Development and Planning

(With reporting assistance from Chris Root.)

On Monday night, a community forum was held at the Hannah Center for the planned Community Solar Project in Burcham Park. The forum, hosted by the City of East Lansing Commission on the Environment and the Meridian Township Environmental Commission, was an opportunity to provide more information on the project and to address questions, concerns, or suggestions residents may have about the solar park.

Photo: An owner-occupied home (currently for sale) between two nonconforming rental houses in East Lansing.

Above: the area in question as seen this past Monday morning.

Last night, following much debate involving numerous residents of the Chesterfield Hills neighborhood, East Lansing’s City Council voted 3-2 to expand permit-only parking in the area. The vote divided along the same lines as previous 3-2 votes on this Council: Mayor Mark Meadows, Mayor Pro Tem Ruth Beier, and Councilmember Erik Altmann voted in favor; Councilmembers Shanna Draheim and Susan Woods voted against.

Above: map showing in cross-hatch where parking may be restricted to cars with resident-only permits

Tonight, East Lansing’s City Council will consider whether to add parking restrictions in the Chesterfield Hills neighborhood. If approved, the plan would expand the area where only Chesterfield Hills residents with pre-arranged permits may park. (See full map of plan.)

East Lansing’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Project and Infrastructure subcommittee met this Tuesday to hear revised plans for White Oak Place, a project planned for the northeast corner of Grand River Avenue and Spartan Avenue. The developer presented a new Brownfield plan lowering the tax increment financing (TIF) ask from $9.5 million to about $6 million. The developer also provided a revised site plan.

What is the City doing to encourage and manage localized rainwater use? We asked Bob Scheuerman, Engineering Administrator for the City of East Lansing, a font of water knowledge.

Image: Rep. Lee Chatfield, left, and Mayor Mark Meadows

Representative Lee Chatfield, Chair of the Michigan House Local Government Committee, announced at yesterday’s meeting of that committee that, following a conversation with East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows, he had decided to defer action on HB 5041. If passed into law, the bill would allow East Lansing landlords to make certain kinds of improvements to nonconforming rental properties that are not allowed by current East Lansing ordinances.

East Lansing’s City Council heard from City staff last night about various options for dealing with the City-owned parking garage and land under the Marriott Hotel downtown. Investors have expressed some interest in purchasing the garage and/or the land under the whole “University Place” complex, a parking garage and land which the City currently owns.

Above: The old white oak tree on Spartan Avenue, on the site of the proposed “White Oak Place” development.

The third and by far longest of three public hearings at this week’s City Council meeting centered on Ordinance No. 1363, the so-called tree protection ordinance. If it were to pass as proposed, it would protect certain trees within the City of East Lansing by requiring permits before anyone trims or cuts a tree that has been designated “protected.”

Above: rental houses in the Oakwood and Bailey neighborhoods