Development and Planning

East Lansing’s City Council voted 3-2 yesterday to approve a request for a new bar and restaurant to stay open until 2 a.m. serving alcohol. The establishment, Tin Can, will replace Spencer’s Stateside Deli and Pub, which in turn replaced Melting Moments Ice Cream on Grand River Avenue near Curious Book Shop.

The 3-2 vote divided as we have seen it time and again this year at City Council: Mayor Nathan Triplett, Mayor Pro Tem Diane Goddeeris, and Councilmember Susan Woods voted in favor; Councilmembers Ruth Beier and Kathy Boyle voted against.

Image: Plan for the new security entry system to City Hall and 54-B District Court

East Lansing City staff are recommending to City Council that hundreds of thousands of dollars be spent creating a new security system for our City Hall and court building. Under the proposal, all visitors to City Hall and the court would have to go through a metal detector staffed by an officer, whether visitors are coming to attend public meetings, pay real estate taxes or parking tickets, or serve on a jury.

The goal is to restore the historic exterior of the old Bailey school, replace a newer one-story addition with a three-story addition, and create low-traffic commercial space (possibly including a daycare) and 25 senior independent living rental apartments.

Above: artist’s rendering of the planned building, not showing the planned plaza.

Above: Artist’s rendering of the planned building at 565 East Grand River Avenue, at the northwest corner of Bailey Street and Grand River Avenue. (Does not show the controversial plaza, which would use the current third lane of Bailey Street, closest to the building.)

Above: The Bailey Community Center as seen from the west.

City Council’s meeting this week did not see the smooth sailing that had been hoped by all for the Capital Area Housing Partnership’s (CAHP’s) plan for redevelopment of the Bailey Community Center.

Above: City Council’s meeting last night (left to right: Ruth Beier, Diane Goddeeris, and Nathan Triplett)

Last night at East Lansing’s City Council, a development group called FP Investors got Council’s approval for a “cluster plan development” for the Falcon Pointe property, near Hawk Nest, on Chandler Road near State Road. The plan calls for FP Investors “to convert an existing manufactured housing community into a site condominium development.”

Walk through the Chesterfield Hills neighborhood and you will notice some changes underfoot. These include new curbs and ramps, newly paved streets, and sidewalks added to traffic circles and triangles.

Between the new curbs and ramps, though, many sidewalks remain in a state of disrepair.