Besides, I don't even understand what he's talking about. The Northern Tier is almost as far north as the airport, and that basically signals the end of Lansing proper, unless he's talking about DeWitt.
The Northern tier is definately sprawl as far as I'm concerned. Maybe not as bad as some of the scattered incoherent sprawl of so many other areas, but still sprawl. I will at least give East Lansing the credit for making development in the Northern Tier dense and relatively organized.
Beyond the built-up units stretches a pre-apocalyptic vision. Eerily empty streets, complete with light poles and utility hookups, await tenants — and houses. “I have no problems with development, but the development shouldn’t be pushing the utilities,” [Jared] Wein said. “It should be following where the utilities already are.”
Van Ravensway literally jumped out of his chair at the suggestion that East Lansing is encouraging sprawl. He walked into a hallway and pointed to a gap-toothed spot on the map where Lansing and Meridian Township flank East Lansing’s northern spur.
“This is not urban sprawl,” he said. “It’s right in the center of the urban area. This is filling in where development should occur relative to the rest of the world. What’s sprawl is developing out of Williamston and Grand Ledge.”
Ha! I usually agree with everything Van Ravensway says, but boy is he off the mark. What is developing along the northern tier is quintessential auto-oriented sprawl, if even designed under the guidelines of kitschy "New Urbanism". Many municipalities try to convince themselves that this New Urbanism isn't sprawl, but it is. The only difference is that New Urbanism is 'pretty' sprawl that pays more attention to detail, and perhaps a bit less offensive than tract-housing and cul-de-sacs, but ultimately, a rose by any other name is still a rose. Or, to be more blunt, you can slather up a pig with make-up, but it's still a pig.
What is happening along the Northern Tier is 'pretty' or aesthetic sprawl, if there is such a thing. What I will give East Lansing credit for is realizing that how our society is set up (since the 1950's, at least) sprawl up the way was inevitable, and I trust East Lansing much more than I would a Bath Township to be developing that area, so they are the lesser of two evils. If Bath Township still had control of most of this land that is being developed, this wouldn't even be 'pretty' sprawl.
As much as I dislike it sprawl will probably forever continue to be where most development takes place, no matter what. So if sprawl can look like the northern tier and Eastwood Town Center and the cities are still being redeveloped to a reasonable extent, I can at least remain content.
The first mistake is thinking that this will (or has to) continue like it is. Some cities, yes, even in the United States, have found ways to curb it, and cities all around the world don't have nearly the same problem. It's not about stopping sprawl altogether, that will never happen (and shouldn't), but this idea that Lansing has to continue to move northward is ridiculous. It doesn't have to. When we know better, and we do, we can and must do better. I'm not going to apologize about the Northern Tier for a minute.
The city continues to work on feasibility of the project, including ongoing discussions with MSU regarding the museum. Its possible we may have a site plan ready in early 2008.
No demolition is planned for 2007.
It doesn't look good for the project. My guess is that with the tight university budget and the relocation of the art museum, this project may be scaled down quite a bit.
State News article today on some students/current residents in the area fighting City Center II with the fear that emminent domain would be used to acquire property beyond that already planned. The article also mentions that about 80% of the property required for the project has already been acquired.
P.S.: Jared, if this project is now just "Michigan Museum Place," and not "City Center II," I could repost this.
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The article can be found here: A college town builds a year-round downtown
What is happening along the Northern Tier is 'pretty' or aesthetic sprawl, if there is such a thing. What I will give East Lansing credit for is realizing that how our society is set up (since the 1950's, at least) sprawl up the way was inevitable, and I trust East Lansing much more than I would a Bath Township to be developing that area, so they are the lesser of two evils. If Bath Township still had control of most of this land that is being developed, this wouldn't even be 'pretty' sprawl.
P.S.: Jared, if this project is now just "Michigan Museum Place," and not "City Center II," I could repost this.