Officials: East Village vision not set in stone

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Tweet East Lansing officials say some landowners and fraternities have misconstrued the overall intent of the East Village Master Plan, which establishes a guideline for future redevelopment in the Cedar Village area.

The planning commission will review the plan at its Dec. 14 meeting.

"We've kind of broken it up to take the different parts of it and address them individually," commissioner Matt Mitroka said. "We're looking at the introduction and goals."

The 35-acre area, designated blighted by the city in 2000 and again in 2004, is located south of Grand River Avenue and extends to the Red Cedar River and between Bogue Street and Hagadorn Road.

Mitroka also said the community is slightly misguided about the city's plan.

"We want to see students stay where they are," he said. "We have slowed the process down, and we're taking everyone into account and trying to make a plan to work the best that it can."

Property owners and fraternities, who have opposed the master plan, are mistaking a visionary type of redevelopment plan for concrete blueprints, said Jim van Ravensway, East Lansing planning and community development director. The master plan is part of the city's larger comprehensive requirements for future redevelopment as properties are sold and rebuilt or redesigned, he said.

FarmHouse Fraternity, 151 Bogue St., launched a campaign almost two weeks ago against the plan, because the plan currently shows Dormitory Road being extended through the fraternity's parking lot.

"We own our house, we've done all the improvements on it and we have a vested interest in wanting to stay right across from campus," said Tom Campbell, spokesman for FarmHouse Fraternity and food industry management senior.

Van Ravensway said the city isn't planning to use eminent domain, which is the government seizure of private property for municipal use or economic benefit.

"Once a plan is adopted, if property owners want to redevelop, it has to be consistent with the master plan," van Ravensway said. "It only hinges on what property owners want to do."

The master plan instead makes a mold for the area — a look the city wants East Village to formulate into when properties are sold in coming years and new developers come in.

"Nothing will happen unless a developer wants to come in and develop property," van Ravensway said. "Then we have to make sure it's consistent with the master plan. We're trying to get ahead of the game and have a vision for the area."

Lori Mullins, senior project manager for the city's planning department, said the commission also will address questions regarding traffic information and university support for the plan.

The graphic renderings that show seven-story buildings bordered by Bogue Street and Grand River Avenue are used by the planning department to visually represent the master plan, or a vision for the area to be enacted through zoning ordinances and building codes, van Ravensway said. They don't represent a finished product and don't necessarily resemble what the area might look like in 20 years.

"We went to extend and prepare a rendering to say what (the master plan) could mean so that people will know what they're buying into," van Ravensway said.

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