Several East Lansing City Council members and residents bickered back and forth over possible improvements to East Grand River Avenue on Tuesday night, but councilmembers OK’d parts of a plan to make the busy street more pedestrian friendly.
Improvements to the avenue, from Bogue Street east to the city limits, are set to include pocket parks, irrigated lawns, expanding sidewalks by 3 feet to 8-foot-wide sidewalks and a pedestrian-activated crossing signal at Stoddard Avenue. The plan, estimated at $550,000 was unanimously approved by the council, even to the dismay of some residents.
A plan to install a roundabout at Hagadorn Road was rejected, as was the possibility of installing a boulevard.
The council approved a plan calling for decorative paving, marked crosswalks and further study of the roundabout at Hagadorn Road. A new pedestrian “refuge” island could be placed across from Brookfield Plaza in the center lane in the future.
Engineering Administrator John Matuszak said pedestrian safety is the key reason for making improvements, but beautification also played a role in proposing the improvements.
“The appearance is not that great right now - the lawn areas and the general aesthetics,” he said, adding pocket parks and irrigated lawns will help the problem.
Safety also is an issue at the intersection with Hagadorn Road, a report issued by the transportation commission said. The report cited 33 vehicle crashes there each year, the highest such number of any city intersection.
The council also agreed to discuss a land-sharing agreement with Meridian Township over land in the northwest corner of the township at next week’s work session. If approved, both municipalities would tax the roughly 90 acres located at the northeast corner of Lake Lansing Road and Abbott Road that stretches north to the East Lansing Aquatic Center, 6400 Abbott Road, said Robert Owen, planning and zoning administrator
The possible agreement comes after a Meridian Township property owner filed a petition calling for annexing 32 acres into East Lansing. The vote would have been held in August, but to curtail further boundary problems between the city and its neighbors, East Lansing would agree to share taxes with the township by opting to annex the land now.
