The Grand Rapids, MI, planning commission — which sees small apartments as a way to alleviate the city's affordable housing shortage — is adding the term "micro-unit" to its zoning ordinances and allowing developers to provide less vehicle parking than usually required in exchange for building them. Developers, however, must provide two bicycle parking spaces per unit. Micro-units, the planning commission’s solution for people who make too much money to qualify for subsidized rent yet not enough to afford new, market-rate apartment, must be 475 square feet or smaller and be incorporated into a mixed-use commercial building, according to MLive....