Developer urges zoning change to allow smaller lots; Pleasant Hills Phase 3 hearing advances with TIF and affordability commitments

Nathan Biller, a small infill developer, told the commission he returned to urge a narrow zoning change he said would “significantly boost our ability to address the housing shortage in Grand Rapids.” Biller asked the commission to lower the minimum lot area per unit in certain zoning districts from 2,000 square feet to 1,000 square feet, arguing the current 2,000-square-foot standard forces larger, more expensive units and makes it harder to build naturally affordable housing without subsidy. “Consider lowering the minimum lot area per unit from 2,000 square feet to 1,000 square feet,” he said.

Biller said his own 5,456-square-foot lot legally supports two units under the current rule; he contended a smaller lot-area threshold would allow twice as many smaller units with similar bedroom counts, producing more units at lower rents without taxpayer subsidy. He asked the mayor to add the item to an upcoming agenda rather than require him to pay the $5,244 fee to initiate a zoning-text amendment.

Separately the commission opened a public hearing on Pleasant Hills Phase 3, a proposed five-story, for-sale multifamily building with 27 units on a site that will replace a building used by Habitat for Humanity. The city summary said 16 of the 27 units are expected to be affordable at or below 80% of area median income (AMI). The project’s total development cost was presented at about $10.5 million.

City staff reported the financing stack includes traditional tax increment financing (TIF) of roughly $1,000,000, housing TIF of about $1,600,000, $546,000 from the city’s Affordable Housing Fund for FY26, and a $250,000 allocation from the Local Brownfield Revolving Fund (LBRF) to support down-payment assistance for the income-restricted units. Staff said the developer is also pursuing state and federal funding sources.

During the hearing staff noted the project exceeds inclusion-plan goals with a 30% participation commitment and additional 10% professional-services inclusion. The commission closed the hearing and referred the project to the committee of the whole for further review; no final vote on TIF or development assistance was taken at the meeting.

The meeting included other housing-related actions (zoning ordinance amendments and a rezoning for a small parcel on Fuller Avenue) that commissioners approved later in the agenda.

The commission did not adopt a change to the 2,000-square-foot lot-area standard at this meeting; Biller’s request remains a public ask and was not scheduled for immediate action.