While several aspects of the Avondale Square project were unanimously approved by the East Lansing City Council at its meeting Tuesday, the ordinance to contract rezone 0.55 acres of vacant land was denied by a 3-1 vote.
The proposed rezoned land, which was part of the West Village project, was intended to be a five-story Residence Inn hotel, with the first floor to be used as retail space.
“I believe there is a need for an extended stay inn in the area,” said Mayor Vic Loomis, who voted in favor of the ordinance. “I’m sure it (would) be successful.”
Councilmember Kevin Beard said he voted against the hotel because of the constraints the rezoning would place on the building.
“If it couldn’t be used for hotel use, (the owner) would be prohibited from using the fifth floor under the contract rezoning,” he said.
Beard also said he was uncomfortable because it was the city’s first real encounter with contract rezoning.
The request for the city to purchase about 20 feet of land from the owner at 637 Virginia Ave. also was approved by the council. The property will be used to construct the west alley in the Avondale Square project.
This agreement will leave the owner without access to his garage, and so the city is compensating him.
“We put together a package where he’s going to be able to build a new garage,” said Stephanie Gingerich, community development analyst for East Lansing. “It integrates him into the new development.”
The council was not clear on whether the owner was aware of some of the restraints that would be placed on him by living in the middle of this project, and requested that they would be given to him in written form.
“We consider (the project) to be in phase one of construction, which includes the first 11 lots,” Gingerich said. “We’d like to have more of those under construction — we have two sold, and two in the pipeline to be sold.”
The council also began discussions on the development agreement for City Center II. However, they did not reach an agreement as of press time.
The very first draft of the development agreement was put together about six months ago, said Jim van Ravensway, director of planning and community development for East Lansing. The first actual draft was prepared about a month and a half ago.
“We really couldn’t get it down until the site plan was approved by city council,” he said. “That helped us define what the project was going to be.”
Even when the development agreement is approved, there will still need to be many addendums added before the project can be finalized, including financial issues and land disposition, van Ravensway said. If an agreement between the developer and the city is not reached on these addendums, the development agreement will terminate on Oct. 1.
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