Council Talks Flooding; Defers Discussion on Charter Committee

East Lansing City Council members acknowledged the harm caused by flooding at the July 23 City Council meeting, but a solution to the problem still seems far away. 

In 2022, it was explained at a meeting that the city’s sewer system is being overwhelmed by large storms. When the system was built, it was only expected to be overwhelmed by storms that happen in 10% of years, but because climate change is making severe weather events more common, the system is becoming overwhelmed more often. Recently, there was widespread flooding twice in three weeks. 

There has been little indication that renovations to the sewer system large enough to make a considerable difference are on the way. As was explained in 2022, these renovations would be incredibly expensive. At Tuesday’s meeting, Councilmember Erik Altmann confirmed this challenge remains. 

“If you’re talking about sewer capacity, it’s probably hundreds of millions of dollars to reengineer our sewer system,” Altmann said. “That’s a guess, I’m not an engineer. But it’s a lot of money.”

Altmann said a survey the city is doing to identify the areas impacted by flooding is important, but it is part of the planning process. Repairs to the system itself will be expensive. He floated the idea of charging residents another utility fee to pay for repairs. 

“Ann Arbor has one [stormwater utility] but that’s in limbo, is my understanding, because the state is still trying to decide whether stormwater utilities should be legal,” Altmann said. “We may end up with another utility that collects money to do things that we need to do, like deal with stormwater.

Altmann went on to say the city will have to approach development differently in the future to accommodate the changing climate. He said we have too much impermeable surface and that more green space to absorb water is needed. Additionally, he mentioned having less parking with developments, more wetland protections and requiring more trees could be helpful. An effective strategy would require revisions to the zoning and building codes, Altmann said he believes.

“Part of me wants to put a moratorium on new development in the city until we know what we can do to improve stormwater management on new sites,” Altmann said. 

City Manager Robert Belleman said the city is planning to hold a Wet Weather open house soon. This event will have engineers speaking to residents about their experiences with flooding, with the goal of creating a report to be presented at the Sept. 10 discussion-only City Council meeting. 

Belleman said the city is considering holding the event Aug. 15, but a definite date will be announced later on. 

Discussion on charter amendment committee deferred. 

City Council is in the process of selecting members to serve on a committee that will spend a year reviewing the city charter – the document that provides foundational guidelines on how the city operates. 

While the scope of the committee will be limited, there is great interest in amending the charter and the work the committee will eventually do. Earlier this month, Mayor George Brookover announced his preferred committee members. Council was slated to discuss Brookover’s recommendations at the July 23 meeting and vote on committee members at its next meeting, however the discussion was tabled. 

“Candidly, this sort of got by me,” Brookover said when council reached the agenda item concerning the committee. “I’m prepared to just table that until our next regular meeting.”

Council then unanimously passed a motion to defer the item, without discussion.

Brookover’s recommendations for the committee include Diane Goddeeris, Jonathan Forman, Jeffrey Hank, Veronica Wilkerson-Johnson, Jill Rhode, Ruben Martinez and Pam Weil. Brookover also recommended that Goddeeris, a former East Lansing mayor, serve as committee chair. 

The discussion is now scheduled to take place at council’s next meeting on Aug. 13. It is unclear if a vote on the committee will also happen at that meeting, or if a decision will be pushed back to the following meeting.

“As I understand it, there’s not a definitive answer to that question,” East Lansing Communications Director Carrie Sampson responded when asked if council will vote on a committee at its next meeting. “ It will depend on what Council chooses to do at the August meeting. They could either have discussion and vote or choose to wait to vote at their next regular meeting, which would be Sept. 3.”

Developer made improvements to proposed gas station but council isn’t sold yet. 

In January, Council rejected a proposal from American Gas & Oil to replace the Marathon gas station and convenience store at the corner of Abbot Road and Saginaw Street.

Council raised concerns about the aesthetics of the proposal, voicing displeasure with a berm facing Saginaw being eliminated and the gas station being moved closer to the road. Additionally, some members said they would like to see an electric vehicle charger at the site. 

The developers returned at the July 23 meeting with a revamped proposal. In April, the Planning Commission recommended this plan in a 6-1 vote. 

This iteration includes an electric vehicle charger, a screening wall on the northwest side of the property, more stormwater management infrastructure and increased green space. 

Still, some council members had pause about the project. Concerns included the wall on the property not being maintained in recent months and renderings not giving a full picture of the project. 

Council did not take action on the proposal at the July 23 meeting. The topic will return to council at its next meeting on Aug. 13. 

Council rejects Memorandum of Understanding with DDA for new executive director. 

Members of council did not approve of the terms outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the city and Downtown Development Authority (DDA) that outlined proposed hiring and management guidelines for a DDA executive director. The executive director position is in the process of being created.

The MOU essentially was a plan outlining how a DDA executive director would be hired, how the position will be paid for and who the employee would report to. The DDA unanimously supported the drafted MOU.

However, Altmann and Councilmember Mark Meadows raised concerns about the structure violating the city charter. The council members were worried that the MOU would give responsibilities to the DDA that the city manager should hold. 

City Attorney Tony Chubb said there was “balancing” when creating the MOU. 

“There’s some difficulty when we tried to envision the MOU because there are certainly charter obligations under charter section 7.3 regarding the fact that as a city employee, they must report to the city manager, the city manager is the only one able to terminate them,” Chubb said. “At the same time, trying to create some level of autonomy for the DDA to appoint their director.”

Meadows said he could not vote in favor of the MOU because he believes it violates the charter. Brookover, who sits on the DDA board as mayor, said he disagrees and moved to table the topic until the next meeting. He also requested a letter from Chubb that more clearly breaks down the issues discussed. The motion was rejected in a 2-2, with Brookover and Mayor Pro Tem Kerry Ebersole Singh in favor, and Altmann and Meadows against. Councilmember Dana Watson was absent from the meeting. 

Without any other action on the topic, it will be reported to the DDA that council was unwilling to approve the MOU. 

Council declines to send Hagan Realty project to Planning Commission, despite warning from city attorney. 

Typically, when a development needs approval from the city, there will be a vote from council to send the proposal to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission will typically then hold a public hearing and vote on whether or not to recommend the project be approved. This process often includes feedback for the developer. The proposal will then go to City Council for another public hearing and a final vote. 

However, a request from Hagan Realty Inc for conditional rezoning that would allow it to construct a new housing project on Grove Street never got on the runway, as council declined to refer the project to the Planning Commission, a part of the process that is typically routine. The decision was made despite Chubb advising the Council send the project to the Planning Commission. 

The proposal was for a multi-family housing development on Grove Street that would fit 48 people. Kevin Hagan spoke at the meeting to say the project would be a mixture of one, two and four-bedroom units. Last year council rejected a rezoning request at the same site from Hagan Realty. The developers hoped the new proposal addressed past concerns.

Meadows said he wanted to see movement on other parts of the project that would need to be approved before taking action on a rezoning request. Altmann said he did not want to add more density to the area with the housing project. 

Chubb jumped in to say that council can ultimately vote against the proposal, but the city is in a “better spot” if that vote takes place after the Planning Commission weighs in. 

When asked to elaborate, Chubb referenced a recent Supreme Court ruling against a municipality that approved rezoning without it first going to the Planning Commission. 

“This would be the inverse, so it hasn’t been reviewed by a court,” Chubb said. “We would have the additional input of the Planning Commission prior to making that final determination is all I was saying.”

Meadows and Altmann voted against moving the request to the Planning Commission, while Brookover and Singh voted in favor. This means the rezoning request will not be sent to the Planning Commission.