise condos. I think that’s the fear here. We can get a lot of development that we don’t need.”

Alarmed at the rate of turnover from year-round homes to vacation homes, Skinner, who owns the Miners’ Hoard on Front Street, is afraid that Empire may become more like a ghost town in the off-season. “In the past 10 years, it’s gone from 10-15 percent vacation homes to 50-60 percent vacation homes,” he says. “It makes it difficult, when you have a low level of population for 10 months of the year. The ‘locals’ can’t afford to buy centennial homes in a changing town with over $200,000 per home. The year-round population isn’t sufficient to sustain the infrastructure,” he states, speaking of basics like banks, the gas station and grocery stores. “You need a populace to keep all those things going.” In fact, Skinner believes Empire may lose its post office for lack of business within the next five years.

“With the way the [median] age is going,” he declares, “the community as a whole is not sustainable. It’s just not … If you’ve got 50-60 percent of the homes here owned by people that live everywhere else, and the median age increases by 10 years every census, people will die off; and as they do, more [homes] are going to be sold to people predominantly from outside the area. You end up,” he finishes, “with a community with no one who lives there.”