The $375,000 offer for property at 2000 Merrill Road has been in negotiation since April, said Kris Berglund, a co-owner of Working Bugs LLC. Spartan Technology Development LLC acts as a real estate holding company for various business, including Working Bugs LLC, which produces biochemical products for various industries using fermentation, said Berglund, who spoke at Tuesday’s work session.

The main issue with the agreement was over the planned green space between the property to be bought and the remaining parcels retained by the city.

Both parties have agreed on a 75-foot buffer for drainage with an additional 20 feet of greenery between parcels, which will be owned by the city, Tim Dempsey, director of planning and community development said. The agreement is satisfactory for the city and is a good solution for unused land, he said.

“They would prefer to own (the buffer), but it’s a solution that ultimately achieves what we need,” Dempsey said.

Although the process of acquiring the property has taken longer than desired, the final agreement is positive, Berglund said.

“Our company needs this space,” he said at the work session. “We’re expanding and we (would) like to do this as soon as possible.”

With council’s approval at the work session, the agreement will be decided on at a future council meeting, Dempsey said.

“This has been … kind of a lengthy process, but it’s a complicated piece of property,” Dempsey said at the work session. “We are at the point where we’re ready to move forward.”

Council also agreed to meet next week at a special session after its quarterly meeting with the East Lansing School Board to finalize a resolution regarding the Michigan/Grand River Avenue Corridor. Council will meet after the 5:30 p.m. school board meeting at City Hall.

The council discussed a resolution of support for the Bus Rapid Transit option for improving the corridor at its Tuesday’s work session but concluded it did not feel ready to support the proposed plan.

A study outlining various options for improved transportation in the area recently was released and recommended the modified Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, alternative as the most feasible option in terms of cost and value.

The revised resolution, to be sent to the Capitol Area Transportation Authority, would reiterate concerns that have been stated since the beginning stages of the study and request further research into those concerns in the next 30 days, City Manager Ted Staton said.

City and MSU officials are concerned with both the preservation of medians on Grand River Avenue and the maintenance of eastbound left turns into downtown East Lansing, he said. City council also is concerned with the funding for the design stage of the project, the impact on taxpayers and any negative and positive consequences from implementing the BRT plan, Staton said.

By asking for an additional 30 days, the council is not making a definitive decision on the issue, Mayor Vic Loomis said. The council should not feel pressure to make a hasty decision if there still are unresolved issues, he said.

“We’re not saying, ‘No,’ (and we) haven’t said, ‘Yes,’” he said.

East Lansing is leading the way in terms of getting information out to the community and all parties involved in the area, he said.

“I don’t think any other government entity has done what we’ve done with dissemination of information,” he said. “We’re doing what we should be doing.”

Council also reviewed the city’s annual audit and quarterly financial report.

The mandatory audit was completed successfully and without issue, Finance Director Mary Haskell said. The audit was completed by Plante & Moran PLLC and members of its staff presented the information.

“We are very pleased to have the audit done,” Haskell said. “We had a clean audit.”