Muskegon approves sale of vacant lots for small-scale duplex/ADU pilot; garden moved one block, one unit reserved for Goodwill program

Muskegon City commissioners voted to sell multiple city-owned vacant lots to small-scale developers and to advance a local pilot aimed at creating workforce housing using duplexes with accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

The commission approved selling 528 Oak to Arnold Inc. Properties, LLC; the director of development services said that sale is tied to two consent items — a workforce-housing restricted covenant and a housing tax exemption — that support affordability on the parcel. Commissioners later approved sales of 303 and 370 Allen as part of the same small-developer consortium model. The Allen sales included a negotiated plan to keep a neighborhood community garden in the vicinity.

The pilot is intended to enable “incremental” developers to build multiple small projects using the same floor plans and finishes so they can purchase materials at scale and access construction loans. Jake Eckholm, the city’s director of development services, said the Oak lot will be split to create two buildable parcels; each is planned for a duplex with an ADU behind it. "So this lot in particular, 528 Oak, is to be split after closing, to make way for 524, which would be the newly addressed 524 and then 528 Oak, the parent parcel,…