New Community Vision and Peninsula Housing to Collaborate on Attainable Housing Effort

May 6, 2024: New Community Vision (NCV) and Peninsula Housing (PH) have announced their intention to closely cooperate to develop attainable housing on a 24-acre parcel of land on the former Timber Shores property.

The two Leelanau non-profits are committed to providing more affordable homes for residents who live and work in the County, and have agreed to work collaboratively on planning, preliminary design, public outreach and fundraising for attainable housing.

John Sentell, president of NCV, said that joining forces with PH for this opportunity is another significant step forward in NCV’s efforts to purchase and protect the majority of the former Timber Shores land for the benefit of nature and the local community. 

“Using a modest section of the former Timber Shores land for much-needed attainable housing has always been an important part of the mission behind NCV. Now, working with a well-respected non-profit like Peninsula Housing means we have an experienced ally in our commitment to help solve the housing challenges in the County.  We’re excited to make this joint vision a reality.” he said.

Peninsula Housing is an independently-funded community land trust based in Suttons Bay with a mission to provide affordable workforce housing in Leelanau. 

Larry Mawby, PH president, said: “The need for attainable workforce housing is an issue facing the Omena and Northport area, and indeed all of our County.  We believe that collaboration between PH and NCV will not only strengthen our communities in the long-term, but can be model of success beyond our region.”

“NCV’s acquisition of  the former Timber Shores property is a vital piece helping us solve the housing puzzle in the Northport community. Our joint commitment to engaging the community and developing local partnerships brings new energy to finding solutions to the need for attainable housing,” Mawby added.

Recently NCV received two grants, one from the Leelanau Township Community Foundation (LTCF) and one from Rotary Charities to help pursue this effort. Both grants will fund an initial concept plan and community outreach for the attainable housing portion of the property NCV has an exclusive option to acquire.

NCV has already tapped Urban Design Associates (UDA) of Pittsburgh to start work on consensus-driven plans for the 24-acre parcel. PH has previously worked with UDA to conduct a full community planning process for a 10-acre site of their own in Suttons Bay.  

Conserving the majority of the 214-acres of the former Timber Shores as a nature preserve remains a crucial focus of NCV.  To achieve this goal, NCV is working closely with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) in efforts to preserve and restore this extraordinary lakeshore habitat to enhance coastal resiliency and to once again connect people with this remarkable lakeshore site.  

As part of this collaboration, NCV and GTB recently submitted a grant application to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a federal agency which conserves and manages coastal and marine eco-systems. Part of this grant is to  help NCV acquire the former Timber Shores property.

For more information see: 

New Community Vision website here

Peninsula Housing website here 

info@newcommunityvision.org

May 2024 Update

We have lots of updates about NCV's progress to share.

New Community Vision Advances Efforts to Acquire Timber Shores

Northport-based non-profit New Community Vision (NCV) is preparing for a strong summer push to deliver a new future for the former Timber Shores property.  During the quiet winter months, NCV has been working hard to position itself to acquire, preserve and restore the prominent and high-profile 214-acre lakeshore property located on M-22 between Omena and Northport.

NCV had targeted an initial $5 million fundraising goal for the end of 2023. The strong level of donations and pledges received to date has enabled two important next steps. First, NCV has secured an extension to its exclusive purchase option, giving more time to continue raising funds through this summer.  Secondly, NCV worked to establish a strategic partnership with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) and pursue a collaborative application for a significant federal grant with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal agency whose mandate to track and support coastal resiliency, aquatic habitats and fishery resources. Part of this grant will help NCV reach the purchase price to acquire the entire Timber Shores property.

NCV still has significant money to raise with a mid-summer goal of raising $3.6 million from private donors.

Partnership with the Grand Traverse Band

A Rare Lakeshore Landscape

Additional Grants Received

New Collaboration with Peninsula Housing

Community Outreach

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Findings from a forest biologist... Part 3: The Shoreline and Dunes

An assessment of the Timber Shores property has found incredible conservation value and potential for restoration for this keystone property in Leelanau Township.

Forest biologist and botanist Liana May of  Borealis Consulting  assessed property in summer 2023.  For her report, May toured the target property with NCV Vice President Beth Linnea Verhey and also examined available ecological historical data and information on the property and this signature area of Leelanau. 

Her report outlines the landscape’s historic and current natural communities along with an abbreviated list of native plant species. Overall, May found the property to be of “significant conservation value, particularly for protections and restoration of Great Lakes shoreline communities.”

Based on aerial imagery as well as May’s in-field observations, it’s clear that the dominant landform on the property is parallel beach ridges and swales on the historic lake plain. This landform occurs roughly across the eastern two-thirds of the property. 

Beach ridges are formed of Deer Park sand, which consists of very deep, excessively drained soils formed in sandy eolian deposits on beach ridges, level plains, and stabilized sand dunes along the Great Lakes (70% constituent of soil). Over millions of years, this highly dramatic and biodiverse landscape was formed and is a key foundation of what uniquely defines and supports our Peninsula’s native environment. 

The sand and gravel beach is predominately vegetated with native species associated with wetlands, including willows, riverbank grape, boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium maculatum), tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima), lanceleaf aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum), silverweed, primrose (Oenothera spp.), purple false foxglove, horsetail (Equisetum arvense), Carex viridula, and Baltic rush. 

Many of these plants extend to the wetlands pockets found inland on the property as well. 

Shoreline vegetation

Just north of the former campground’s “harbor” area is a shallow, rocky substrate that is serving to stabilize the rooting zone so that emergent and submergent plants are able to establish, creating a sparse emergent marsh community. This unique habitat is a key part of the foundation that supports specialized birds, amphibians, fish and other aquatic species.

Softstem bulrush (Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani), threesquare (S. pungens), spike-rushes (Eleocharis spp.), rushes (Juncus spp.) occur as emergent along the shoreline, over submergent naiad (Najas flexilis), sago pondweed (Stuckenia pectinata), and chara algae. 

o   Grasses or Grass-Adjacent: 

§  Bulrushes (Scirpus atrovirens, S. cyperinus)

§  Softstem bulrush (Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani)

§  Threesquare bulrush (S. pungens)

§  Carex viridula. 

§  Baltic rush (Juncus balticus)

§  Sand reed grass (Sporobolus cryptandrus)

Emergent bullrush on the property; Photo by Liana May.

American brooklime (Veronica americana), designated as a high conservation-value species, is also found growing along the shore.

The small dredged former harbor was host to a few aquatic flora species in it, including naiad (Najas flexilix), narrow-leaf pondweed (Potamogeton spp.) as well as the invasive species curly-leaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus).

o   Aquatic: 

§  Naiad (Najas flexilix)

§  Narrow-leaf pondweed (Potamogeton spp.)

§  Spike-rushes (Eleocharis spp.) 

§  Rushes (Juncus spp.)

§  Sago pondweed (Stuckenia pectinata) 

§  Chara algae

Freshwater coastal marshes are unique habitats that are critically important to the health of our community in so many ways.  Not only do they offer essential habitat for a broad array of fish, waterfowl and other unique wildlife, they also serve an essential role in helping to moderate flooding, buffer the land from storms and high-water events, and to maintain desirable water quality. Emergent marsh also supports a wonderful variety of recreational opportunities such as birding, fishing, photography and wildlife observation.

We encourage you to support conserving and restoring this very special property. 

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NCV appreciates May’s work on the property.  You can read the first blog post here and the second here.

Borealis Consulting works for many conservation groups including federal and state agencies, municipalities and non-profits, including The Leelanau Conservancy. Owner-operator Lianna May does natural resource management planning, floristic inventories and quality assessments, wetland delineations, threatened and endangered species surveys, invasive species surveys and management and is certified to write Michigan Forest Stewardship Plans, NRCS Fish and Wildlife Conservation Activity Plans, and NRCS Forestry Plans. For more see Borealis Consulting.