I'd be very interested in seeing what a primarily residential development in that area would look like. I'd think that something primarily made up of townhouse/single family units with some 2-3 floor mixed use buildings would be perfect.
The rezonings they've done point only two multi-family buildings. To get single-family units, either attached or detatched, they'd have had to down zone part of the lots, and they've done the opposite. They took the stuff along Allegan from A-1 residential, the lowest residential desity zoning, all the way up to DM-1, which only allows multi-family stuff. Sounds to me like they want to maximize as much density as they can, particularly since they were slapped down from developing office buildings here, which would have brought them quicker returns. And, again, the city has always been pushing for mixed-use (residential, ground floor retail/commercial). I think it's very unlikely we're going to see any kind of single-family homes here, particularly with housing demand being far stronger than even when this was first proposed years ago very early in downtown's renaissance.
I grew up near Moores River Drive and I remember when the built they four lane boulevard section with the bank wall from Mt Hope to Waverly, it was just two lanes before with little gravel turn outs if you wanted to look at the river. There use to be a water skiing club that had a jump in the middle of the river, my Dad would park there so we could watch. The four lane road was never needed.
I have walked the new path that is there now and it is very nice, the river is so nice to look at, it looks as wide as some lakes from down by the Warverly bridge, and the water is full of life, and lots of people use the path for fishing and feeding the ducks and walks of course. It is true you can not see the river quite as well driving by the new path, but it really is so much more natural looking I'm sure it is better for the river. The only thing I would say is plant more or new trees along what use to be the median, the trees there looked very stressed this summer and already dropped their leafs by September and more grass and wild flowers along the bank. Then maintain the plantings, pavement and fencing better.
I have been wondering about the woodlands that are between the last riverside house and Grand River Park, are they part of the park? It looks like mature forest. I could see a separate trail bridge taking the trail over the river and over to Lansing Road to the park with a dedicated bike path to the park along Waverly and Old Lansing road. What about a trail going the other way down old Lansing Road to Woldumar that is such a nice park too.
Yes, the woodlands southwest of the marina are part of Grand River Park. That said, I find it highly unlikely the will be any new bridges built over the river in this area, and aesthetically speaking I don't think there should be, quite frankly. Too many boaters (including the large Michigan Princess) use this unfettered part of the river. Unless the city would want to even further cage in the path of the riverboat and destroy views - not to mention the cost of engineering to get a pedestrian bridge that far over and high along the river - they should stick to the plan which is connecting this side of the river with that side via Waverly and old Lansing roads.
As for Woldumar, you'd hope that this is eventually part of the trails plan in the region. However, this would be the province of Delta Township and Eaton County. I've actually never been inside the nature center, but played around down in that area as a child as a friend lived over that way. There was a culvert under Lansing Road, I believe, that we'd crawl through and explore along he railway tracks. Can't remember where it was, and it certainly in hindsight isn't where we should have been playing. lol
I was thinking perhaps building the ped. bridge on the Waverly Ave bridge maybe a extension along the east side of the bridge. Using the existing structure as the support for a bike/ped. lane kind of hooking onto the side so it would not actually be another bridge just a new lane on the bridge that is there. I too, do not think it would be good to have a new bridge at that point in the river. What's with the Township anyway do they just reject everything the city purposes?
Everyone should check out Woldumar it is really beautiful with many different types of woodlands, well marked trails, and views of the Grand River that you would not believe they are so nice. It's only about 2 miles down the road from Waverly.
Okay, I see what you mean. Still, the sidewalk on the bridge is wide enough and lightly used by pedestrians, so they could simply use the sidewalk as part of the trail and it'd be sufficient. The problem with that is that immediately north of the bridge where the sidewalk ends there is a little dirt path up along the rest of the block essentially made by people who risk walking along it. I swear, it feels like it can't be anymore than two feet wide, and it's so narrow because the land immediately to the east slopes up sharply. If they were going to extend the sidewalk and an adjacent trail north from the bridge, you'd have to take up quite a bit of residents property, and I'm sure they'd ask an arm and a leg for it. That's not to mention having to move the utility polls placed almost right next to the street. There was a big story in the LSJ a few years back when the mayor was trying to work with the township to do this, and the neighbors were not happy in the least (one of them even made a racial comment about "the kind of people" who would use the path to pass his property which became a story in itself).
Anyway, the township said they didn't have (read: didn't want to) the money put towards to stretching the trail through their part of the township to reach Grand River Park, and the proposal has essentially been dead since then, particularly with the election of a new Township supervisor and Virg having taken that rejection to up the rhetoric with them over other things. The funny thing is that grant money would have paid for the VAST majority of the costs associated with construction the trail/path, and the irony is that while they said they couldn't do it then, they almost certainly don't have the money to do it now that they've maxed out the debt they are allowed to have as a township trying to develop Eastwood.
Here's the good thing: The internal politics might not even matter. With the major county-wide parks millage passed last year, this may be handed over to the county and they'd definitely have the money for this relatively cheap project.
I find it kind of amazing to hear your report about the idea of the river trail going three or four blocks down Waverly to Old Lansing Road. I am sure everyone knows that Waverly Road was a racial line that African-Americans were not suppose to cross back in the last century. If black kids went to Sully's Drive In just west of Waverly there was often trouble and I am sure the those kids knew they were not welcome there by the neighborhood, I do not know what the owner's view was. I can clearly remember a story in the LSJ about a violent racial fight and photo with an overturned car at Sully's. To hear that some folks still think that way is so sad especially since it seems like a lot of minority folks live in Lansing Township and Delta. It would be great if the leaders out there and the neighborhoods sought to understand that in the 21st century Lansing is a truly diverse community. Why not be a happy part of it?
I think it is interesting that the county government is still a strong part of the community and has money and power to get things done. The difference between a county park and city park are easy to see, county parks seem be better taken care of. This points out the benefits of the larger community, if all the communities in greater Lansing were one think of how powerful our voice would be at the capital, and how powerful our combined funds would be. It would be nice if those folks all thought "we are Lansing" instead of "we are NOT Lansing"!
LANSING — A disagreement over how and when money from a parks millage should be spent has prompted two Ingham County commissioners to resign from a task force created to determine just that.
Arguing there needs to be some leeway for contingencies and emergencies, Commissioners Kara Hope, D-Holt, and Rebecca Bahar-Cook, D-Lansing, quit the Ingham County Trails And Parks Task Force last week over a resolution requiring that millage fund disbursements be approved by Ingham's County Services Committee and then by the full Board of Commissioners.
Commissioner Deb Nolan, an Okemos Democrat who introduced the resolution, said Monday that the Lansing commissioners are getting pressure from Mayor Virg Bernero to create an emergency fund of trails and parks millage money to repair the Lansing River Trail.
I'm a big booster of the city of Lansing, and we'd seem to have been doing well with our advocacy. But I don't want to see us sabotaging ourselves by short-circuiting the process and gaining another enemy. That's the last thing we need. Virg should probably slow down, pull back, and let the task force do its job. I'm all for emergency repairs, but if it means putting too much pressure on the county, that could really hurt our chances down the road to get the money we'll need for the long-term.
It would seem to me that the city could have it's own emergency repair fund in the parks budget, maybe they already do. It is hard to think of any very large emergency that could happen short of a very bad flood. Most of the trail is 10ft. wide strip of pavement, it seems like the city could handle that without the county, but maybe not. The wash out of the trail and bank next to GM has not really been repaired. The mayor seems like most mayors he wants to micro-manage and control everything in his city. I think he should serve as a voice for Lansing interest but isn't most of the trail in Lansing? Yet all of the county has put money into the tax fund, and they should have a voice and say so in how it is spent. If Lansing does not listen to the county, it is possible that the rest of the county will not be interested maintaining parks and trails that are within Lansing. Rise above turf battles and do what's right.
The city doesn't have the funds for this; it's why he's been trying to unload the river trail on the county for some time now. You said it yourself; they haven't even been able to fix the wash-out. It seems pretty clear that that (and probably the stairs) are the "emergencies" he's talking about. If the city had money for anything beyond regular maintenance, all of this would have been fixed.
Comments
I have walked the new path that is there now and it is very nice, the river is so nice to look at, it looks as wide as some lakes from down by the Warverly bridge, and the water is full of life, and lots of people use the path for fishing and feeding the ducks and walks of course. It is true you can not see the river quite as well driving by the new path, but it really is so much more natural looking I'm sure it is better for the river. The only thing I would say is plant more or new trees along what use to be the median, the trees there looked very stressed this summer and already dropped their leafs by September and more grass and wild flowers along the bank. Then maintain the plantings, pavement and fencing better.
I have been wondering about the woodlands that are between the last riverside house and Grand River Park, are they part of the park? It looks like mature forest. I could see a separate trail bridge taking the trail over the river and over to Lansing Road to the park with a dedicated bike path to the park along Waverly and Old Lansing road. What about a trail going the other way down old Lansing Road to Woldumar that is such a nice park too.
As for Woldumar, you'd hope that this is eventually part of the trails plan in the region. However, this would be the province of Delta Township and Eaton County. I've actually never been inside the nature center, but played around down in that area as a child as a friend lived over that way. There was a culvert under Lansing Road, I believe, that we'd crawl through and explore along he railway tracks. Can't remember where it was, and it certainly in hindsight isn't where we should have been playing. lol
Everyone should check out Woldumar it is really beautiful with many different types of woodlands, well marked trails, and views of the Grand River that you would not believe they are so nice. It's only about 2 miles down the road from Waverly.
Anyway, the township said they didn't have (read: didn't want to) the money put towards to stretching the trail through their part of the township to reach Grand River Park, and the proposal has essentially been dead since then, particularly with the election of a new Township supervisor and Virg having taken that rejection to up the rhetoric with them over other things. The funny thing is that grant money would have paid for the VAST majority of the costs associated with construction the trail/path, and the irony is that while they said they couldn't do it then, they almost certainly don't have the money to do it now that they've maxed out the debt they are allowed to have as a township trying to develop Eastwood.
Here's the good thing: The internal politics might not even matter. With the major county-wide parks millage passed last year, this may be handed over to the county and they'd definitely have the money for this relatively cheap project.
I think it is interesting that the county government is still a strong part of the community and has money and power to get things done. The difference between a county park and city park are easy to see, county parks seem be better taken care of. This points out the benefits of the larger community, if all the communities in greater Lansing were one think of how powerful our voice would be at the capital, and how powerful our combined funds would be. It would be nice if those folks all thought "we are Lansing" instead of "we are NOT Lansing"!
I'm a big booster of the city of Lansing, and we'd seem to have been doing well with our advocacy. But I don't want to see us sabotaging ourselves by short-circuiting the process and gaining another enemy. That's the last thing we need. Virg should probably slow down, pull back, and let the task force do its job. I'm all for emergency repairs, but if it means putting too much pressure on the county, that could really hurt our chances down the road to get the money we'll need for the long-term.