YIMBY Plymouth

Welcome back and a warm welcome to the new subscribers!

At YIMBY Plymouth we have one simple goal—bringing more housing to Plymouth. We believe that when excessive and outdated regulations are reformed, property owners and builders can best meet the demand for more housing. Examples of the types of additional housing we'd like to see in Plymouth are backyard accessory dwelling units (ADUs), smaller houses on smaller lots, duplexes and triplexes permitted in more areas, and multifamily buildings.

We hope you'll agree that our mission is neither extreme nor unfamiliar to Plymouth. We are not proposing high rises or working against single family housing (we want more of that, too!), but we are advocating for more of everything else that already exists around Plymouth.

In this edition we will: (1) give an update on our day at the Spring Artisan Market; (2) share the time and place of our next meeting; and (3) respond to some common myths about the housing bills introduced in Lansing.

Spring Artisan Market

We braved the wind and rain over the weekend to get the word out about YIMBY Plymouth at the Spring Artisan Market downtown.

The response was encouraging. Despite the showers, we met many residents who are interested in bringing more housing options to Plymouth. The most positive feedback was regarding ADUs and smaller houses on smaller lots. We also opened some eyes to the fact that options like duplexes and triplexes exist in many Plymouth neighborhoods but aren’t allowed as new builds in much of the city (and are disappearing over time).

Some perspectives we heard from our fellow Plymouth residents:

• ADUs would help with disabled family members, aging parents, adult children who haven’t yet left home, or as a guest house for visitors. Several folks were surprised that these aren’t allowed already.
• Multiple visitors mentioned how they’re concerned about recent new construction leading to a single (large) housing type, or how cultural and economic diversity within town is increasingly at risk as we lose affordable housing. We also heard about the importance of modest housing for various scenarios (not just for young families, but also 1-2 member households, and empty nesters).
• A few people started out negative about new housing developments but when we got to the bottom of their concerns, we realized that they want specific issues such as parking, design or affordability addressed. We see opportunities both for education and for housing proponents and builders to put their best foot forward when advocating for more housing options in Plymouth.

We hope some of our new connections will join our future efforts in Plymouth. You don't have to agree with us on every point to be involved. And please let us know if you have ideas for other places we should table to spread the word about YIMBY Plymouth.