Developer Seeks Rezoning of Grove Street’s North End to Allow Denser Housing
Local developer-landlord Hagan Realty is looking to rezone six properties on the north end of Grove Street and one property on Burcham Drive with the aim of allowing denser housing to be constructed in that location. The area in question is just to the east of Abbot Road and just to the west of East Lansing High School.
A public hearing was held during the Wednesday, May 10, East Lansing Planning Commission meeting to consider the matter. The Planning Commission is expected to revisit the matter on June 14 and, at that point, make a recommendation to City Council on the rezoning request. Council will make the final decision.
The seven properties – amounting to just under two acres – are located at 135 Burcham Drive and 709, 715, 725, 743, 755 and 765 Grove Street, all on the western side of Grove between All Saints Church’s property and Burcham Drive.
If the Hagan proposal is approved, the properties would change from an R-2 zoning designation to RM-32. The current zoning allows only for medium density single-family residences and the RM-32 status would permit “city center multiple-family residences.”
Taylor Van Winkle, associate planner for the City of East Lansing, told the commission what that means in practice.
“This doubles the allowed density from the current zoning district, which is R-2, which allows for eight units an acre to 16 an acre,” Van Winkle said. “It also allows for different types of housing – row houses and small to medium multiplex [apartment] buildings.
“The maximum height allowed in R-2 is 2.5 stories and the maximum height allowed in RM-32 is three stories. The maximum ground coverage allowed on R-2 is 40 percent and the maximum in RM-32 for ground coverage is 60 percent.”
Van Winkle also noted 709 Grove is part of the College Grove Historic District, so any substantial changes to the property (including demolition and rebuilding) would need to be allowed by the Historic District Commission.
During discussion, commissioners and Van Winkle frequently referenced the 2018 East Lansing Master Plan, which identified these parcels for R-4 zoning, a categorization that does not currently exist but is expected to be created in the future.
“The intent of this [R-4] land use category,” the Master Plan reads, “is to increase the variety of housing choices with a small-to-medium building footprint by allowing redevelopment at the same density as the Residential 3 Category through increased height as a bonus where it provides a transition between residential and commercial uses and between higher intensity multiple-family uses and single-family residential uses, but also have the flexibility to introduce low intensity neighborhood service type commercial land uses.”
Commissioner Chelsea Denault asked Kevin Hagan, who was on-hand representing Hagan Realty, why they weren’t applying for a change to R-4 zoning? Hagan pointed out that such a designation isn’t yet available in the city.
“At this time, we do not have a development planned,” Hagan also told the commission. “However, the type of structures we would consider would be similar to what you see in your packet in the R-4 with townhomes, row houses, small to medium multi-family structures.”
“You don’t have any plans in place?” Chair Joseph Sullivan asked. “Not one big place [or] a few smaller places?”
“It would not, in any circumstance that we’re aware of at this point, be one big building,” Hagan said, “you know, as far as some massive building.”
Hagan also noted his family’s connection to the community.
“We are a family business that has been around for a long time and, hopefully, we’ll be around for a long time,” he said. “[We] grew up on streets like Elizabeth and Snyder and Gunson, so we are well aware of the challenges that student housing, if it’s student housing or rental properties, can create.”
Residents submitting emails before the meeting and those who spoke at the hearing were largely against the zoning change.
The only support came from a letter from Kit Carlson, rector at All Saints Episcopal Church at 800 Abbot Road. The church’s property adjoins land that the Hagans are seeking to rezone.
“The Hagans have been in conversation with All Saints about their development plans,” she wrote, “and we have joined in the request with them because we think this is in the church’s best interest for the future. I hope you will agree to this rezoning request, knowing it has support from the neighbors to the immediate north.”
Several people against the rezoning are residents of the 600 block of Grove, directly south of the proposed rezoning.
Deborah Ann Stewart submitted a letter to the commission and also attended the meeting to read the letter into the record. (Read the letter here on page 59 of the agenda report.)
“As a…tax paying resident for 60 plus years and now a homeowner on the 600 block of Grove Street,” Stewart wrote, “I am directly aware of how, one-by-one, house-by-house, changing zoning from residential family single dwelling to multi units has changed the composition of Grove Street from a neighborhood with strength [and] balance to a street with blocks of non-neighborly activity in the 400 and 500 blocks, over time, fast becoming a student ghetto.
“The 600 block of Grove Street is an excellent example of community, as we have balance. There are seven family-owned homes. One is a third-generation family-owned-and-resided-in home, another a second-family-generation residence. Three of the homes have young children and one a high schooler. Three of the homes are owned by seniors living independently. Three homes are rental properties housing students. The balance allows us to know one another as neighbors.”
Stewart’s primary cause for concern was how added traffic from the proposed development north of Burcham Drive could affect the neighborhood. She, along with other letter writers, also advocated for the preservation of the home at 730 Grove Street, a residence designed by Frank Lloyd Wright-mentored architect, Alwin Dow.
The Dow home is not part of the rezoning request submitted by Hagan.
Art Brown, another resident of the 600 block, spoke about his experiences living with his young family in the neighborhood.
“My wife purchased the home in 2012 and, when she and I met in 2015, it was a very easy decision to choose to live in her home rather than mine in Mason,” Brown said. “A lot of the reasons for that are because of the walkability…proximity to libraries, schools, downtown, campus. And, as I quickly learned, the biggest reason why our block – our neighborhood – was the best choice for us is the neighbors that we have.
“Our fear is that if this proposal goes through, [it] takes away some single-family homes in the area, increases the density, will have increased foot traffic, increased street traffic that could detrimentally impact the safety of our children.”
Architect and retired Michigan State University faculty Tim Mrozowski also spoke against the rezoning, holding the podium for 20 minutes, despite the standing rule limiting public comment to five minutes per speaker. No commissioner attempted to take back the floor during the presentation of his “20 points.”
Mrozowski focused largely on what could happen if the parcels are rezoned as RM-32.
“[Hagan] has sort of implied something,” Mrozowski said, “but we have no guarantee” of a particular outcome. He noted “that the zoning runs with the property and it’s independent of any particular project so we have no idea. He says there’s no intent to merge the properties but maybe they could, so easily people could get together and merge the properties [to] make one larger parcel. It’s not inconceivable.”
Mrozowski also questioned the city’s Master Plan.
“The master plan is not a legal document,” he said. “It’s a guidance document, it’s not law.”
“Since 2018,” he continued, “a lot’s happened in our city. We’ve built a lot of housing. Is there a need for more housing? Maybe. I don’t know. Is this the right spot to put it? You’ve got quite a few properties along Grand River [Avenue] which I think in the next form-based code may be identified for housing, [so] why not put this housing closer to campus? Why do something that will impact the neighborhoods potentially very negatively? Why not put it in other areas so we’ve had a lot of new housing built since the plan was developed? We have a complete[ly] new city council who apparently wants to rearrange all of city government.”
At one point, Mrozowki mused that All Saints Episcopal Church could erect a six-story building on its land if they desired to do so.
His main contention, however, was that this change could result in an increase in inebriated college students making their way through the neighborhood if any future housing on the parcels were intended to house students.
Toward the end of his testimony, Mrozowski asked the commissioners if they had questions for him. Sullivan posed one.
“I think you did a good job outlining all the possible negative developments that could be built here,” he said. “Is it possible…that there could be something put here that would be beneficial to the community, that would bring new people in, new families in? And I know you talked about the number of people walking back from the bar, due to the rezoning. But I don’t see there’s any guarantee here that this is going to be students [living there], right?”
“Well, it depends,” Morozowski said. “Under RM-32, he could build single-family dwellings. That would be a plus. Like what was done over by Marble [Elementary] School [in the Avondale Square neighborhood]. That could be done. So yeah, I might support that, depending on what those are. I’ll give you that one.”
The Planning Commission’s next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 14, at the Hannah Community Center. The commission will likely decide at that meeting whether to recommend to City Council approval of this rezoning request.
Disclosure: Dustin DuFort Petty (the author of this report) is a member of All Saints Church. Hagan family members have been donors to East Lansing Info (ELi) as have some of the people weighing in on the rezoning request and some of the people on Planning Commission.