City Wants Council, Not Public, to Decide Land Sales

Image: City Manager George Lahanas, courtesy City of East Lansing

City staff are moving to get a East Lansing City Charter amendment on the ballot for May 5 that would change how some public land sales happen—taking the power from the ballot box and giving it to a simple majority of City Council.

At City Council this week, City Manager George Lahanas told Council the current Charter provision is outdated and restrictive.

At yesterday’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Executive Committee meeting, the subject came up again. There, City staff discussed the ballot language they would like City Council to consider placing on the May 5 ballot.

Staff’s suggestion is an East Lansing City Charter Amendment that would delete the provision that requires a super-majority of 60% of voters to approve the sale of public land valued at more than $4 per resident. Historically such sales have not managed to reach the 60% approval required. Instead, staff would like the City Council to be able to approve such land sales by a simple majority vote of Council.

At both the DDA Executive Committee yesterday and the Council work session two days earlier, staff raised this issue in hopes that the DDA-owned properties on Evergreen Avenue could be sold rather than incurring years of unaffordable debt service payments on higher-interest bonds after the current short-term bonds come due on April 1, 2015. In preparation for the failed City Center II project, the DDA paid about $5.6 million dollars for the properties, which are estimated now to be worth only about $2.5 million. The citizens of East Lansing remain on the hook for the full debt.

If this change to the Charter were to be adopted, the City would also be able once again to consider DTN’s Park District proposal that was withdrawn after the defeat of the parking lot sale ballot question in November.

The matter was placed on the DDA’s January 22 agenda, and Council is expected to take up this issue very soon. ELi will be following this story as it develops.

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