Didn't catch the address thing. Weird. When you search 108 S Grand in Google Maps it comes up in that LSJ parking lot. My first thought was a mix up with the potential project on the Granger lot.
The city is continuing to try to find new management for current LEPFA facilities. IDK what to make of this, I don't really visit any of the facilities but from a distance it seems that the ballpark is well maintained/managed, as is Groesbeck Golf Course. The Lansing Center is another matter, it doesn't seem well maintained from the outside and doesn't seem to stay busy enough with events. I don't expect any of these facilities to break even on their own, some city subsidization should be expected and tolerated.
I don't see any immediate need to change anything major with the ballpark or Groesbeck Golf Course, but the Lansing Center is in need of a significant change. It's too small to attract the kinds of events the city needs to justify its existence, it can't even fit the local home & garden show. It's got to be expanded or entirely moved. I know that's an incredibly tall ask for the Lansing of late.
Right now the rail ROW is slated for a trail but I wouldn't be sad to see light or interurban rail there someday. If high speed passenger rail ends up getting built out I think a GR-Detroit via Lansing route is likely to be added and the Port Huron-Chicago route upgraded, along with a Detroit-Chicago route. In that scenario using the Lansing-Jackson RR, including that old ROW, as a smaller/slower interurban route would be a nice touch.
As for the Lake Lansing/27 intersection: I don't understand why they let EB Lake Lansing traffic turn left onto East at all. There's not room for that there, just eliminating that would do a lot to help. Long term maybe buying some of the properties on the south side of Lake Lansing in the block immediately east of 27 would be wise for the city. If a developer bought all the houses in that little disconnected neighborhood at the SE corner there and did something totally different I would not be unhappy at all.
Some deserved discontent from the bike community about the bait and switch on Michigan Avenue.
Instead of dedicated protected bike lanes like shown here;
I guess the bikes are just sharing the sidewalk with pedestrians or light poles;
I was expecting it to look like bike lanes in Europe, which are very clearly differentiated from pedestrian paths. Maybe even like the lanes on the MSU campus. But this? Basically no bike lane for all intents and purposes. Seems like a huge miss by the city.
I saw a WILX report about the affordable housing that is going up downtown on the south side. The depictions are awful. I hope they are just first concept drawings.
I'm a little disappointed in the CATA move. I hate to see a half block of Washington frontage taken up for an institutional use, especially right across from Ovation. In the absence of a mid/high rise going on the site, I think the existing building being turned into restaurant/bar/club or something entertainment/retail oriented would have been nice. As far as I can tell that corner parcel is still owned separately from the old Greyhound station. It doesn't look like all CATA offices will be moving either:
"The vision is for a new facility to house not only some CATA offices, primarily for customer-facing employees, but also provide a new area for public meetings, a resource center for customers, and potentially space for another community partner," officials said in presentation materials for Monday's meeting.
I'm glad to get a CATA presence downtown and I'm sure they'll fix/maintain that building nicely but it's just one of those little decisions that will end up making this move sort of a net-neutral rather than a decisive net-positive for downtown/Washington Sq, at least imo.
@gbinlansing Thanks, wouldn't have watched the video otherwise. Yeah, both buildings look horrible. These buildings are each supposed to cost around $20m, around $370k per unit. I just don't get how these buildings can be that expensive to build. I also can't imagine these (I'm assuming) 5-over-1 or entirely stick built buildings will age well in the LHC's hands. I live very close to these places, if it goes poorly they could easily be the impetus for me to leave. I have a bad feeling about how these are going to turn out. https://www.wilx.com/2024/09/11/housing-proposal-could-put-over-100-affordable-homes-downtown-lansing/
Regarding the Michigan Ave thing, as someone who rides my bike a lot recreationally I was really looking forward to these bike lanes until I realized how they're set up. It's a completely botched design by the city, apparently the result of budget related design changes. They may as well forget the bike lane and just have wider sidewalks with the potential for sidewalk dining, maybe put the bike lanes in the street when they get rid of the asymmetrical lane. Riding up and down the ramps at intersections won't be pleasant, I can't imagine pedestrians will respect the bike lane and most importantly encounters with cars on the side streets will be dangerous on a bike when you're that far back from traffic/stop signs. I've seen complaints on Reddit and Facebook as well.
@MichMatters re: Lansing Building Authority. A building authority is a creature of municipalities, LBA is made up of board of employees. My understanding is that it serves to act on things more quickly without having to go through red tape for acquisition and administration of operations. The $300,000 came from the original purchase amount from a few years ago. Selling the land to the city for $1 or nominal costs would deplete LBA coffers to operate in the future. The sale price doesn’t really reflect that amount in today’s dollars so without including closing costs, the City is likely getting a bit of a deal.
Re: zoning amendment and ADUs. The Committee on Development & Planning discussed the ordinances yesterday but wants to take the time to dive into the proposed changes more so it is sitting in committee for the time being. There will be a bit ‘hesitation’, because there is a weird aversion to Lansing being the first community in the area to do something. The same things were said when the form-based code was introduced. Staff touts these amendments as competitive advantages. It is readily evident what a comprehensive built environment does for livability in other places. Permissive land uses fill up vacancies. Housing options strengthen neighborhoods.
Now is the time to reach out to council members if you support them and want to make your voices heard.
Re: public-facing development updates. I don’t disagree with your point of why these statuses are blocked from public view. A lot of communities have a page for this type of thing, including East Lansing. Site plan review and commercial plan review are separate processes, but one follows the other. I’ve brought it up myself but it didn’t go anywhere yet. The city just transitioned to a new BS&A cloud product so some things are still being worked out. I can ask the building official and others about making this happen. I don’t know how developers would feel; maybe will not want their drawings public, but there should at least be a status rundown available. Also, once submitted they are public documents, and viewable through FOIA, no not like they are some classified state secrets or anything.
Comments
I don't see any immediate need to change anything major with the ballpark or Groesbeck Golf Course, but the Lansing Center is in need of a significant change. It's too small to attract the kinds of events the city needs to justify its existence, it can't even fit the local home & garden show. It's got to be expanded or entirely moved. I know that's an incredibly tall ask for the Lansing of late.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2024/08/30/lansing-center-jackson-field-lugnuts-management-contract-lepfa/75012345007/
I'm not seeing anything unusual with Google Maps myself.
As for the Lake Lansing/27 intersection: I don't understand why they let EB Lake Lansing traffic turn left onto East at all. There's not room for that there, just eliminating that would do a lot to help. Long term maybe buying some of the properties on the south side of Lake Lansing in the block immediately east of 27 would be wise for the city. If a developer bought all the houses in that little disconnected neighborhood at the SE corner there and did something totally different I would not be unhappy at all.
Instead of dedicated protected bike lanes like shown here;
I guess the bikes are just sharing the sidewalk with pedestrians or light poles;
I was expecting it to look like bike lanes in Europe, which are very clearly differentiated from pedestrian paths. Maybe even like the lanes on the MSU campus. But this? Basically no bike lane for all intents and purposes. Seems like a huge miss by the city.
I'm glad to get a CATA presence downtown and I'm sure they'll fix/maintain that building nicely but it's just one of those little decisions that will end up making this move sort of a net-neutral rather than a decisive net-positive for downtown/Washington Sq, at least imo.
@gbinlansing Thanks, wouldn't have watched the video otherwise. Yeah, both buildings look horrible. These buildings are each supposed to cost around $20m, around $370k per unit. I just don't get how these buildings can be that expensive to build. I also can't imagine these (I'm assuming) 5-over-1 or entirely stick built buildings will age well in the LHC's hands. I live very close to these places, if it goes poorly they could easily be the impetus for me to leave. I have a bad feeling about how these are going to turn out.
https://www.wilx.com/2024/09/11/housing-proposal-could-put-over-100-affordable-homes-downtown-lansing/
Regarding the Michigan Ave thing, as someone who rides my bike a lot recreationally I was really looking forward to these bike lanes until I realized how they're set up. It's a completely botched design by the city, apparently the result of budget related design changes. They may as well forget the bike lane and just have wider sidewalks with the potential for sidewalk dining, maybe put the bike lanes in the street when they get rid of the asymmetrical lane. Riding up and down the ramps at intersections won't be pleasant, I can't imagine pedestrians will respect the bike lane and most importantly encounters with cars on the side streets will be dangerous on a bike when you're that far back from traffic/stop signs. I've seen complaints on Reddit and Facebook as well.
Re: zoning amendment and ADUs. The Committee on Development & Planning discussed the ordinances yesterday but wants to take the time to dive into the proposed changes more so it is sitting in committee for the time being. There will be a bit ‘hesitation’, because there is a weird aversion to Lansing being the first community in the area to do something. The same things were said when the form-based code was introduced. Staff touts these amendments as competitive advantages. It is readily evident what a comprehensive built environment does for livability in other places. Permissive land uses fill up vacancies. Housing options strengthen neighborhoods.
Now is the time to reach out to council members if you support them and want to make your voices heard.
Re: public-facing development updates. I don’t disagree with your point of why these statuses are blocked from public view. A lot of communities have a page for this type of thing, including East Lansing. Site plan review and commercial plan review are separate processes, but one follows the other. I’ve brought it up myself but it didn’t go anywhere yet. The city just transitioned to a new BS&A cloud product so some things are still being worked out. I can ask the building official and others about making this happen. I don’t know how developers would feel; maybe will not want their drawings public, but there should at least be a status rundown available. Also, once submitted they are public documents, and viewable through FOIA, no not like they are some classified state secrets or anything.
Grand Rapids Example