I see that the city council will be considering on July 27th easing the zoning rules for East Village, including allowing for 140-foot buildings. We'd talked about this a few weeks back when this was originally proposed. This is just the public hearing phase.
There is another public hearing for a variance for City Center about a required setback for buildings on Grand River, which I had no idea existed.
Minimum front yard depth: None, except for those properties that abut Grand River Avenue, the building shall be set back a minimum of 22 feet from the curb line of Grand River Avenue as measured between the exterior of the building closest to the curb line of Grand River Avenue and the curb line of Grand River Avenue.
I've read this about 10 times and feel like this should be obvious, but I can't for the life of me figure out the exception, here. Is what I'm reading saying that there doesn't have to be a front yard for a development in City Center Commercial District (B-3), with the exception of buildings built on Grand River? In this case, Park District is looking to have a setback of 21 feet, which is still weird since the podium will be built to the sidewalk.
I guess the main thing confusing me is that I imagine that so much of the B-3 zoning is along Grand River that it seems weird to call this an "exception," but maybe I'm wrong.
Huh, the wording is confusing to me too. To say "none" makes it seem that properties along MAC, for example, could be built right up to the curb? But there would be an easement for the sidewalk and the building could be built right up to the sidewalk, but why wouldn't that be basically the same rule for Grand River?
From my understanding, it's to reduce shadows (on Grand River). But in the case of City Center, it's built right up to the sidewalk, except the the main bulk of the building is set back. So, yeah, basically everything behind Grand River can be built to the sidewalk. How wide is the sidewalk?
I am not sure but from looking at the drawings it looks like they already set back the taller buildings. It seems like this is about residential single houses.
So, I was looking through something else and found this piece of information on White Oak Place, the 6-story apartment building proposed at East Grand River and Spartan east of downtown last year.
So, apparently this died unceremoniously back in October of last year and it never made the news? The city appears to have legislated a snatch back way back in May of last year, which basically meant the financing wasn't there to make this a reality.
Comments
Now I see the monopoly houses on googlemaps. I think however large the new buildings are an improvment.
I see that the city council will be considering on July 27th easing the zoning rules for East Village, including allowing for 140-foot buildings. We'd talked about this a few weeks back when this was originally proposed. This is just the public hearing phase.
There is another public hearing for a variance for City Center about a required setback for buildings on Grand River, which I had no idea existed.
I've read this about 10 times and feel like this should be obvious, but I can't for the life of me figure out the exception, here. Is what I'm reading saying that there doesn't have to be a front yard for a development in City Center Commercial District (B-3), with the exception of buildings built on Grand River? In this case, Park District is looking to have a setback of 21 feet, which is still weird since the podium will be built to the sidewalk.
I guess the main thing confusing me is that I imagine that so much of the B-3 zoning is along Grand River that it seems weird to call this an "exception," but maybe I'm wrong.
Huh, the wording is confusing to me too. To say "none" makes it seem that properties along MAC, for example, could be built right up to the curb? But there would be an easement for the sidewalk and the building could be built right up to the sidewalk, but why wouldn't that be basically the same rule for Grand River?
From my understanding, it's to reduce shadows (on Grand River). But in the case of City Center, it's built right up to the sidewalk, except the the main bulk of the building is set back. So, yeah, basically everything behind Grand River can be built to the sidewalk. How wide is the sidewalk?
I am not sure but from looking at the drawings it looks like they already set back the taller buildings. It seems like this is about residential single houses.
I was on Trowbridge yesterday morning and I noticed that they had started tearing down the old Howard Johnson's.
So long ugly building!
So, I was looking through something else and found this piece of information on White Oak Place, the 6-story apartment building proposed at East Grand River and Spartan east of downtown last year.
So, apparently this died unceremoniously back in October of last year and it never made the news? The city appears to have legislated a snatch back way back in May of last year, which basically meant the financing wasn't there to make this a reality.
Well that's disappointing, it would have been nice to see that building there.