Zoning Reform in Leelanau County: Building Vibrant Communities While Preserving Rural Character

SBGC thanks Ed Hookterp and Ryan Kilpatrick for writing this piece. 

Quick Summary

This article explores:

  • Why zoning reform matters for Leelanau County’s long-term sustainability and quality of life.
  • How large-lot zoning affects affordability and the unintended costs of limiting density.
  • The link between housing density and infrastructure costs, and why smart growth benefits everyone.
  • Practical tools and strategies such as cluster housing, Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), and Community Land Trusts that balance preservation with progress.
  • How residents can get involved in shaping local policies and supporting attainable workforce housing.

Understanding Zoning Reform in Leelanau County

As communities across the Sleeping Bear Gateways region grapple with rising housing costs and limited land availability, zoning reform has become a critical part of the conversation. Thoughtful changes to local zoning—allowing a broader mix of housing types and modest increases in density—can help preserve rural character while ensuring that teachers, first responders, and working families can continue to live where they serve. By embracing balanced growth strategies, communities can maintain the beauty and spirit of our region while building a more sustainable future for all.

Why Zoning Reform Matters in Leelanau County

Zoning reforms that allow more housing types and higher density spread the cost of affordability across more units, making projects more viable. The most successful communities are those that have learned to see density not as a threat to quality of life, but as a tool for enhancing it. Like any tool, density can be used well to create beautiful places where people of all ages thrive. The best communities have figured out how to channel growth in ways that strengthen rather than strain their community fabric.

How Large-Lot Zoning Shapes Rural Communities

Residents and governments in the Sleeping Bear Gateways region are rightfully concerned about preserving open space and agricultural land in order to maintain the rural character of their communities. As part of that effort, local townships have adopted various forms of “large-lot zoning,” requiring that residential lot sizes in some zones must be at least five acres, or in some cases even larger.

This strategy can be effective, especially in active agricultural areas that face pressure from residential development. But large-lot requirements also have unintended consequences if applied too broadly. For example, large swaths of some townships have already been subdivided into five- and ten-acre lots, leaving little truly open space for farming or forestry. Too much reliance on large lots may also increase the cost of maintaining electricity, broadband, and other utilities. And the cost of purchasing that amount of land may deter working families who would like to build and live in the area where they work.

The Link Between Housing Density and Affordability

When communities resist rental housing or higher-density development, they’re often rejecting the very thing that could help them maintain their desired service levels while keeping taxes manageable. The irony is striking: the people most likely to attend community meetings and oppose density are often the ones benefiting from tax policies that shift more of the burden to the renters they’re trying to exclude.

The resistance to density in the name of “neighborhood character” directly undermines the goal of affordability. You can have a neighborhood of exclusively single-family homes on large lots, or you can have housing that’s accessible to teachers, firefighters, and young families. In high-cost areas, you increasingly can’t have both.

This isn’t a matter of political will or administrative efficiency—it’s fundamental math. Cities and neighborhoods thrive financially through density because it allows the cost of infrastructure, services, and amenities to be distributed across more taxpayers per square mile. When you spread those same costs across fewer people in a low-density environment, the per-capita burden necessarily increases (or you fall off a fiscal cliff eventually).

The Economics of Infrastructure and Density

Consider the basic economics: a mile of water pipe, sewer line, or road costs roughly the same whether it serves ten households or one hundred. The difference is whether those infrastructure costs are divided by ten tax-paying units or one hundred. Emergency services, schools, libraries, parks, and public transit all follow similar mathematics. More density means more people contributing to the same pot of money that funds shared resources.

Even though having more homes on the same amount of infrastructure is the key to making neighborhoods more economically viable, diverse, and affordable, density often gets framed as the enemy of quality of life. It’s actually what makes quality of life financially sustainable. Those charming, walkable neighborhoods that everyone loves—from Brooklyn brownstones to Capitol Hill rowhouses—are dense by American suburban standards. Their density is precisely what makes them economically viable enough to support the local businesses, frequent transit, and community amenities that make them desirable.

Balancing Growth and Rural Character

This creates a particularly cruel dynamic where existing homeowners, who often purchased their homes when prices were lower, resist the very changes that would allow others to achieve similar homeownership opportunities. The “I got mine” mentality becomes encoded in zoning laws and community opposition to density.

Fortunately, planners have identified techniques that can preserve rural character while still enabling desirable levels of growth in attainable housing. One tested strategy is to allow dwellings to be “clustered” on a site, with surrounding acreage designated as open space. In Michigan, the clustering of houses often involves creating a Planned Unit Development (PUD) in which the local government is empowered to review the project plans and impose consistent standards to meet the community’s needs.

Smart Strategies for Sustainable Land Use

As many local officials have come to realize, it will take more than a “one-size-fits-all” policy to maintain rural character. Large-lot requirements can be a useful tool in controlling development, but every thriving community must also enable many types of housing to accommodate residents at various stages of their life journeys.

Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), Community Land Trusts (CLTs), and other innovative land use models can help create attainable housing while protecting natural areas and farmland. These tools are already being used successfully across Michigan to strike the right balance between preservation and growth.

The Path Forward for the Sleeping Bear Gateways Region

At the Sleeping Bear Gateways Council, we believe that preserving our rural charm and ensuring attainable housing are not opposing goals; they are two sides of the same coin. By thoughtfully updating zoning policies, supporting creative development models like CLTs and PUDs, and encouraging collaboration among townships, we can protect what makes our region special while welcoming the next generation of families who will sustain it.

The conversation about density is, ultimately, a conversation about community and how we choose to grow together.

How You Can Get Involved

Zoning reform is not a distant policy discussion; it’s a community choice. Your voice matters in shaping how Leelanau County grows while keeping housing attainable for the people who make our towns thrive.

Together, we can ensure that zoning reform strengthens, not divides, our communities, creating a future where Leelanau County remains both livable and true to its rural character.

Frequently Asked Questions About Zoning Reform in Leelanau County

1. What is zoning reform, and why does it matter for Leelanau County?

Zoning reform means updating local zoning laws to allow a wider range of housing types—such as duplexes, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and townhomes—within existing neighborhoods. In Leelanau County, this helps balance growth with preservation, ensuring that essential workers, young families, and retirees can continue to live close to where they work and volunteer. Thoughtful zoning reform keeps our gateway communities vibrant, sustainable, and true to their rural character.

2. Does increasing housing density mean losing rural character?

Not necessarily. When done well, modest increases in density—through tools like clustering, Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), or Community Land Trusts—can actually protect open space and farmland by concentrating homes in smaller areas. This approach helps maintain the natural beauty of Leelanau County while supporting attainable housing for the people who make our communities work.

3. How can residents get involved in shaping local zoning policies?

Community participation is key to successful zoning reform. Residents can:

  • Attend township or planning commission meetings.
  • Learn about current zoning ordinances and upcoming proposals.
  • Share input on how to balance growth with conservation.
  • Support local efforts like SBGC’s housing initiatives, which bring together civic leaders, businesses, and residents to find practical, lasting solutions.

You can also stay informed by subscribing to SBGC’s e-newsletter and following updates on upcoming community meetings and housing projects.