Warren council adopts ordinance, approves workforce housing pilot for south Warren vacant lots

Warren City Council on Oct. 28 adopted an ordinance enabling workforce-housing pilot projects and approved a resolution authorizing a 120‑day evaluation and a pilot test for two vacant lots on Maxwell Avenue.

The ordinance change and the pilot resolution are aimed at encouraging private investment in “missing‑middle” rental housing on scattered vacant lots in south Warren. The resolution sets a 4% service charge on rents during the pilot period, requires the developer to indemnify the city, and requires insurance and written undertakings acceptable to the city attorney.

Council members and city staff described the pilot as a first step to attract private capital to infill parcels that otherwise generate no tax revenue and impose maintenance costs on the city. A city staff presentation estimating fiscal impacts said the city currently collects no property tax on many of the vacant lots and that a completed infill unit would increase annual tax receipts, though those receipts are distributed to multiple taxing authorities.

Developer representatives told council the 4% service charge was benchmarked against recent pilots in other Michigan jurisdictions and that the fee materially improves the financial return for new construction so private lenders will underwrite the projects. The staff presentation said the pilot will involve parcel‑by‑parcel feasibility analysis (size, underground constraints, trees and adjacencies) and that findings will be shared with city economic development and the land bank.

Council amended the resolution before adopting it to add explicit indemnity and restoration language and to require the developer to name the city as an additional insured. Council also removed a phrase referring to “partial reimbursement of documented costs” from the published draft, per staff edits.

Votes at a glance: the ordinance and the resolution both passed on council roll calls, with all seven council members voting yes on the ordinance and on the final resolution.

What happens next: the developer will perform due diligence on the two test parcels, share engineering and feasibility results with the city, and may seek options on additional vacant parcels if the pilot proves feasible. The ordinance structure allows the council to adopt separate resolutions for future pilots on other parcels.

Context: The pilot draws on a 2022 state law allowing workforce‑housing pilot programs and on local vacancy and land‑bank inventories. Councilmembers debated owner‑occupancy versus rental incentives; the state program enabling the pilot is structured around rental workforce housing, and councilmembers noted owner‑occupant programs or down‑payment assistance remain separate efforts.