No Decision Made by Council on 530 Albert Ave. Project

Those hoping a decision would be made on the proposed construction of affordable housing at 530 Albert Ave. at the Tuesday (Oct. 3) City Council public hearing had their hopes dashed before discussion even began.

When the time came to approve Tuesday’s meeting agenda, which included another public hearing on the proposed project, Mayor Ron Bacon said a final decision would be delayed until “date certain” Oct. 17 (the next regular City Council meeting). Also delayed was a decision on a related proposal to provide 130 parking spaces to tenants and employees of the proposed housing structure.

Council also discussed a second related proposal for the developers of 530 Albert, one to approve payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) instead of standard property taxes. The payment would be equal to four percent of annual contract rents. The potential ordinance required a first reading at the meeting but a decision was also deferred to Oct. 17.

Several of the community members giving testimony at the hearing were business owners who have spoken out at past meetings, including Al Bay of the Wild Goose Inn, Dave Bernath of Flat, Black and Circular (both against the construction) and Roy Saper of Saper Galleries (in favor of the construction). In all, 22 rose to speak during the hearing and 11 written pieces of communication were submitted before the meeting. Nearly 90 minutes were spent listening to public comment about the proposed development.

Some speakers openly wondered if the vote on the issue was delayed because of Councilmember Dana Watson’s absence and expressed frustration with the Council. While Council could have voted on the issue at the meeting despite the public hearing, they opted to delay the action. (It is standard practice of the Planning Commission to delay action on an issue until the meeting that follows a public hearing.)

“We need to all come back on Oct. 17,” Dudley Smith said. “We need to not give up in making it well known to this council that this is one of the least popular proposals to come before them in a long time. And that happens when we show up and we speak and when we give our mind to this council. Oct. 17, right? Now, 900 signatures is significant.”

“I think besides this being obviously unpopular, the other points I wanted to make, I don’t want anybody to think that us here are against low income housing,” Smith said. “I think it’s a thing we need in this community, and probably every community in the country needs more of. If we can turn a parking lot into low-income housing, why can’t we take a few old rental houses, turn that into low-income housing?”

The 900 signatures Smith mentioned were collected on behalf of Citizens to Protect East Lansing Access, an organization formed by those opposing the proposed development and represented by Attorney Jeffrey Hank.

Sally Potter reflected on her own time on the 500 block while also sharing the experience of a business owner on the block.

“I’ve been going to the Peanut Barrel since 1984,” Potter said. “Rodeo [burger] medium well, cheese on rye and fries – sometimes a basket. In January of 2012, Benjamin, his friends call him BJ, gathered up his wife and three daughters and left home in South Korea in search of a better life and new opportunities. He landed in East Lansing and in 2014 bought what is now Sushi Ya. He chose the location based on its proximity to MSU and the plentiful backside parking, which he knew were the most important factors to his restaurant.

“I owned a used sporting goods store across from Frandor for 15 years,” Potter said. “The only reason it survived was parking. I’m now the general manager of the Eastside Lansing Food Co-Op in the 1600 block of Kalamazoo. The only reason it survives is parking. Parking is everything. Don’t think it’s not. Midwesterners do not use parking ramps.”

Potter wasn’t the only one to speak out about their uneasiness of the parking ramps.

“I want to address the fact that I’m senior, if that isn’t obvious,” Rebecca Freier said. “I’m a woman, and my knees don’t work out. My hips have osteoporosis. And where I bought a house in Bailey when I returned to East Lansing in 2001, I returned here for the sense of community. And when I put in my offer on my house, one thing I said to the realtor was, ‘now I’m going to walk from here to the Beggar’s Banquet and see how long that takes and then I’m going to walk to the Peanut Barrel to see how long it takes to get home from there.’

“Now that was in 2001,” Freier said. “Lots happened in 22 years and I can’t walk as much as I would like to. So I think we need to think about people. A community, I don’t care where it is, is nothing without its people, without its residents, and I am not going to go in a parking ramp at this point in my life. I don’t feel safe in there. I’m not going to carry a baseball bat to protect myself. I don’t know who’s going to be on the elevators. I just will not use ramps. I won’t.”

Project supporters were also on hand to speak.

While in the minority, the proposed development did have supporters. Among them was Michigan State University faculty member Josh Vermaas.

“We need affordable housing and we especially need it at that site near downtown,” Vermaas said. “It’s within walking distance to a lot of employers. So MSUFCU has their new big downtown office building there, there are going to be other big downtown office developments in that downtown area, including things that already exist. Also, you can’t ignore that MSU is right across the street over on Grand River. Like, you can do a lot without a car if you happen to live there, right? The Target [is] right down the street to go get your groceries [and] all that good stuff. There’s even Campbell’s Market like right across the alley. Those are like the strongest reasons why you absolutely need affordable housing right there.”

Vermaas said the other point he likes to stress is that not everyone at MSU is a student.

“There are plenty of other folks who I work with, I’m a faculty member at MSU, who don’t make as much money as I do,” he said. ”And currently I can tell you where all the people I work with live. Many of them don’t live in East Lansing because they can’t afford it, and those that do live in East Lansing live really far away because that’s all they can actually afford. Having more options that are close to downtown, I think is going to be good.”

Bob Metzger, a member of the family that owns the portion of the parking lot proposed for redevelopment, spoke of the process they had experienced and the firm they had contracted with.

“In mid-2022,” he said, “[the] Metzger-Fabian family met with city representatives and discussed plans for the property. The city shared that it would not enter into another long-term lease with us and were most interested in the lot being developed by us or by a new owner. Following the meeting, the City Council approved staff moving forward on a short term 12-month lease at the regular meeting on August 16, 2022. Following that, the Metzger-Fabian family discussed it and were not interested in developing the property ourselves.”

Metzger recounted opening the bid process, receiving eight bids for the development. The family selected American Community Development, calling the company a “nationally recognized affordable housing developer with a track record of success.”

“Our family truly believes that development of affordable housing is one of the most important opportunities for our community in many years,” Metzger said. “We’re proud to be part of the project, to have American Communities Developments interest in being here. We’ve worked hard in the past year to have a developer capable of developing a project that supports the interest of redevelopment in the city and benefits the community as a whole. We hope you agree and we hope this opportunity moves forward.”

Council meets on Tuesday (Oct. 10) for a discussion-only meeting, but is expected to vote on 530 Albert Ave. at the Oct. 17 gathering.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:01 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, to reflect the correct spelling of Rebecca Freier’s name and to correct and clarify that City Council could have held a vote on the 503 Albert Ave. proposal after the public hearing portion of the meeting.