The only thing on next week's Planning Board agenda are the two LCC parking garage proposals, the one to replace the existing Gannon garage and a new one across from the North Capitol garage. Meh.
Big news is that it looks like the Form-Based Code passed the Planning Board with a unanimous recommendation to City Council at their meeting earlier this month.
I read where they described the look of the new ramp as having an apartment building-like facade. I don't really see that in these drawings. I do not like the idea of another parking ramp on this block of Capitol Avenue. I understand that they need another parking ramp while the old one is being renovated. I would rather they built a temporary structure or building that could be converted for human use after the old ramp comes back online. It might be a good idea to try and reduce LCC student's dependence on automobiles by giving them CATA bus passes like MSU. Or maybe charging a higher rate to park there so some folks would decide to take the bus, ride a bike or even walk! I would like to see a change in the "I have to be able to park in front of the building or I'm not going there" mentality here in Michigan. There are many ways to achieve this change, by making the alternative modes of travel safer, more efficient, more attractive. I know I will spend a long time waiting for these changes. I like that the change in the code that seems to address some of these issues.
While I support the idea of reducing car traffic for an urban campus, I think upping parking rates that would interfere with the core mission of LCC, which is to provide low-barrier education to the community. I'm guessing that a large portion of the student population is made up of commuters who have jobs, families, etc. and need to drive in/out of campus. A free bus pass would be great though, and would hopefully increase the number of folks who voluntarily avoid driving to campus.
It'd also be nice if they, you know, built some dormitories/housing near campus. If UofM - Flint can build and operate a dorm, any small college can. Commuter colleges are commuter colleges by choice, not because they have to be.
That's not a bad idea - there is a ton of vacant commercial space across the bridge near the Saginaw/ Center st. intersection that would be perfect for that. I could see some sort of public-private partnership to provide low cost apartments/townhouses being a great option for this also.
Of course, I would not want to keep some folks from going to LCC because they could not afford to park there. I was just brainstorming alternatives to building a multi-million dollar parking structure on Capitol Ave... Perhaps they could build a ramp or lot outside of downtown and offer very low or free parking to students and have continuous bus loop service downtown to the campus, [the hospital on S.Washington has this service for employees] then charge more for the on-campus parking. I received my Associate of Fine Arts Degree from LCC and I do understand who goes there. Back before they expanded the campus I had to attend classes in a variety of buildings all over downtown. There was no LCC student parking at these buildings. Many days[mostly on the days the market was closed] I would park at the City Market parking lot, and just walk to my classes from there. That lot had a two-hour limit but I never saw it enforced so the lot was always full of cars that were not there for the market but I never got a ticket!. This "free parking" was not so easy to find in East Lansing and I did get a lot of parking tickets while at MSU, I did often take the bus to avoid parking. Building a dorm on top of a parking structure would really be a good thing for downtown, and help students who don't have cars or who do not want to drive to school every day decide to attend LCC. The Landmark Building in EL would be a good model for that.
Looks like the LSJ picked up on this story. Something new is that it looks like at least part of the city council is actually pushing for ground floor commercial space, at least. And in my opinion, all new parking structures downtown should be required to be mixed use at the very least.
Nonetheless, City Council President Peter Spadafore questioned why LCC needs more parking when its enrollment has declined and its online classes are becoming more popular.
LCC's fall 2019 enrollment was 11,673 students, a 21% decrease compared to fall 2015.
"We have lots of parking downtown," Spadafore said. "I don’t want to build something that we’re going to regret in 10 years."
The latest plans, as listed on a Planning Board agenda, do not include retail space.
But LCC leaders say they could convert up to 15,000 square feet of the proposed Capitol Avenue ramp's first floor for retail. Depending on demand, LCC has the potential to subdivide that space and lease it to businesses, such as florists or coffee shops, Knight said.
The inclusion of retail real estate could be a "great compromise," said Council Member Patricia Spitzley, who sits on Lansing's planning board.
This should be their demand if they are to allow the Capitol Avenue rezone. And really, LCC should have been partnering with someone to include student apartments atop the garage. It is just mind-blowing they are trying to force through a single-use structure on such a prominent corner with enrollment at the main campus declining like it has. You used to have 20,000 students at the college and parking is now a problem?
Props to Spadafore for calling them out on that. I agree that a single-use structure in what is arguably prime real estate downtown is short sighted and will be something the city would likely regret in future decades. What happens if Saginaw gets road dieted and the area becomes more conducive to non-motorized traffic? That parcel is right by the river, the river trail, a park, close to the downtown business district, and all the offices therein. We need to be future-proofing these sorts of projects, same with the one the Michigan realtors are proposing.
One good thing I was thinking while reading about this proposal was that a lot of the people who went to LCC during the Recession must have gotten jobs. I think that is one reason why the enrollment had dropped so drastically. As I have said here I am against this proposal as it stands. There is an office/retail space on the ground floor of the ramp across the street, does anyone think this makes that ramp more attractive? I do not see retail space being snapped up in the other new buildings around town so is there a market for retail space downtown? I am sorry but I do not think every student rates parking as the reason they go or do not go to LCC or thinks they are entitled to a free parking space downtown. I hope that at least some of them rate getting an education first in their minds. Maybe they should have never malled N Washington Ave and kept the gut [parking down the middle of the street] so the students could park right outside their classroom building.
I was on S Cedar yesterday and noticed a nice renovation of an old office building near the same block as "Dicker and Deal". It is going to be a marijuana shop called Sky Mint. The same company is building the shop at Penn. and Saginaw. The buildings look bright with a lot of windows. As an "elder" here I have to say this is one thing I would have never believed possible and it has been difficult to lose the paranoia and feeling of being a criminal for using MJ, so I am still very surprised to see the licensed new facilities spending a lot of money here opening new shops and grow houses right on our main streets. The other day I was riding down in our elevator and it was so skunky I said to the young woman riding with me, "wow is sure smells like someone lit up in here"! She replies "oh that's me! I work in the big grow house in Dimondale". I apologized, that was the first time I had come across someone employed in a grow house, I wonder if working there would put you off marijuana?
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https://www.lansingmi.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03032020-3005
Big news is that it looks like the Form-Based Code passed the Planning Board with a unanimous recommendation to City Council at their meeting earlier this month.