Trees Dominate Discussion at Planning Commission Meeting

Whether to permit an applicant to remove trees from a historic site was the hot topic of Wednesday’s (Feb. 28) Planning Commission meeting.

The meeting featured three public hearings, which addressed the trees, a bed and breakfast proposed for Grove Street and a city ordinance regarding solar power. 

Commission votes against allowing more tree removals on Saginaw Street. 

Twenty-seven standing trees and 10 that already had been removed without city permission at 120 West Saginaw Street were the subject of a public hearing. Larry Viles represented the property owners, George F. Eyde Family, LLC.

The property in question was designed by noted architect Minoru Yamasaki, the same individual who designed the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City. Previously home to the Michigan State Medical Society, the building is well-known by admirers of Yamasaki and the Modern Movement. It is a designated Michigan Historical Site and ranked among the National Register of Historic Places.

In July 2023, a resident called the city, complaining trees were being removed from the property. Cliff Walls, the city’s environmental sustainability and resiliency manager, responded. Walls was on hand to discuss the situation and the instances under which a tree can be approved for removal.

“It’s called the land clearing and tree removal permit,” he told the commission. “Ultimately, the role that I have and [the Department of Public Works] has is not to say if a tree belongs in a certain place or not, it’s an emergency bypass in case there’s an ice storm or an emergency declaration or infestation. Something where an applicant doesn’t want to wait two months to go talk to you guys and has a tree standing that could otherwise be a hazard. Those are the exemptions that we, as DPW, can provide. If it’s clearly dead and verified by us, infested and verified by us, an emergency declaration. But if a tree is to stay or not, it’s not DPW’s role.”

Approximately 10 white pine trees had already been removed by that point. If the city chooses, Walls said, it could levy a $38,000 fine against the LLC, or require them to replace the trees.

Viles applied for the permit and was denied, not meeting the criteria Walls outlined above.

“In discussions and in permit paperwork,” Principal Planner Landon Bartley wrote in his report presented to the commission, “the applicant stated that they believed the trees to be actively dying or infected with disease. The City’s contracted arborist found this to not be the case. Staff did note two declining or dead trees that could be exempted from the tree removal ordinance.”

Viles presented a landscaping plan to the commission, flipflopping during the meeting, at points asking the body to delay its decision and later asking them to give their verdict that night. Because City Council approval isn’t needed, the decision did lay entirely with the Planning Commission.

During the hearing, East Lansing resident Joshua Ramirez-Roberts was the only citizen to rise to speak.

“We do not have to be an arborist to come to the understanding,” he said, “to come to the conclusion that cutting down 27 native trees…will negatively impact wildlife. That is inherent in the very act itself. We’ve all read The Lorax, we know what happens. It is 70 degrees in February, guys! Do we want to consider chopping down more trees? And although the landscaping plan should not come into this because it’s not one of the requirements mentioned under the ordinance, when we are thinking about landscape re-mitigation and the trees being added, the trees being added, they are minor landscaping shrubs that are non-native, they are heavily pruned, heavily trimmed. Keep in mind, these will not be adult trees as outlined in the landscaping plan. When we’re thinking about cutting down these trees and possible re-mitigation efforts, these are not things that will take weeks to replace, months to replace. These are adult trees that have been there for decades. These will take decades to replace.”

Commissioner Dave Chapin moved to allow the remaining trees (and, retroactively, the ones that had already been felled) to be cut. Commissioner Chuck Overbey seconded the motion.

“Coming at this as a historic preservation professional, part of a structure’s historic designation is its context, including landscaping,” Commissioner Chelsea Denault said during discussion. “This structure’s recognition on the national register is not just for the building itself, it is the context of the building, the land on which it sits, its surroundings, the plantings around it. We don’t know that these trees were not part of Yamasaki’s intention and I think making substantial changes to the context in which the building sits, I won’t go to the extent to say that it undermines the building’s historic integrity, but it changes the context of that historic structure and the way it interacts with the plantings around it and that is the national register criteria for historic buildings.”

In the end, Commissioners Chapin, Overbey, and Matt Boyd voted for approval, Commissioners Denault, Thomas Hendricks, Lauren LaPine, Cynthia Williams, and Joseph Sullivan each voted against the removal of the trees, making the vote 5-3 against.

City solar ordinances may need an update. 

A public hearing considered Ordinance 1530, a proposal to amend the Zoning Ordinance, clarifying requirements for solar panels, lighting and more.

“It began with questions about solar energy and solar power in the city,” Bartley said, “with the seemingly artificial threshold of 15 kW.”

He was referring to a 2013 ordinance limiting solar power installations. The Zoning Board of Appeals has already approved two variances to local churches exceeding the 15 kW threshold.

Kobi Sunday, an Intern with the Planning, Building, and Development Department, assisted Bartley in preparation of the proposed measure.

“The solar ordinances were super forward thinking for their time,” Sunday said, “but a couple projects and a staff review of the code kind of flagged that area as something that needed updating. The primary change is removing the 15 kW distinction between personal scale and utility scale. [The] language now in various cities across Michigan, [it’s] pretty standard for it instead to be defined as accessory use and primary use.”

The new ordinance would do just that, eliminating the limit and differentiating between solar installations serving as primary sources of electricity and accessory sources.

The proposal also places limits on outdoor lighting and electronic display signs, requiring, in part, that signs “be equipped with [a] light sensor to detect ambient light conditions and automatically adjust.”

As is practice, Ordinance 1530 will be revisited by the commission at its next meeting.

Grove Street B&B proposal makes its way back to the Planning Commission. 

The final hearing revisited a topic familiar to the commission, the rezoning of 730 Grove Street for use as a Class-B multiple family dwelling or in this case, a bed and breakfast. Owner Michael Zawacki has already been through this approval process once before, winning the recommendation of the Planning Commission but not receiving approval from Council.

Zawacki is restarting the process, this time offering six conditions he hopes will appease the city government:  the property will only be used as a non-owner-occupied bed and breakfast or inn, each floor can be rented separately or as a whole house, a free-standing sign won’t be larger than 10 square feet, if the property is not used for a bed and breakfast it will revert back to current zoning, conditional zoning would follow the property if it’s sold and the property can be inspected annually.

While the commission did not hint at their stances, two residents of the neighborhood showed up to offer their continued opposition.

A pair of committees are being developed, and the planning department adds a staff member. 

Outside of the hearings, Bartley gave a brief staff update, identifying that committees studying mass timber and a comprehensive plan update were being assembled. He also said the Michigan State Housing Development Authority has awarded a $50,000 grant to the city under its housing readiness incentive program for the city’s comprehensive plan.

Bartley announced new Associate Planner Grace Whitney had started earlier in the week, previously holding the same position in Dexter and Canton Township. His final announcement was that a Glenncairn overlay hearing that was supposed to be held at the March 5 City Council meeting has been delayed. The hearing will be held April 9, according to the City Council agenda.

The next meeting of the Planning Commission is scheduled Wednesday, March 27 at 7:00 p.m. at the Hannah Community Center.