Transportation Commission Advances Park District Project

Last night, the East Lansing Transportation Commission voted with only one dissenting vote to move forward the Park District Investment Group (PDIG) plan for major redevelopment of the “big bank building” at the corner of Abbot Road and Grand River Avenue. The building has long been known in plans for the area as “Building A.” City Planning staff let the Transportation Commission know that if they could move the project forward, then staff could quickly move the PDIG project on to Planning Commission. The PDIG project plan is now poised to move rapidly through the development approval process, raising concerns among citizen watchdogs who are concerned about the scale of the project as well as the developer’s track record in this city and elsewhere. (This is not the proposal put forth by DTN, a separate company.)

In an email interview with ELi conducted today, Transportation Commission Chair Konrad Hittner explained his reasoning for voting against the City Planning staff’s recommendation to move forward the project. He named three specific problems: “(a) I'm skeptical that the Building A parking arrangement won't impact street-level traffic during peak hours; (b) the proposed plan makes no provisions to extend the existing Abbot Road bike lanes (which now terminate/start north of Albert Street) south to, or across, Grand River Avenue to campus; (c) the planning for significantly higher numbers of pedestrians and non-motorized traffic is inadequate for an area that has had very little of either for at least 10 years.”

I asked Lori Mullins, Community and Economic Development Administrator, to explain how staff presented the matter to the Commission, because of historical concerns among some citizens that staff advocates too strongly for developers and not for neighborhood associations. She responded that, last night, she “said that if the Transportation Commission was comfortable with the information that they had related to building A, and could make a recommendation at their meeting last evening, then the Planning Commission would be prepared to discuss it at their meeting next week.”

It appears likely the project will be quickly moved to Planning Commission.

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