This is confusing as it seems that these parcels are already part of the river trail. It would be interesting to know what they plan to do with the extra land.
It was vacated railroad right-of-ways, so it has effectively been greenspace for years. It could just be that the city finally got an opportunity to buy it. Or, like you said, maybe they have some more pathways planned, but now it means they don't have to ask the railroad if they want/have to do something with it, like run a utility line or cut a sidewalk across it. Just an little quirk of history that caught my eye.
Much of the existing and original River Trail through downtown was the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (LS&MS), which was slowly cut back until now it's just a spur between the fish ladder and the mainline to the north.
I guess I don't really see what this acquisition changes. I assume the plots south of Oakland were owned by BWL and functionally the city's anyway while the lots north of Oakland don't lead to anywhere or offer much benefit without also having the RR ROW crossing Cesar Chavez and North St, which could provide some value as a trail, perhaps becoming sort of shopping/dining alley.
Maybe I wasn't clear. The highlighted lots are owned by the railroad. Again, what this does, functionally, is make it so that the city doesn't have to deal legally with the railroad, anymore, particularly where the old ROW runs directly through the west side of Riverfront Park.
I didn't see the second comment. It's really odd that this property was still owned by the RR. I do hope the city can acquire the rest of this spur north of Old Town.
It's actually pretty common. Railroads typically hang onto abandoned railway lines in case new customers come up somewhere along the line in the future. It's kind of delusional given mode shifts, but that's what their reasoning is. I'm not clear on the federal laws around this, since most of railroad law is federal, but law does allow them to lease out right-of-ways for trails. But I imagine anything really permnanent requires trail leasees to contact their railroad partner.
Looks like Norfolk Southern finally decided they wouldn't be running any more trains down to the old powerplant or any of th businesses along Center Street, anymore. lol
Saw this in the Board of Zoning Appeals agenda from today. Nationals Soccer Club wants to build a 125,000 sq ft sports dome down on East Miller a few properties away from the Hope Soccer Complex. It would have fields for soccer, 4 basketball courts, 12 pickleball courts, along with other support facilities. The BZA is recommending denial of the variances requested.
I'd personally be of the mind to allow something nice and needed like this in town, especially since this is in an industrial area and wouldn't encroach on a residential neighborhood in any real way. We don't really have much like this in the area, and it's compliment the Hope Soccer Complex literally right down the road. This is probably one of the few areas of town where you could do something like this and justify it to any NIMBYs that'd pop up because of its location.
If they fail with requesting variances, I hope that they request a rezoning. I'm not sure where else the city thinks the zoning code imagines a building like this to go if not in a large-parcel industrial district aside from maybe downtown.
I guess this is a positive project, the thing I don't like about this type of inflatable building is that they can become dirty and stained by rain and pollution. There are a lot of these buildings out east, maybe they are made of better martials these days, but most of them do not age well. I would rather see a field house type building, I could see something like this near downtown maybe in the REO-town industrial park where REO used to be there are some large parcels available there, it is a good sign that someone wants to invest in Lansing.
It is just a small project that I noticed over on the corner of Kalamazoo and Pennsylvania, a long vacant eye sore convenance store is being renovated. I wonder if this area will become more attractive to developers as Sparrow grows. I hope the planned expansions of their facilities spurs developments like professional offices and housing, a long Michigan Ave, Pennsylvania, and Kalamazoo. I see a lot of that type of development over off of Jolly Rd. and Collins near the new Maclaren Hospital.
Comments
Much of the existing and original River Trail through downtown was the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (LS&MS), which was slowly cut back until now it's just a spur between the fish ladder and the mainline to the north.
Looks like Norfolk Southern finally decided they wouldn't be running any more trains down to the old powerplant or any of th businesses along Center Street, anymore. lol
I'd personally be of the mind to allow something nice and needed like this in town, especially since this is in an industrial area and wouldn't encroach on a residential neighborhood in any real way. We don't really have much like this in the area, and it's compliment the Hope Soccer Complex literally right down the road. This is probably one of the few areas of town where you could do something like this and justify it to any NIMBYs that'd pop up because of its location.
If they fail with requesting variances, I hope that they request a rezoning. I'm not sure where else the city thinks the zoning code imagines a building like this to go if not in a large-parcel industrial district aside from maybe downtown.