City Council Denies 530 Albert Development in 2-3 Vote

Following a communitywide debate that has persisted since May, the East Lansing City Council voted down a proposal to allow American Community Developers, a Detroit-based developer, to construct a five-story affordable housing development in the 500-block of Albert Avenue. Mayor Pro Tem Jessy Gregg and Councilmember Dana Watson voted in support of the initiative, while Mayor Ron Bacon and Councilmembers George Brookover and Noel Garcia voted no during the Tuesday (Oct. 17) meeting.

The area, currently the site of a surface parking lot, sits behind businesses on Grand River Avenue. Owners of the businesses, including The Peanut Barrel, Flat, Black & Circular, and Campbell’s Market Basket, and patrons have railed against the proposed housing project. 

The parking lot has been co-owned by the City of East Lansing and the Metzger/Fabian family with the latter owning majority of the space. The family sought out the partnership with ACD after the city told them it was no longer interested in continuing the parking lease agreement.

During the meeting, Gregg and Watson asked numerous questions concerning the development, seemingly attempting to alleviate concerns of those speaking against the plan.

Gregg asked for confirmation that peak capacity of the city parking structures hovered around 60% on peak, non-game days. Interim Director of Planning, Building and Development Tim Dempsey confirmed.  

She asked Chris Young, vice president of ACD, if his company had any intentions of dropping the affordable housing moniker and renting the apartments at market rates. Young said it would be guaranteed affordable housing for at least 33 years as dictated by federal and state guidelines.  

Gregg also expressed concern about the lengthy construction time (Young estimated it would take between 17 and 24 months to complete the project) and how it might take away the remaining parking. Dempsey reminded her that conditions approved by both the Planning Commission and the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) mandated that the remaining Bailey Parking Lot would not be used for construction purposes.   

Watson was the first to declare her voting intention, reminding attendees of her frequent championing of affordable housing while also recognizing the concerns of those in opposition of the project.

Brookover laid out his reasons for voting against the development – including an ordinance declaring, “the proposed use shall not diminish the economic value of adjacent properties or the city as a whole.”

“This is what the staff says,” Brookover said, reading from a city staff-prepared recommendation, “and they’re doing the best they could.”  

He went on to quote the report, saying, “There is no indication that the proposed use would materially diminish the economic value of adjacent properties or the city as a whole. This is based on property values alone and does not include an assessment of any direct impacts to individual retail operations.”

“The reality is,” Brookover said, now using his own words, “our staff could not answer that question. And if our staff cannot answer that question positively, then I can’t answer that question positively. And for that reason, I cannot reasonably say that, ‘the proposed use shall not diminish the economic value of adjacent properties or the city as a whole.’”

Bacon took Brookover to task for diminishing the work of city staff, prompting an apology from Brookover and assurances that was not his intention or aim in his comments.

“I don’t want to insult the work of the people who did put in a ton of hours and that kind of thing to try to qualify the reason for your objection,” Bacon said to his colleague. “The objection is fine unto itself.”

Both Bacon and Brookover reminded those against the development that just because the vote went their way this time, it might not in the future.

“Be careful what you ask for,” Bacon said.

Public comment, again heavy, continued a trend that has brought business owners, their patrons and Bailey neighborhood residents out to numerous Planning Commission, DDA and City Council meetings. While there were several speakers in favor of the proposal, the majority were against the development.

ELi interviewed Young and Jeff Hank, attorney for Citizens to Protect East Lansing Access (CPELA), the group spearheading opposition to the project, earlier Tuesday (Oct. 17) to gauge their expectations for the Council meeting.

“Normal East Lansing residents are already struggling with the cost of living,” Hank said.  “Income tax, property taxes, groceries.” 

 Hank was particularly upset about what he called the “lack of financial analysis” of the tax subsidy proposed for the development. The subsidy, a payment in lieu of taxes or PILOT, would allow the developer to pay substantially less property taxes to the city than that which would normally be required.  

“There’s been no study to see how it would impact the city,” he said. “What I’ve looked at and what others are saying, it’s going to cost the city $15 million. It’s financially reckless and poor governance to jam this through. The Bailey neighborhood is against it. All of the surrounding neighbors don’t want it. Why would this city ignore, not balance the costs and benefits of it and see that the people are against [it].”

Hank also promised continued action by CPELA in the event the proposal was approved. He said the group was poised to take legal action and referenced community members who would seek to recall Council members who supported the project, as well as strong opposition to PILOT.

“Every single member [of CPELA] approves of workforce housing,” Hank said. “But you can’t destroy the character of the downtown doing it this way.”

Young was less willing to discuss plans if the Council vote didn’t go his way, but spoke about last-minute attempts to work with city administrators to adapt their initiative including adding parking spots to their development plan.

“We have a compelling case for affordable housing, which is desperately needed,” he said. “We haven’t changed our opinions or plans. It’s of great need. We don’t want to cloud it, it’s too great a cause. Our pledge has always been to work with, we met with the city last week to discuss creation of parking on the periphery of the development, up to 20 spots.”

Young told ELi he had heard that if the development wasn’t approved, a hotel might go into the space, a claim he made again during public comment Tuesday, and one repeated but not confirmed by several speakers, including Councilmember Gregg.

No matter what, the property is not expected to stay a parking lot. “I will say, the surface parking is going away,” Bacon said.

City Editor Lucas Day and Managing Editor Julie Seraphinoff contributed to reporting of this story.

Disclosure: The owner of the Peanut Barrel, Mike Krueger, who also owns Crunchy’s, sponsors ELi’s East Lansing Insider Saturday Mailer.