Public Works

As BWL’s cutting, and cutting down, of trees appears to be picking up in the old-growth neighborhoods of East Lansing, City Council is set on Tuesday night to vote on a resolution in support of the city’s trees. Meanwhile, the red-and-white yard signs that carry a legal warning to BWL are showing up in greater numbers around the city.

Six new works of art that will double as bicycle racks are to be celebrated at an East Lansing ribbon-cutting event next week. Ami Van Antwerp, Communications Coordinator for the City, estimates that the $20,000 project will net “at least 10 new [bicycle] parking spaces” downtown. According to Van Antwerp, “There are a couple of situations where we are replacing deteriorating hoops with the new artistic bike racks.”

Note: This article begins a new weekly Friday feature of ELi called “Ask ELi to Investigate.” This feature takes questions from readers and assigns a citizen-reporter to investigate the answer. If you’d like to submit a question for “Ask ELi to investigate,” use our contact form.

A reader asks: How much money does the Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) give from its profits to the City of Lansing each year?

On Tuesday, October 7, City Council passed Ordinance 1339 which provides for private and public funding of public art in East Lansing. The vote occurred after a debate between Mayor Nathan Triplett and Mayor Pro Tem Diane Goddeeris about the state of the city’s finances. The ordinance ultimately passed by a vote of 3-1, with Goddeeris voting against and Council member Susan Woods recusing herself.

Does BWL have the right to come onto privately-owned property and trim or remove trees without the owner’s permission in the absence of a written legal easement? The BWL Director of Communications is suggesting the answer is “yes,” but an MSU property rights legal expert says the details would be complicated.

I asked Steve Serkiain, BWL’s Director of Communications, to answer three questions, on the record:

In an effort to push development within city limits, City of East Lansing Planning staff have produced a recommended list of “redevelopment ready” properties. This is essentially a list meant to attract potential developers, and although Bailey neighborhood residents thought the Bailey Community Center had come off the redevelopment-ready list at their request, according to a recent disclosure by City Planning staff, the Bailey Community Center is back on the draft list.

East Lansing residents are seeing fewer tree trimming crews out working for Lansing’s Board of Water and Light (BWL), the major provider of electricity to East Lansing. But tensions remain very high between BWL and homeowners. Some homeowners who have already experienced damage to their properties from trimmer crews are being offered compensation by BWL. Others, worried about future damage, have joined a new yard sign campaign.

Apparently in response to numerous complaints by East Lansing homeowners, the Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) has decided to change its approach to tree-cutting along its wires in East Lansing's Glencairn, Chesterfield Hills, and Oakwood neighborhoods. BWL is the electric utility provider to these neighborhoods.

On August 6, the City Council voted to put a question on the November 4 ballot asking the electorate to authorize the City to sell three parking lots needed for redevelopment of the west end of downtown leading down to Valley Court Park, an area being called “the Park District.”

This authorization will only pass if 60% of the voters vote for it; the City Charter requires that a super-majority of voters approve sale of public properties of this value. 

Residents of Sunset Lane between Clarendon and Marshall streets have been working with Todd Sneathen, the City’s Director of Public Works, and his staff, to address neighborhood concerns about cut-through traffic, speeding, and safety. Concerns regarding Sunset Lane traffic were first expressed during the public comment period at a Transportation Commission meeting in Summer 2011 and further analyzed and discussed in subsequent meetings with Mr. Sneathen in 2011 and 2012.

One set of Sunset Lane traffic count and speed data has already been gathered, and additional traffic monitoring on Sunset Lane is expected to start soon. A comparative set of data will also be gathered for Northlawn Avenue between Abbot and Harrison roads. Results will be evaluated, in part, by applying the guidelines developed by the Transportation Commission titled “Action Plan for Addressing Neighborhood Speeding & Non-Resident Traffic Issues.” Once the data are analyzed, an update and announcement of a meeting date with City staff will be provided in the near future.

The City of East Lansing is now offering residents opportunities to recycle holiday lights and also to exchange less efficient light sets for environmentally-friendly LED sets.

PLEASE NOTE: This article was published when East Lansing Info was a non-incorporated web-based entity, without a board, witout voted-on standards, etc. As a consequence, the article may not reflect the standards adopted by ELi's board after we incorporated in 2014. We are leaving it accessible and in its original state for transparency purposes. To learn more about ELi's current standards, board, etc., click here.

ELi's questions about the Abbot Road retaining wall reconstruction seem to have revealed a surprising aspect of city management: according to the Director of Public Works, the Engineering Department is in the practice of negotiating legal agreements on behalf of the citizenry.

The project at issue involved reconstruction of a crumbling retaining wall running along Abbot Road from Fern Street south, almost to Oakhill Avenue. The project required granting of four easements from the private property owners along the stretch. Three of the agreements were signed by a fraternity. The last involved the northern most property, owned by a company called Woodland Pass Equity Company.

As previously reported in ELi, in presenting the easement agreements to City Council, City Attorney Tom Yeadon does not appear to have disclosed that he is part-owner of Woodland Pass Equity Company.

Now a careful comparison of the easement agreements has revealed that there are at least five differences between the agreements the frat signed and the agreement with Yeadon's company. This would seem to suggest that some legal negotiation occurred in this matter. Who, then, was the City's attorney in those negotiations, negotiations which, at least in the case of the frat, included an important indemnification clause (i.e., a clause that determines weighting of liability risk)?