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Above: A view of the lot where a house will now be constructed in the space to the left of the house shown.
After being denied his request in a 2-2 vote two weeks earlier, this week Antonio Mastromonaco got a 4-1 approval vote from East Lansing’s City Council on his request to split a lot in the Glencairn neighborhood so he can build himself a new, single-family house.
Neighbors unhappy with the outcome were told by two members of Council to consider moving to put in a rental overlay district, to ensure the house cannot be rented.
Back at the January 22 meeting, Council Member Ruth Beier had been absent. Mayor Pro Tem Erik Altmann indicated he did not support the split for 846 Touraine Avenue, while Council Members Shanna Draheim and Aaron Stephens did.
That left Mayor Mark Meadows as the deciding vote. Before voting against on January 22, Meadows indicated he would be open to approving the split if the applicant provided a proposed design plan. This time the applicant provided some plans and the vote went 4-1, with Altmann still against.
Below: The red dot marks the lot in question.
Neighbors’ opposition to the lot split largely centered around two main issues. First, surrounding homeowners were concerned that the new home might not fit the aesthetics of the historic Glencairn neighborhood, and on January 22, without design plans before them, some members of the Council agreed with that worry.
Second, some neighbors felt splitting the lot and building another home would result in what they saw as a loss of much needed green space in the area.
When asked in January why he didn’t come to the meeting with the designs and elevations of his proposed home, Mastromonaco cited the costs associated with having those drawn up when the outcome was uncertain. He explained that it would likely cost him close to a thousand dollars, and it could all be for nothing because the Council could still end up not approving the lot split.
After the motion failed at last month’s meeting, members of the Council and the City Attorney seemed to suggest that, according to the law, if he wanted to try again, the applicant would have to start the process from the beginning, meaning he would have to start again with Planning Commission (which had unanimously recommended the split).
But apparently that wasn’t the case, as Council took it back up again this week.
This time around, to help alleviate some of the concerns posed by neighbors and Council, Mastromonaco provided a rendering and floor plans which he described in an email to City staff as “similar to a house that I intend to build.”
After Council.fornally voted to reconsider the matter, Jeanne Meier of 822 Touraine Avenue, who had voiced concerns previously, spoke again against the proposed lot split. She noted how much she had learned about city government as a result of being involved in this process, and restated her opposition to the proposal.
Meier noted that aesthetics are important because they set the “perceived” value of a neighborhood, which translates into actual value. She said she thought the proposed home would bring down the value of the neighborhood's historic homes.
Before the vote, Altmann sought to explain the roles that the Zoning Board of Appeals, Planning Commission, and City Council each have. He indicated that he had received some pushback because the Council did not vote in a similar fashion at the last meeting as the Planning Commission. Altmann explained that the different bodies have different criteria that they examine, and noted that a lot split’s potential impact on perceived property values is one of the criteria the Council can consider that the Planning Commission cannot.
Meadows explained his previous “no” vote saying that he “wanted to see what would be on there” before he approved it. He noted that, since last month, the applicant had provided a mockup that showed a three-bedroom, two-car garage house. He indicated that he would be voting “yes” on the motion this time.
So, when it came time for a vote, the motion passed 4-1. Voting against, Altmann said he felt that the complaints made by the surrounding homeowners were valid and that the perceived value of a neighborhood is an important consideration.
The Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem seemed to offer the surrounding homeowners an olive branch to try to ease some of their concerns. They suggested that the neighbors organize to make their neighborhood a Residential Rental Restriction Overlay District, so that no home in the area could be used as a rental property, as this had been one of the concerns of that was raised.
Whether or not Antonio Mastromonacos’s new neighbors decide to pursue that option remains to be seen.
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