How City of Grand Rapids and the MEDC are using Permit-Ready Plans to enhance new housing development (04-13-25)

On this episode host Phil Tower speaks with Michelle Parkkonen, Managing Director of technical assistance programs at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation MEDC.

Michele spoke with us about the exciting new collaboration between the City of Grand Rapids and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is unveiling resources that will streamline the process for communities to add housing in existing neighborhoods. Permit-Ready Plans, a collaborative partnership between the City of Grand Rapids, MEDC, Michigan Municipal League (MML), and Driven Design, LLC, lowers the barrier for infill housing development by decreasing construction costs and shortening permit processing timelines. 

Infill housing is the process of putting additional housing units into an already-approved subdivision or neighborhood. 
They can be provided as additional units built on the same lot, by dividing existing homes into multiple units, or by creating new residential lots by further subdivision or lot line adjustments.

Housing plans include single-family, two-family and multi-family housing types, providing communities and prospective developers with options that will work best for each property. Plans for the three housing types can be found here.
The target audiences are small- to medium-sized developers trying to enter the housing market and local municipalities seeking to line up pre-reviewed plans with fewer barriers to building more homes.” 

The City of Grand Rapids Planning Department will be hosting a Lunch & Learn at the Development Center, which will provide a comprehensive review of the Permit-Ready Plans Program, how to participate, and what to expect on May 20th. 
 
Online: Permit-Ready Plans Program

Resource Links 
MEDC Developer Toolkit 
City of Grand Rapids Permit-Ready Plans Program Landing Page.css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan Weekend is
a weekly programmed designed to inform and enlighten on a
wide range of public policy issues, as well as news
and current events. Now here's your host, Phil Tower.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
It's West Michigan Weekend from iHeartRadio. Once again, I'm so
glad you have tuned in and in this segment, we
are pleased to welcome Michelle Parkin and she is managing
director with Technical Assistance Programs at the MEDC, the Michigan
Economic Development Corporation. In late March, the City of Grand
Rapids in the MEDC unveiled some very powerful resources designed

(00:39):
to help strainline the process for communities to add housing
in existing neighborhoods. This is something known in the development
world and the government world is in phill housing. It's
where you take advantage of spaces, typically in urban locations,
and fill them in improve a neighborhood. It's a lot

(01:00):
bigger than that, though, and that's why we brought Michelle
parking In into this segment here on West Michigan Weekend
on iHeartRadio. Hey, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Thank you so much for having me. Phil appreciate it well.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Talk real quickly about why this whole idea of infill
housing and adding communities to existing neighbor excuse me, adding
housing to existing neighborhoods is important. Grand Rapids is one
of the test pilots. But this is a big deal
for the MEDC across the state, right.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Yes, absolutely so. Michigan, not unlike the rest of the country,
is experiencing a housing shortage and collaboration at both the
state and local level with a variety of partners is
the best way to develop some creative solutions to solving
this housing challenge. And making in Michigan is our state's

(01:53):
comprehensive economic development strategy focused on cultivating people, developing places,
and competing for and winning projects. And we're trying to
come up with innovative solutions right to be able to
allow people to find a home that they can afford,
close to a job that is going to provide incomes

(02:16):
for their family. So we really want to approach this
in a comprehensive way to grow prosperity and the population
across every region of the state. And that is really
how this Permit Ready Plans program came to be with
the City of Grand Rapids.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, and you know, Michelle, I've read something about this
which I think is really important, and certainly I would
invite you to speak to this. The importance of adding
housing and existing neighborhoods, This idea of infill housing. It's
important because it prevents urban sprawl, and it takes advantages
advantage of some great land, some great neighborhoods, some opportunities

(03:00):
that are easy to overlook because typically, you know, people think, oh,
there's an empty cornfield that'll be a housing development someday.
But this is a really exciting thing that is not
necessarily a new idea, fair enough.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Absolutely so. Of course it seems easier to develop housing
on a blank slate and to find those infrall lots
where you can place homes. But it's such a great
idea to take advantage of existing infrastructure, take advantage of

(03:36):
those lots that are close to available amenities. These are
often places where people want to live. They're close to
shopping to grocery stores, to your libraries, to your downtown's
commercial court or small businesses, and every one of those
lots that we can take advantage of and get additional

(03:58):
people living in homes, whether they're single family homes, duplexes,
quad plexes. We are bringing additional people to shop at
those local businesses, take advantage of the local amenities that
are already there and avoid needing to build additional infrastructure

(04:19):
out in areas where there it doesn't already exist.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
All right, and the collaborative partnership between MEDC and Grand
Rapids has done something very powerful. You've come up with
permit ready plans as a way to make this easier
for smaller and medium sized developers, kind of get rid
of some of that bureaucratic red tape, shorten the permit timelines.

(04:46):
But this is an important point in a Shelle parking
and you are targeting some of the newer or smaller
to medium sized developers, people who had a vision, a
dream for an area in a neighborhood or a block.
This is a great opportunity for them.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
This is an incredible opportunity. I think one of the
main goals with this pilot project in partnering with the
city's economic development staff on ways to move the needle
and support additional housing units and really support implementation of
the city's vision and those zoning changes. It's a consistent

(05:22):
focus on an incremental approach. Right. This does not add
hundreds of units overnight, but this does encourage development within
the existing neighborhoods on infell lots, and it also encourages
those community champions that certainly don't think of themselves as developers.

(05:43):
But this is a way to lower the barriers to
get those community champions that would love to invest in
their neighborhoods and allow them to get into the development game.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Right.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
Development is the most challenging piece of the real estate puzzle,
and there are hurdles to jump over at every step.
And what we hear from developers is that starting out
the pre development work is often very challenging and hard
to find funding support for if you don't already have

(06:17):
the money. So we're removing those barriers by putting these
plans out there for anyone to take advantage of. They
are completely free, lowering that barrier for infill housing, decreasing
construction costs, and shortening those permit processing timelines because we
all know time is money, particularly for development.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well said Michelle Parkin and is with us, managing director
of Technical Assistance Programs at the med C. We're talking
about adding housing to existing neighborhoods pilot program with Grand
Rapids in the MEDC. There's an important event coming up
on May twentieth. We'll tell you more about that. It's
a lunch and learn opportunity, especially if you are maybe

(07:01):
interested in that but you don't have a ton of
development experience, you've got the resources, you want to learn
more about it. We'll tell you more about that in
just a moment. One of the things we want to
mention though in this case, Michelle, is that these are
not big multi story buildings. These are single family, too
family and multi family housing types that you're focusing on,

(07:23):
and that's what these permit ready plans will help clear
the path for right.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
Correct, So there is a single family option, there are
duplex option, and then the largest is our quadriplex option.
And these are absolutely fit right in to the neighborhoods
and that's how they were able to be reviewed by

(07:50):
all of the various departments within the City of Grand
Rapids and approved to go through this process so much
fast because they really do meet the goals and the
vision of the community. They align with the zoning which
is really important and can help move the city's vision

(08:12):
and goals. It's community supported and it just makes sense right,
like this fits with these neighborhoods and is a really
great way to get additional units.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
And these plans have already been reviewed by the Grand
Rapid Zoning Ordinance. They are set to go in a
lot of senses. If somebody has an idea about how
they want to build that home, there are opportunities to
have that conversation though with the city and team.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Members right absolutely reach out to the city. The city's
got built out a wonderful website, including process documents. It
is all very clearly laid out how you would go
about proceeding through this process or just getting more information,
and it's it's very well laid out and very clear

(09:04):
and pretty streamlined.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Michelle, who should attend the event on May twenty If
this is an enforcem informational event, it's called lunch and
learn happening with the City of Grand Rapids, but it's
it's targeted who.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Anyone who is interested in development. I think this is
if you are a contractor and you have thought about
you know, I would like to start building and developing
and maybe have a few of my buildings that I
would like to, you know, sell for development purposes both contractors.

(09:44):
That's a great way to get into development. If you
are local neighborhood groups that you know you've got property
owners or building owners that may be interested in supporting
some infel development. That's a great opportunity. Even experienced developers
could benefit from leveraging these plans. I think any opportunity

(10:08):
to reduce development costs right now is a good one,
So even experienced developers could benefit from leveraging these plans.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
Well.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
The bottom line is this is an incredible opportunity for
any of those developers who really want to get involved
with this. Again, this is a test pilot program for
Grand Rapids involved with the MEDC and you can learn
more at this lunch and learned opportunity Tuesday, May twentieth,
twelve noon at the Development Center that's eleven twenty mon

(10:39):
Row Northwest in Grand Rapids. I do know because I
road tested this. If you just google permit ready Plans
Grand Rapids, it will take you directly to the city's website.
It's as simple as that, So let me share that
again for our listeners. All you have to do if
you want to learn more about this is just Google
permit ready, plan and Grand Rapids and it'll take you

(11:03):
right there. You have plenty of time to learn more
get involved in The event again is on Tuesday, May twentieth,
Michelle Parkinan. Is there anything else I didn't ask you
about you want to share with our listeners?

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Well, I do want to highlight while we are piloting
this with the City of Grand Rapids, these plans can
be taken by any community across the state of Michigan
and we can do the same thing. We can help
your community make these plans permit ready for your community.
They are suitable for communities all across the state of Michigan,

(11:39):
and we really do want to support building additional units
in every region of the state that are tailored to
fit our Michigan neighborhoods and anything to really support that
population growth and talent attraction and retention here in Michigan.
And I think this is a great way to do

(12:00):
it and continue to build out our pipeline of new developers.
So feel free to reach out to us at myplace
dot org.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
All right, myplace dot org. Myplace dot org is the website,
and again, this is a powerful way to address the
housing crisis with permit ready plans between the Grand Rapids,
City of Grand Rapids and a MEDC. Michelle Parkin and
Managing director of Technical Assistance Programs at the MEDC, Hey,
thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Really exciting stuff. She's been our guest on this segment
of West Michigan Weekend from iHeartRadio.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
You've been listening to iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan
Weekend is a production of Wood Radio and iHeartRadio.