Every time Lansing Township gets brought up it hurts my brain and brings on a bit of rage, It's pointless trying to critique or make sense of their actions. I emailed a township official when I made the last post and he got back to me simply to say that he couldn't share any documents and encouraged me to come to the meeting. He briefly described the project as such: "This is early in the process but the proposed development includes some mixed use including retail, apartments and climate controlled storage."
Of all the things the township is looking for changes on they seem unbothered by this land being used as a self storage facility, I just don't get it. This is why I do my best to just ignore what goes in the township.
I'm a broken record on this, but the city should have been actively look at commercial/industrial/vacant areas it wants to annex and finding a few favorable residential parcels to vote on to bring the land into the city like they did down at the northwest corner of Jolly & Waverly. Not sure what exactly you could sell them on being included in the annexation (maybe offer to buy their house at fair market value?), but it's definitely worth a try to smooth out the borders of the city. That's also something that can be done exactly for that reason through the State Boundary Commission process, too, and it's always been my contention the city has a great case since the area is already served by the BWL, city schools, CATA, etc.
The November 7th board meeting minutes give a little more info on the Howard & Michigan project: It will have 168 units of residential in a five floor building with the storage in a four floor building and parking in between the buildings. It's not clear if there will be any ground floor commercial space in either building or whether the parking will be in a structure or surface lots.
I'm not sure what Lansing Twp's approval process but they did approve this step. While a storage facility in that area is disappointing the added density on Michigan Ave is welcome, especially given the current state of that lot.
I'm still confused about this mix, but this would still be substantially better than the vacant lots at the location currently. That said, I'm still disappointed in som of the conditions placed on the development, which just seem totally arbitrary and done for no other reason than to send a message that they are still skeptical of urban development, even in their literal urban development overlay. For instances, at 6 stories, the apartment building likely wouldn't be much over 60 feet, but they are still sending a message that they don't like the height by setting a condition of 65 feet on it where 80 feet would be allowed (on the Michigan frontage). The second one that got me is the hoops they are making the developer jump through for parking reductions. The you have them questioning the developer about the dog park. It all just seems so petty and unnecessary micro-management of development of private property.
I guess one of these days, it'd be nice for urbanists to recruit some more forward-minded people to the township board. Actually, what you'd hope is that the township is eventually annexed. lol
I know Lansing Township's planner won't give out any comprehensive information so I'm not even bothering to ask, but a self-storage development is being pitched for Michigan Avenue Park/Waverly Golf Course at tonight's Planning Commission meeting. I'm sure WestPark has gone belly-up since their website is down, but what an absolute joke for this area. I wasn't a fan of developing the land in the first place but to be left with a car wash and self-storage is just *chef's kiss* for Lansing metro.
*Edit: apparently I missed this because they didn't upload the agenda and it was first heard in March but tabled. I didn't get many details from the meeting minutes but sounds like once minor conditions are fixed it will pass.
I often wonder about the self-storage business. In Greater Lansing there must be thousands of units, and now they want to build more! What is profit for the owners? These facilities are in my mind the most anti-human anti-neighborhood ugly useless things they could build in an urban area. They are also spreading in rural Michigan faster than Dollar Generals. Lansing should have kept that land and developed a [possibly!] much better plan than a car wash and a self-storage business. We need housing, this land could be the site for some really nice housing spread in and around the hills and glens of the former golf course.
Self storage is one of the 'passive business' models that are touted by tik tok finance and the like. It's up there with laundrymats, car washes, and vending machines.
I won't lie, I've debated spending time researching it. It seems like a solid business in economically depressed areas where people are more transient.
Really? With all the demand for housing they can't figure out something better? Lansing Township itself is heavily invested in Eastwood, I imagine that's all they really care about. I'm mostly disappointed in Lansing Township residents at this point, they are the ones ultimately responsible for their elected officials and the only ones who can spur change. (And yeah, Lansing Township's agenda center might be the worst among local municipalities. Basically useless for learning about anything they're doing).
I too am dumbfounded by the prevalence of self storage places. Even now there's a large 4-floor facility slated to be built out near Grand River and Dobie and a 4-floor one slated for the Michigan & Howard project, that's on top of the numerous other ones opened over the past 10 or 15 years. Why are people paying so much to store stuff that isn't useful enough to keep in their house/apartment? I know multiple people who've paid for units filled with random household stuff for many years before eventually getting rid of it and keeping very little of what was in there. I don't get it.
I really can't fathom how there is a demand for these, or even paying to store my junk. If it doesn't fit in the house, I probably don't need it. I'm someone who tends to hold onto things and I can't even see the logic in paying to store things. Anything Lansing Township does is just ridiculous it seems like. Such a depressing use and waste of that site.
Comments
Of all the things the township is looking for changes on they seem unbothered by this land being used as a self storage facility, I just don't get it. This is why I do my best to just ignore what goes in the township.
I'm not sure what Lansing Twp's approval process but they did approve this step. While a storage facility in that area is disappointing the added density on Michigan Ave is welcome, especially given the current state of that lot.
I guess one of these days, it'd be nice for urbanists to recruit some more forward-minded people to the township board. Actually, what you'd hope is that the township is eventually annexed. lol
*Edit: apparently I missed this because they didn't upload the agenda and it was first heard in March but tabled. I didn't get many details from the meeting minutes but sounds like once minor conditions are fixed it will pass.
I won't lie, I've debated spending time researching it. It seems like a solid business in economically depressed areas where people are more transient.
I too am dumbfounded by the prevalence of self storage places. Even now there's a large 4-floor facility slated to be built out near Grand River and Dobie and a 4-floor one slated for the Michigan & Howard project, that's on top of the numerous other ones opened over the past 10 or 15 years. Why are people paying so much to store stuff that isn't useful enough to keep in their house/apartment? I know multiple people who've paid for units filled with random household stuff for many years before eventually getting rid of it and keeping very little of what was in there. I don't get it.