Council Letter to MSU Backs Red Cedar Neighborhood's Concerns

Image: The old Michigan State Police headquarters, now demolished, on the site of the property at issue; courtesy of Google.

Tonight at City Council, although it was not on the agenda, Councilmember Kathy Boyle brought forth a letter she asked her fellow Councilmembers to sign to the MSU Board of Trustees. Council unanimously agreed to do so. The letter relates to concerns on the part of the Red Cedar Community Association about what MSU is planning to build on the site that had previously held the Michigan State Police headquarters on Harrison Road near Kalamazoo Street.

MSU is planning to build a large development that will include rental apartments, office space, some retail space, and some undergraduate housing. Parking is planned for 2,075 vehicles. On the north and west sides, the property abuts single-family homes in the Red Cedar neighborhood.

According to Boyle, she became aware just before Council’s meeting this week of the intent on the part of the MSU Board of Trustees to vote on construction issues related to the redevelopment site at its meeting next Wednesday, June 17. The published agenda does not currently seem to now show the redevelopment, but Boyle told me after Council she had been informed by MSU staff of the likelihood of it being on the Board of Trustee’s docket for next week.

Boyle told Council tonight that the neighborhood association had been trying to work with MSU on their concerns but had been frustrated by not reaching satisfactory agreements. According to the letter Boyle prepared and Council signed:

“Of particular concern to the neighborhood is the placement of three residential buildings” which are now set to be “four stories high and in close proximity to the one and two story homes on Marigold. In addition, there are legitimate concerns about the traffic circulation that will be generated by having the parking that serves the residences and offices exit onto Harrison Road instead of Kalamazoo Street.” The concern is the likelihood of traffic cutting through the neighborhood, which lacks sidewalks.

The letter also states that, “The impact of traffic on game days and on other days when there are events at the Breslin Center will be even more profound.” Of particular concern is the potential for tailgating at the new property. Boyle told Council that MSU’s response to the tailgating concerns has been that tailgating in that area has not lately resulted in arrests, so the university does not see it as a problem. Boyle called the neighborhoods’ request to prohibit tailgating as “a very modest request.”

City Manager George Lahanas asked why Council was not going to send the letter to MSU’s designated government liaisons, as would be typical in such cases. Boyle said the reason was that time is of the essence. Mayor Nathan Triplett agreed that it was important to bring this directly to the attention of the Trustees. All of Council indicated support for the letter.

UPDATE, June 10, 2015, 10:50 am: We uploaded and added a link to the whole letter.

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