TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – It looks like the scariest thing haunting Traverse City this Halloween might be city regulations.
According to multiple reports, it appears that the City of Traverse City is trying to shut down one of the city’s favorite Halloween attractions.
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It was Traverse City’s Bill Bee who first broke the story on Facebook on September 4. Bee is the voice behind the “Daily Bee,” a social media page chronicling life in Traverse City with a mix of serious local news, humor, quirky observations and sometimes satire.
What’s Is It All About?
According to Bee and 9&10 News, the city has imposed new restrictions on “Dead Ends on Spruce,” the elaborate free Halloween attraction homeowner Nate Taylor has operated at his Spruce Street home for years. The restrictions reportedly followed a complaint from someone described as a “neighbor,” who alleges Taylor is actually operating a for-profit business.
There’s just one problem with that allegation: Taylor says he doesn’t charge admission, sell tickets or merchandise. He pays for the display himself and accepts donations. “We’ve never charged a dime,” Taylor told 9&10 News.
The Eight Car Rule.
Following the complaint, the city imposed what Taylor described as an “eight-car rule,” limiting the number of vehicles that can park, unload passengers and leave near the property.
Here’s where things get murky. Traverse City’s so-called “eight-car rule” isn’t actually a general rule limiting how many people can visit a private home. It comes from the city’s zoning regulations governing “home occupations” – essentially businesses operated from residential properties – and limits those operations to eight vehicle “trip-ends” per day. Because an arrival and departure each count separately, that works out to roughly four round-trip vehicle visits. In one day.
The restriction applies specifically to properties being used for a home occupation, not to friends, family members or other visitors coming to someone’s house. Owner Nate Taylor maintains the Halloween attraction isn’t a business. That raises the obvious question of why a zoning restriction written for home-based businesses is being used to limit visitors to a free neighborhood Halloween attraction. Michigan News Source reached out to the city for an explanation of why a rule governing home-based businesses is being applied to a free residential Halloween attraction, but the city has not responded to our request for comment.
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The rule could obviously put quite a damper on an attraction that has grown into a popular October destination, traditionally operating from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Taylor says previous years went smoothly and without ordinance violations.
Community Says Boo to the City.
The controversy has quickly generated backlash from the community on social media, where supporters are questioning why city officials are cracking down on a homeowner providing families with a free Halloween attraction.”
Bee said in his Facebook post, “Of all the problems we could possibly be solving in Traverse City, apparently we have finally arrived at one of the most dangerous threats facing our community, a man who decorates his yard for Halloween.”
According to Bee, Taylor spends months preparing the display, pouring hundreds of hours into the project and investing an estimated $15,000 to $18,000 of his own money over the years. The elaborate setup includes roughly 40 speakers, dozens of lighting displays, animatronics and fog machines, along with an entire roof structure he engineered over his yard to protect everything from Michigan’s unpredictable weather. And after all that time, money and effort, Taylor opens the gates and lets the public walk through it for free.
For now, Taylor isn’t packing away the skeletons. He plans to continue building and hopes to open Oct. 1 while working with the city, saying he’ll keep going unless officials formally shut him down – which could happen as soon as the fourth car pulls up, enjoys the display and drives away.
