I'm also wondering about the release of those plans, I don't see anything about them from any of the local news sources.
@mindbender The article says that the water filtration walls will use the retaining walls located behind Red Lobster and Marshall Music. Those aren't the most prominent locations, but they're not completely tucked away and they will definitely look better than a concrete retaining wall.
What I thought what was going to happen is that the whole parking area would be rebuilt in a way that collects the drain water and that would be the water running through these filtering features. I mean I hope that's the plan. It seems like I saw a drawing of a "green" parking area for Frandor. The new permeable surface lots at Farm Lane look really great and the run off is going into the ground and wet lands, not the storm sewer, I think they could do that at Frandor.
Swales! I never have heard that term before! I guess that is what I have been calling rain gardens, like along Michigan Ave. I am really looking forward to seeing this project built. It will be very interesting to see how the Red Cedar will look and smell after all of this work. The other day before the rains I was walking the river trail near the confluence of the Red Cedar and Grand Rivers, and the difference in the color of the water was very visible. The Red Cedar water was cloudy opaque and reddish brown and the Grand was clear to the bottom and had a green clean natural appearance. It is not always that way but it is really evident that the Red Cedar carries a lot of pollution, where during dry times at least the Grand looks much cleaner. When I was a kid I thought the Red Cedar was named because of the color of the water.
I don't blame them though. They said that they still haven't gotten any financial plans and it sounds like banks don't want to finance this last bit so maybe the banks aren't valuing it as high as what the developers are asking for.
Yeah, I'm quite a bit less enthusiastic about local governments taking on this kind of risk for mostly private project after what we've learned about Eastwood. The local governments around here are still very early into getting their financial houses in order. I'd call the developers' bluff on this one.
Forgot to mention that that same article says Bernero has always been open to the option of the bonds, but they wanted to try Ingham County first. I think the project gets done regardless as Ferguson has already put million of dollars into preparing for it, so it's really just about the question of how much the project would be reduce than whether it will happen or not.
The article also mentions that both Ingham County and Lansing are well below their state-set borrowing limits. Lansing is under half its limit, and Ingham County has only used 11% of its own borrowing limit. Both, however, have things they want to do first with bonds. The county wants to shore up its pensions and build a new jail. Lansing wants a new city hall (and combined police headquarters and jail), which Bernero wants to partner with the county on to lower the cost of the project as we've discussed. They'd both still be well under their limit, but it would take priority of Red Cedar.
I was in Frandor the other day during the heavy rain. I was amazed to see the volume of water washing down the drains. The whole area was temporarily flooded. If the drain project happens it will be so great to know all that polluted water will not be going straight into the Red Cedar.
This is a good thing as Sparrow actually gets things built. This will add a lot to the developer's presentation of this as something that will be a fully occupied place with permanent tax paying tenants. It is starting to look like this is really going to happen.
I wonder what happened to the "under the bridge project" there at 127.
Comments
@mindbender The article says that the water filtration walls will use the retaining walls located behind Red Lobster and Marshall Music. Those aren't the most prominent locations, but they're not completely tucked away and they will definitely look better than a concrete retaining wall.
I don't blame them though. They said that they still haven't gotten any financial plans and it sounds like banks don't want to finance this last bit so maybe the banks aren't valuing it as high as what the developers are asking for.
Forgot to mention that that same article says Bernero has always been open to the option of the bonds, but they wanted to try Ingham County first. I think the project gets done regardless as Ferguson has already put million of dollars into preparing for it, so it's really just about the question of how much the project would be reduce than whether it will happen or not.
The article also mentions that both Ingham County and Lansing are well below their state-set borrowing limits. Lansing is under half its limit, and Ingham County has only used 11% of its own borrowing limit. Both, however, have things they want to do first with bonds. The county wants to shore up its pensions and build a new jail. Lansing wants a new city hall (and combined police headquarters and jail), which Bernero wants to partner with the county on to lower the cost of the project as we've discussed. They'd both still be well under their limit, but it would take priority of Red Cedar.
I wonder what happened to the "under the bridge project" there at 127.