Only good news if this cleared Committee of the Whole last night, and even then it has to go before the full council for approval. The only thing we've heard so far is that a few on council were "no" votes prior to Monday's meeting.
I was told to email City Council instead of the City Clerk, and got a response from Patricia Spitzley saying "There was no vote. The purpose was to go over the Development Agreement line by line and ask questions. The next step is to vote to set the public hearing."
Thanks for finding that out. Looking back at the committee of the whole agenda, I do see I read it incorrectly, and it does in fact only say "presentation" by that agenda item. Now that I'm thinking about it, this has already passed the committee phase of things.
Anyway, there is a article in the City Pulse today where the mayor still sounds unsure if the council will pass this. Apparently, the labor issues are no less a sticking point than they've been, and because this is the sale of parkland they need a full six of the eight votes on council. The article did say that the way this is moving this should go before the full council at the end of the month, though.
Six votes is going to be a very tough lift unless that developers further acquiesce judging by how no one seems to think this is more likely to pass than not.
If you want to view the amendments to the actual agreement, it starts on page 85 and helpfully strikes-out and shows new wording in purple. The new site plan is on page 78, decription chart on page 79, and timeline on page 81.
The item is to recommend a public hearing be set for July 9th, at which time they'll draft a resolution to be passed at some subsequent meeting. It's possible, then, that this sale could be approved sometime next month, finally.
It appears the single biggest change to the agreement is that in the interest of making sure this gets by council the developers have agreed that they'll back the bonds issued by the city, so the city is now off the hook for the infrastructure part of this project, which is a really big deal as it's always been a concern of the council.
Well, the time line suggests the developers are going to be at this for a while - groundbreaking would start next spring, the first buildings will be finished 2 years from then, and the final building is not expected to be finished in 2021.
But it looks like the materials will be decent - almost all of buildings will be clad in a combination of masonry, metal panels, and EIFS (basically, stucco). Hopefully, proportionally in that order!
Comments
I sent an email to the City Clerk to ask if there was a vote or any outcome from the presentation. I'll update here when I get a response.
This is good news! I can almost see the cranes rising up over Michigan Avenue.
Only good news if this cleared Committee of the Whole last night, and even then it has to go before the full council for approval. The only thing we've heard so far is that a few on council were "no" votes prior to Monday's meeting.
I was told to email City Council instead of the City Clerk, and got a response from Patricia Spitzley saying "There was no vote. The purpose was to go over the Development Agreement line by line and ask questions. The next step is to vote to set the public hearing."
Thanks for finding that out. Looking back at the committee of the whole agenda, I do see I read it incorrectly, and it does in fact only say "presentation" by that agenda item. Now that I'm thinking about it, this has already passed the committee phase of things.
Anyway, there is a article in the City Pulse today where the mayor still sounds unsure if the council will pass this. Apparently, the labor issues are no less a sticking point than they've been, and because this is the sale of parkland they need a full six of the eight votes on council. The article did say that the way this is moving this should go before the full council at the end of the month, though.
Six votes is going to be a very tough lift unless that developers further acquiesce judging by how no one seems to think this is more likely to pass than not.
I just hope they break ground before the economy eventually takes a dump and the funding dries up...
The committee of the whole packet for next monday's meeting is up where they'll set the public hearing for the plan for June 25th.
So, the June 25th Committee of the Whole packet has been posted:
https://lansingmi.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_06252018-2208
If you want to view the amendments to the actual agreement, it starts on page 85 and helpfully strikes-out and shows new wording in purple. The new site plan is on page 78, decription chart on page 79, and timeline on page 81.
The item is to recommend a public hearing be set for July 9th, at which time they'll draft a resolution to be passed at some subsequent meeting. It's possible, then, that this sale could be approved sometime next month, finally.
It appears the single biggest change to the agreement is that in the interest of making sure this gets by council the developers have agreed that they'll back the bonds issued by the city, so the city is now off the hook for the infrastructure part of this project, which is a really big deal as it's always been a concern of the council.
Well, the time line suggests the developers are going to be at this for a while - groundbreaking would start next spring, the first buildings will be finished 2 years from then, and the final building is not expected to be finished in 2021.
But it looks like the materials will be decent - almost all of buildings will be clad in a combination of masonry, metal panels, and EIFS (basically, stucco). Hopefully, proportionally in that order!