WEST OLIVE, Mich. — An affordable home is often a smaller home. As often is the case, though, smaller homes are limited by city or township law.
In Ottawa County, while the zoning ordinances in more than half of its 24 municipalities broadly allow for homes of 1,000 square feet, only 10 allow for homes of 900 square feet and two — the cities of Grand Haven and Holland — allow for homes of 600 square feet, according to the Ottawa County Department of Strategic Impact.
These minimum footprints are also specific to zoning districts within municipalities and often dependent upon standards for bedrooms and garages.
While builders can bypass these laws through a planned unit development (PUD), the system is in need of larger structural change, says Paul Sachs, director of the department, which functions as a "think tank" for Ottawa County.
"If we have a housing challenge in this county, let's build a product type that's timeless, that represents the character of our communities," he said. "Let's build them again.”
For several months, Sachs and his team have been designing smaller footprint homes to be built in Ottawa County. Ideally, they'll be priced at $200,000 or less.
"How do we build a product type that is so well thought-out and has the design elements that represent our community at the right price point?" Sachs said.
In February, Sachs showed FOX 17 four house concepts — in-town, lake/dune, rural/farm and rural/forest — based upon the various environmental and residential characteristics of the county. Each concept will also be able to be built to four different size specifications — approximately 400, 650, 850 and 1,000 square feet.
These are traditional, not tiny homes, Sachs says.
"We've been very intentional since the beginning of this project to not use the term 'tiny home' because it has connotations to it," he said. "These are very functional homes."
Since beginning its design process, the department has received "very positive" feedback from various municipalities in the county.
"That keeps giving us gut checks that we're doing the right thing," Sachs said.
Still, while PUDs could pave the way for development in places with tougher zoning ordinances, the director says laws will likely need to be amended to allow for large-scale change.
Shovels are on schedule to go into the ground before the year's end.
"We're not going to address housing challenges across the county by building 20 of these a year," Sachs said. "You've got to scale it. You've got to have the flexibility with local regulations to allow it to happen."
