Ted Roudebush said he is unhappy that he now has to follow East Lansing’s rules.
Roudebush, who bought a house in DeWitt Township in 1995, now lives on land that is part of a 425 agreement between East Lansing and the township.
A 425 agreement allows local adjoining governments to agree to foster development on a shared piece of land, said Jim van Ravensway, East Lansing’s director of planning and community development.
“The land is in DeWitt Township, but there were developers that wanted to develop that land, but DeWitt could not provide services to them,” he said. “We will share the taxes with DeWitt Township. We banded together to allow development to occur.”
For the next 30 years, East Lansing will provide utilities such as water, sewer and garbage. DeWitt Township will get about 21 percent of the taxes East Lansing collects. At the end of that time period, the land is officially part of East Lansing and the city gets all of the taxes.
But not all of the 60 to 70 residents of the area are happy about the agreement.
“I don’t appreciate living in East Lansing and taking their rules,” Roudebush said. “I bought this house in DeWitt so I could live in DeWitt and have bonfires and parties and ride my snowmobile up and down the road.”
However, Roudebush said he realizes there are benefits to the agreement.
“I know my house is worth a lot more,” he said. “The property value goes up, but my recreational time takes a toll.”
Ted Staton, East Lansing city manager, said the city entered into the agreement for the more than 200 acres of land - which could eventually bring in several hundred thousand dollars in tax revenue - because of the city’s need to grow.
“We are landlocked and we are running out of land for growth,” he said. “We have enormous interest from people who want to be in East Lansing, and more demand than we had supply.”
In 1998, East Lansing entered into a separate 425 agreement with DeWitt Township for more than 900 acres of land.
DeWitt Township Clerk Diane Mosier said that land only had two residents on it and the township could have easily lost the land to East Lansing, because the residents could have signed their land over to the city.
“We were going to lose the land to annexing,” she said. “We saw some benefit to stopping the annexation process by doing a 425; certain property owners said if they wanted services they had no choice than to go with East Lansing.
“East Lansing stepped up to the plate and created a fair deal for residents in the area.”
East Lansing is planning on extending Coolidge Road, which currently dead-ends just north of Lake Lansing Road, to State Road, as well as extending Coleman Road to Abbott Road. DeWitt Township already approved a 600-unit manufactured housing site and a golf course on the land, which East Lansing accepted as part of the agreement.
“It is going to be a really diverse area,” van Ravensway said. “The land that goes across U.S. 127 is earmarked for offices, the rest is residential single-family homes and apartments until you get to Abbott Road, which will have some offices.”
