City officials, consultants say patience required for mixed-use development success

STERLING HEIGHTS — Denser mixed-use districts at several Sterling Heights intersections were recently declared a long-term city planning priority by Sterling Heights officials.

City Council and Planning Commission members assembled at the Sterling Heights Community Center Aug. 28 to discuss issues pertaining to an upcoming update to the city’s master land use plan, which the state requires every five years. The particular focus was on “key nodes” and “priority corridors” at certain city intersections.

One of the city’s priorities is converting more areas into mixed-use hubs that combine residential living space with ground-floor commercial or retail shopping areas.

Jill Bahm and Andy Aamodt, both from consulting firm Giffels Webster, started the Aug. 28 meeting with a presentation on how traditional commercial areas or strip malls were built for motorists’ convenience, with large parking lots and drive-thrus. Aamodt pointed to a parking lot at Dequindre and 17 Mile roads that reportedly only has around 31% of its parking spaces typically used. He also said many commercial areas lack pedestrian amenities.

“There’s a lot of sameness,” Aamodt said regarding the commercial plazas. “They’re kind of built to the same cookie-cutter type of portfolio, for the most part.”

Bahm said mixed-use development hubs promise a better quality of life, more walkability and accessibility, better environmental sustainability, more economic growth, and more housing.

“Some of these areas can really generate a strong sense of community as well, which also gives people that civic pride, that feeling that they’re in a really special area,” she said.

Bahm also said “patience is key” in developing mixed uses and often requires phased implementation, public and private investments, transit options, and more, calling it “really hard.”

City Council and Planning Commission members voted by remote to choose whether they preferred certain node intersections in the city to either be moderate-sized “districts” — roughly defined as 15 to 25 acres, up to four or five stories tall — or less intense, smaller-scale “neighborhoods.”

As a result, their popular candidates for neighborhoods were Dequindre Road-17 Mile Road, Ryan Road-17 Mile, and Dodge Park Road-15 Mile Road.

In contrast, their popular candidates for districts were Ryan-18 Mile Road, Schoenherr Road-19 Mile Road, Dequindre-15 Mile, Ryan-15 Mile, Schoenherr-15 Mile, and Schoenherr-14 Mile Road.

During the presentation and workshop, city officials heard examples of mixed-use development succeeding, including along Big Beaver Road, near Crooks Road, in Troy. The officials also brainstormed and discussed various facets of advancing mixed-use development, including possible incentives, policy changes, implementation barriers, and attributes of successful or unsuccessful places.

No policy decisions were finalized at the meeting. Planning Commissioner Gerald Rowe, noting the earlier statements about phased implementation and “patience,” mentioned the need to find a business champion or two in the community to partner with the city’s vision.

Planning Commissioner Geoff Gariepy said the relationship between the city and developers could potentially become adversarial unless the city first engages with developers over the benefits of the city’s vision.

Mayor Michael Taylor said housing is the key catalyst in mixed-use success stories and that Sterling Heights needs to show that “density works.” He said the city must start by working with developers to get housing in the targeted areas “and then hope it grows from there.” He encouraged officials not to make the perfect the enemy of the good in approving development proposals.

“So if we don’t collaborate and look for ways to work with our development partners and we just tell them it’s our way or the highway, they’re going to take the highway,” Taylor said. “We have to get what we can and build momentum, and that’s the way forward.”

According to City Planner Jake Parcell, city officials expect to reveal a draft of the next version of the city’s master land use plan by the end of this year.

Learn more about Sterling Heights by visiting sterlingheights.gov or by calling (586) 446-2489.