@gbinlansing Those lots are being repaved separately from the solar project and I think you're right about them being permeable (I can't find it now but I think they mentioned the lots being permeable in one of their construction updates).
I saw how the main street was repaved in the town where I lived back in 2012. The work out at Farm lane looked like the same process. They remove the whole road bed and dig down at least 8 feet and create a drain with sand, crushed and then whole stones which form the new road bed. People were quite skeptical about it, but the pavement works really well. This also keeps a lot of pollution from going into the local harbor. I have posted this before but hey if you are into pavement and road building it might be interesting to see. go to Provincetownview.com and click on Town Hall, that camera looks right at the street where you can see it looks like most any black top. It looks really great even after four years.
There are so many potential solar parking lots in the area, it could be a great way to make electricity
Good news. The solar project on MSU's commuter lots will be going forward. Looks like the company proposing this blinked first.
EAST LANSING – A solar project on Michigan State University's campus that appeared threatened last week will go forward, company officials confirmed Tuesday.
Inovateus, which MSU picked for the project, had sought a 25-year personal property tax abatement from the East Lansing City Council, saying it needed the lengthy tax break to make the project financially viable.
Council members instead unanimously approved a 10-year agreement at their June 21 meeting, citing a 2008 policy resolution which limits the duration of such agreements.
The company will save $2.6 million on taxes over 10 years, as opposed to $4.4 million over 25 years.
“The project is moving forward,” Inovateus senior account executive Peter Rienks wrote in an e-mail. “Although the abatement is only for 10 years, it was able to get us to a point where we can begin construction later this year."
...
It would place five solar arrays in parking lots in the southern part of campus that would generate 10 megawatts of power, or about one-sixth the energy used on campus during peak hours. The arrays would be raised, allowing for covered parking underneath them.
I am sure it is all been discussed before, but are these new apartments replacing the old U-village at the same number, or as it seems, are they adding to the number of apartments. Is is going to be a very busy area that is for sure. It is interesting that they are building so many new apartments on campus. When I went to MSU freshman and sophomores had to live on campus, the were putting three in a room back then, unless you were from the Lansing area, I could not get into campus housing coming from Lansing. So if that is still the case, who are all these people who are going to fill all these apartments? There must be a lot of grad students these days.
The number of new apartments is less than those it is replacing. Remember, all of Cherry Lane and most of Spartan Village have been removed. There are less families choosing to stay in university housing nowadays, and the more students are requesting private "single" rooms instead of having roommates.
MSU now only requires freshman to live on campus, and freshmen living within 50 mile(?) radius of MSU need to opt-out of living in the dorms. Many choose to live in the dorms anyways as it is easier to make friends and closer to classes.
The emptiness where Cherry Lane once stood still feels really weird to me when I come on campus. I would like to see many more trees planted, as well as some large scale shaping of the landscape with some added hills and valleys in there to make the area more interesting.
I'd personally like to see the land redeveloped, and was quite disappointed to see them demoilished. Harrison is too important a street, and particularly with Trowbridge Village and U-Village redevelopments, it doesn't make sense to me to have this prime land vacant.
The master plan shows the University Village/Cherry Lane along with the current Spartan Village property as being mixed use and are amongst the properties expected to be developed by 2031 (stated as being "Building Opportunities-20 year horizon" as of 2011). There's a lot of land there, I'm interested to see what they come up with for it.
The master plan also shows the College of Osteopathic Medicine getting a new 173k sq ft building in the 5-20 year time frame (as of 2011), of more relevance now as it could hint at the size of the MSU portion of the possible new hospital.
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There are so many potential solar parking lots in the area, it could be a great way to make electricity
MSU now only requires freshman to live on campus, and freshmen living within 50 mile(?) radius of MSU need to opt-out of living in the dorms. Many choose to live in the dorms anyways as it is easier to make friends and closer to classes.
The emptiness where Cherry Lane once stood still feels really weird to me when I come on campus. I would like to see many more trees planted, as well as some large scale shaping of the landscape with some added hills and valleys in there to make the area more interesting.
The master plan also shows the College of Osteopathic Medicine getting a new 173k sq ft building in the 5-20 year time frame (as of 2011), of more relevance now as it could hint at the size of the MSU portion of the possible new hospital.
MSU Master Plan 2011 update - pdf