BC City Connection Podcast

Housing: 2026 Housing Master Plan

• City of Battle Creek • Season 1 • Episode 1

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Over the course of 2026, the BC CIty Connection will include some conversations specifically focused on housing in the city.

In the first of those episodes, Planning Supervisor Darcy Schmitt lays out how Battle Creek tackles the housing shortage with mixed-use zoning, infill, and accessory dwelling units, and why public input shapes every choice. 

Episode Resources
City of Battle Creek Housing Strategy

Watch the video of this discussion here or see the episodes on Access Vision in Battle Creek Tuesdays at 6:30 PM on channel 17/917.

BC CIty Connection Podcast is produced by Livemic Communications.






Richard Piet:

I'm Richard Piet. Welcome to the BC City Connection, the official podcast from the City of Battle Creek, City Hall, in downtown. In fact, here as we speak in the beginning of 2026, we're reserving some episodes from now through the end of the year focused on housing. If you've been with us over the course of a number of episodes, or you've done your own research, certainly, read other stories, watched other stories, you're probably aware that there is a housing shortage. Really, it's a national problem, but we feel it here too in Battle Creek. So our extra episodes in 2026, approximately one a month, will focus on the issue of housing and what's happening therein. Joining us today is the planning supervisor in the city of Battle Creek, Darcy Schmidt, to talk about where we are right now. Hi, Darcy.

Darcy Schmitt:

Hi, thank you for having me.

Richard Piet:

Well, thank you. Let's talk for a second about what a planning supervisor does, just to uh have an understanding of what your purview is.

Darcy Schmitt:

Great. I have a team of wonderful people that help me work on anything that has to do with land use. Um, we take a look at how uh where housing, where commercial things like that are located. We utilize the master plan. Um, right now we are working from the 2018 master plan, and we help to implement that plan. We help developers with development projects, whether it's from a beginning, you know, talking to them about a potential site, what they need to do to get approval for the site plan, what they need to get approval for, you know, who they need to speak with for public works, water hookup, and actual construction drawings. So we do a little bit of everything.

Richard Piet:

Yeah. And by the way, the master plan is is updated on a certain cadence, isn't it?

Darcy Schmitt:

It is. We look at it every five years. Um, that doesn't mean the entire plan is updated, but components of the plan are updated. So it's very important to do that to keep it fresh and make sure we're moving forward for the city.

Richard Piet:

Well, by that description, we can understand then that if there is a concerted effort to add structures, living structures, to the area within the city limits, then certainly your department is going to be involved at some point in helping to make that happen. What's already happening in this way, Darcy, now?

Darcy Schmitt:

That's a good question. We have implemented already some of the recommendations from the 2018 plan. In 2020, the city actually developed a three new mixed-use zoning districts. And by mixed use, basically, they're allowing uh housing and commercial uses either on the same property or within the same building. That creates a lot of flexibility for um market needs. So some of the housing that has been looked at and starting to be created are primarily along major corridors.

Richard Piet:

Yes. And this this kind of design, too, is uh I would venture to say somewhat modern, isn't it? The notion of the mixed use.

Darcy Schmitt:

Yes.

Richard Piet:

You know, we we have uh many of us have lived in neighborhoods, I suppose, subdivisions as we used to call it, uh, where it's house, house, house. And if you want to go to a retail establishment, you're gonna go out of that neighborhood and go somewhere else. Correct. Whereas the mixed use example is one that I think has become, correct me if I'm wrong, uh uh more popular now, where folks have uh, I don't know, I think of New York City or something. Well, when we think about living in a residential space that's connected to some kind of retail space or restaurant or some other kind of business, the is this new? I'm looking at it like it's new.

Darcy Schmitt:

It's new, but it's actually old.

Richard Piet:

Yeah.

Darcy Schmitt:

The old downtowns used to have mixed use. The edges of the neighborhoods had, you know, neighborhood stores and businesses and close proximity. Then we became very car-centric, and that became the usual. People didn't want to walk. Now we're kind of in an era where people want to walk, and some people have to walk. Some people have to use the non-motorized transportation system, as in the bus system, and they they count on having walkability or housing where they can walk to these businesses and get their basic needs taken care of.

Richard Piet:

So this is a significant example of what we can expect to see as more structures, uh, living structures and otherwise, are built in Battle Creek? That's correct. All right. So in that regard, where are we in this, just generally speaking, in this goal? I mean, do we have a sense for what kind of mixed-use developments will happen or would we like to have happen? Where are we with that?

Darcy Schmitt:

Yeah, well, it's actually just beginning to take off, which is very exciting to see. We have one project that has been in the works for several years to get the financing and get approvals. It is a uh mixed-use project that is looking at building a four-story building. That uh building would have 80 apartment units in phase one. It would also include a building that has a community building and a daycare for use of the community, but as well as those that are living in the building. That would be phase one. Phase two would be uh townhome units. And there would be, there are proposed 16 townhome units with three bedrooms. And the really wonderful part is that 48 of the units would be reserved for low to moderate income, and 48 would be for market rate. So it's it's a really mixed income project as well as a mixed use project.

Richard Piet:

And those are rentals? Those are rentals, yes.

Darcy Schmitt:

Yes. And it's in an area that scored high and the walkability and having resources close by with the bus system. And it should start the first phase this year.

Richard Piet:

Okay. So you're focused then on sectors of the city and understanding what the needs are in those sectors and then trying to uh um encourage development that addresses that. Is that fair?

Darcy Schmitt:

That's fair. That's correct.

Richard Piet:

How do you go about that?

Darcy Schmitt:

You know, it's you have to take the obstacles away first, and that's what the Sony has done, right? Once the obstacles are gone and the community has had time to weigh in on that, these are things that were on discussed during the 2018 plan. The developers all of a sudden don't have that obstacle. They have more opportunities, they have the ability to make the numbers work. You know, we we already have a difficult time. We're we have a shortage of uh construction and uh tradespeople everywhere, you know. But Michigan has has lost quite a few. So we have to get rid of any obstacles that we can to development. Otherwise, we're we're gonna have a difficult time with getting housing for this in the city, even with the amazing assets that we have.

Richard Piet:

Yeah. And you looked at it as well in terms of sectors, right? The different districts that you were focused on. Is that true?

Darcy Schmitt:

That's true. A lot of these changes for the mixed use, again, were um in areas that were on the edge of single-family neighborhoods that maybe have changed character over time because of the traffic. And it doesn't make sense anymore to have the large setbacks that you would normally have in a single-family residential neighborhood. The houses were underutilized, so redeveloping them into more housing units and maybe an opportunity to have a coffee shop on the first floor. So, you know, these are things that are appealing to people of all demographic uh characteristics. Uh, a lot of younger people are really liking the downtown or the walkable ability to walk to work if they want to. They don't have to. And these changes will allow for those opportunities.

Richard Piet:

Right. Now, you've referenced the master plan, of course. Folks, when the master plan is under review, have opportunities to contribute information and input for those. But there's also been some public input requested as it relates to housing, and you've been focused on that, right?

Darcy Schmitt:

Yes, yes. And and as I said, we, you know, the master plan for 2018 has already accomplished some of the goals by putting these zoning districts in place. In the beginning of 2025, there was a plan done for the Lakeview District, the Lakeview uh authority, um, a tax uh taxing district. This money, um, the money collected by these taxes created uh the ability for us to do a plan. And this area is um generally along uh the Beckley Corridor that we're looking at adding a third or fourth uh mixed-use district. Um, along there, it's primarily B2 and a lot of big box type development with big parking lots. Um and it's created a very car-centric situation where changing that car-centric situation where maybe some housing is built into those parking lots that have walkability to the stores and would would make more sense. Um, that plan was approved this year. It went out for a lot of public input, and that will be part of the update to the 2018 plan. And the other component that we are working on right now that we are doing outreach on is the one area that we really haven't touched on a lot. Some of our neighborhoods um have lost a lot of housing over the years through um demolition, um, fire, a lot of different um situations. These neighborhoods could benefit from having some of the these lots uh infilled.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, that's uh another kind of uh development, isn't it? Right. But you you think of it uh just as much as you do the mixed use, the notion that some folks want to have that traditional uh structure on a lot with grass and gardens.

Darcy Schmitt:

Exactly.

Richard Piet:

And if there's space available to do that, now we're trying to figure out, I presume, how do we encourage a developer to build in those areas?

Darcy Schmitt:

Right. And we also have neighborhoods that don't have NFL that, you know, what type of accessory structure? I mean, we all could use a little extra income, or we have a family member, a young uh young adult that can't quite get a loan and is struggling to get into his or her groove in their job, and uh they don't, you know, this opportunity to have uh accessory dwellings attached to the house or detached, some people are interested. So we need to get more feedback on are there opportunities for structures that look like single family units or are complementary to single family units that might be feasible for these neighborhoods for infill. Because what we run into is right now, because we have such a gap in um the cost of construction and what the the actual appraisal for the house and being able to get a loan, that gap is difficult to fill for a lot of people. And we're you know, that where there's a lot of different resources that our partners in the community are working on. Unfortunately, the city doesn't have anything to fill that gap, but we are working with those partners, right? But what we can do is we can help to eliminate some of the obstacles to getting someone interested in coming in and building that housing. Um, it may be difficult to attract someone to come in to build a single family house in those vacant lots because they're they're gonna have too big of a gap in the cost of building. However, if you um maybe do a house that looks like a medium-sized uh house in the neighborhood and it fits the characteristics, and somehow you divide that into four very small micro units where four people can live. Maybe they're just single people and you it's one bedroom, or a two-unit that looks like a single family house. These are some of the things that we're trying to get a feel for in the different neighborhoods, and they're all going to be a little bit different in how they they view that. And um, so we want to we want to get more feedback. We've gotten a lot of great participation. Um, we are looking for participation in a lot of different ways. Um, and we have held three meetings so far. We will be holding another public participation meeting on February 19th at the Department of Public Works from 5:30 to 730. And our website for the housing strategy includes a lot of wonderful information that we have already generated through these meetings or as resources for residents to have a better understanding of what's happening, why it's happening. We have so many different levels of understanding about how and where we can fill this gap and what the zoning allows and what it doesn't allow, and what that means for their neighborhood.

Richard Piet:

Yeah. Well, we uh we'll certainly, by the way, have the link to that website in the show notes for this episode. So uh look there and click through if you're so inclined. Uh I'm lingering on a few things that you talked about. First of all, the the uh accessory uh building or the accessory unit maybe uh attached to a house. You know, it it sounds like we're talking about a watch or a pendant or something we're wearing, but it makes a lot of sense. In fact, I'm reminded of a similar example that you see a lot in New Orleans, where it's a single structure, but uh there's a space for an owner and then another unit that they may wish to rent that helps offset the mortgage payment. Uh, this sounds similar in um in concept to me uh as well. Or maybe some folks think of uh the mother-in-law apartment or uh uh some kind of other independent space that's part of the part of the property. This is, I think, what we mean when we say, hey, think out of the box, come up with some new ideas. Right. This is what you're hearing about.

Darcy Schmitt:

Yes, exactly. And and we want to understand um concerns about different types of housing and provide people with information. Uh there, there's a lot of misunderstanding, and we all, you know, we're all passionate about our our space in the world, and our neighborhoods are very important. And we want to make sure that we really understand what the different neighborhoods are comfortable with and what they're not. Um, and again, these will in the end will be recommendations in the master plan, and they will be um, we'll be putting together some uh surveys that kind of explain um some of the questions we need to understand. We've had a lot of great discussion and activities where we talk about these different topics, and that information will be summarized as well. But I think the best way to get a final understanding is to have these surveys toward the end of the process so we can um, you know, have all the information um for people to view. Um, they've participated, and we've had uh meetings with just neighbor, you know, that cover just the neighborhoods. And anybody's allowed to come in, but the activities are uh based on the neighborhood planning councils. And I think it's been really good for each of the councils that um neighborhoods, they're all so different, so different. And there's been a lot of great communication among the different uh NPCs, and it really has, I think, you know, created a much better understanding for me as a planner, and I think between the different neighborhoods. Um, so right now we're just trying to clarify, you know, anytime you get an opportunity to express your opinion, it's you just want to you want to talk about everything in your neighborhood that concerns you. And those have been, we've had a lot of great conversations and made notes of that. But in the end, not now, but in the end, we want to focus on, you know, we we've got these over here. We know the things in the neighborhoods, like sidewalks and, you know, things that are very important to maintain and um, you know, lead-ins into the neighborhood, buildings that are abandoned aren't going to attract people to the neighborhood, right? So those things are important. But the thing that we need to have to move forward in the final uh master plan is what type of units would be appropriate for infill, a site with single family.

Richard Piet:

Yeah. So this information this underscores the information that you wish to have and the importance of that information from folks who are living in the neighborhoods of Battle Creek.

Darcy Schmitt:

That's correct.

Richard Piet:

So take uh an opportunity. If uh in February 2026 you have that chance, uh you're certainly invited. If you're hearing this after that, there'll be others. So click through. Yeah, click through to that website and and see what the latest information is. Darcy, I I suspect we will talk again over the course of the next several months as uh some of these things take place and the process moves along, and we look forward to that.

Darcy Schmitt:

Thank you very much. I appreciate you.

Richard Piet:

Darcy Schmidt is the uh planning supervisor at the City of Battle Creek here on our BC City Connection housing series of podcasts. Subscribe where you get podcasts so you're alerted when these come about. Take care.