Michigan’s State Pattern Book, This Used to be Normal: Pattern Book Homes for 21st Century Michigan, provides straight-forward instruction on addressing a handful of the most common zoning changes and “open-source” housing plans for several types of infill units stylistically appropriate in Michigan. The book includes a narrative providing a history of housing in the state and outlines how gentle density enhances neighborhoods. The pattern book initially included building plans for a duplex and fourplex, but additional plans for a cottage with an optional ADU, narrow single-family house plan, and an additional duplex that can be developed into a row of townhomes are currently being added.
Background
The Michigan Pattern book was finalized in Fall 2022 making Michigan the first state to create a state-wide pattern book. The goal of the book is to tackle the five “lowest-hanging fruit” zoning challenges affecting many Michigan communities. Additionally, the book aims to lower the cost of infill development by providing housing patterns for missing middle housing types that fit in primarily single-family neighborhoods. Michigan decided to produce a pattern book + zoning guide in recognition of the fact that many municipalities don’t have the resources to develop zoning reforms and pattern books on their own. The book was created in partnership with Michigan Municipal League (MML) and Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The Congress for New Urbanism consulted on the book.
Detail & Process
The pattern book prioritizes multi-family as a way to boost adoption of missing middle housing in recognition of the per acre tax value advantages of gentle density and how a mixture of housing types can better serve local populations. To create the book, MML and MEDC team used an Advisory Committee with city planning staff from around the state, realtors, and an architectural historian. This Advisory Committee did a needs assessment, assumptions check, and solicited feedback on the plans.
The Advisory Committee had several criteria for deciding which types of housing to include in the state pattern book. They wanted to:
Address a standard 50x100 foot lot commonly found in Michigan.
Fill in housing types that people aren’t currently being built to make new options easier to develop.
Address the need for senior and accessible housing and ensure fully accessible units.
Provide plans that conventional mortgages would cover. They haven’t developed plans for more than 4 units because they can’t be financed by a conventional mortgage.
State Funding
Through Michigan’s Reinvestment Ready Communities (RRC) program, MEDC offers technical assistance grants to local municipalities interested in hiring a consult to help with adopting patterns in the state book or do rezoning. Additionally, in this current budget year, MSHDA received a $5M earmark for Technical Assistance grants to help with zoning code modernization or to implement the pattern book locally.
MML has created a guide for municipalities who want to grant pre-approval to any of the patterns in the state book. It includes steps like:
Do a local zoning audit to see if any zoning changes are needed to legalize units
Create a map of qualifying lots
Figure out which houses in the pattern book work on which lots
Take plans to the historic commission and give them the chance to identify any that don’t meet their guidelines
Do reviews with building and zoning officials
Impact
The Michigan State Pattern book demonstrates how a book like this can help start a statewide conversation around rezoning and infill development. MML is aware of about a dozen communities that have passed local policy or are working on policy driven by guidance from the book.
By providing “open-source” plans and zoning advice, the state has given locals with limited capacity a realistic way to starting chipping away at zoning reforms. For local jurisdiction with more capacity, it has jump started efforts to develop more comprehensive rezoning and pre-approval programs that incorporate the state-generated plans.