Two Taubman College urban planning faculty are playing a key role in creating the Michigan Zoning Atlas, an online tool pinpointing where and how housing can be built at the local level as stakeholders work to create more diverse housing options.
Robert Goodspeed, chair and associate professor of urban and regional planning, and Sarah Mills, associate professor of practice of urban and regional planning, partnered with the Michigan Association of Planning (MAP) in early 2023 to begin developing the interactive map as part of a coordinated effort through the National Zoning Atlas. The Michigan team recently launched a pilot zoning atlas of the Grand Rapids area — the first step in a statewide zoning atlas.
Goodspeed, Mills, and colleagues authored a report for the pilot showing that, in Kent, Muskegon, and Ottawa counties, buildings with four or more units (such as small apartment buildings and duplexes) are legally allowed on less than 5 percent of land, while single-family housing is permitted on over 70 percent of land.
The pilot results, coupled with data from the Michigan State Housing and Development Authority and independent county-level assessments, make it clear that “the identified need for housing that is accessible and attainable to residents in the study area cannot be met within the existing regulatory framework,” the report says. “This should serve as a strong incentive for regulatory reforms at the local, regional, and statewide levels.”
The results come amid a growing desire across the state and nation for more diverse and affordable housing options. “There is a mismatch between our housing stock and our housing needs,” Goodspeed said. Goodspeed is an expert in scenario planning for cities and regions, an innovative methodology used within the pilot project.
Goodspeed previously worked professionally to launch the Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s zoning atlas in Massachusetts, a key inspiration for the contemporary National Zoning Atlas led by Sara Bronin of Cornell University. Goodspeed and his graduate students used the national methodology to collect and code the Michigan zoning data. The job was made easier thanks to Mills, who had created a zoning database focused on the regulation of wind and solar sites in Michigan.
The project also involved contributions from the MAP and Housing Next, a nonprofit in the Grand Rapids Area. U-M and MAP are developing a plan to expand the atlas to the state’s 1,856 zoned jurisdictions, through partnerships with regional and local governments and organizations.
The pilot project was made possible by a grant from Taubman College that is supported by the Alan and Cynthia Berkshire Fund for Prototyping Tomorrow; a grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation; and support from the Kent County American Rescue Plan Act.
