Fearing noise, traffic congestion and parking troubles, some East Lansing residents are taking a stand against a proposed student-apartment complex on Michigan Avenue.
Blueprints for a 222-resident complex at 1153 Michigan Ave. were unveiled Wednesday at an East Lansing Planning Commission meeting. The commission will recommend a decision to the East Lansing City Council later this month. Once the recommendation is submitted, the council will decide whether to grant the permit.
The plans were greeted with disapproval from residents who ambushed the meeting in hopes of bringing plans to a halt.
“It’s a nice little bubble where we live,” said Randy Beaudry, one of the dozen East Lansing residents who testified at the meeting. “We like each other, we know each other and every time something new comes along we get upset, and reasonably so.”
East Lansing resident Steve Boucher shared the anger with his neighbor, saying that building the complex would be threatening to his comfort zone.
“Noise pollution is already bad enough as it is,” he said. “I hear the students slamming their doors and honking their horns. This is not going to be healthy for the people in this community and I know it won’t be healthy for me.”
The proposed complex would be near The Oaks apartments, 136 Reniger Court, on the south side of Michigan Avenue.
The project’s developer, Campus Village Properties, has filed an application to move into town on one other occasion. The city council voted 3-2 to deny that request because of concerns about the size and commercial aspect of the building.
But the new design lives up to the council’s suggestions and is similar to other new apartments in Greater Lansing, said Ernest Schaefer, president of the apartment group.
The plans call for “very nice, up-scale apartments,” he said, noting that its quality is “something that you usually can’t get close to campus.” Even though there is enough rental space in the area to house the entire MSU community, Schaefer said a need for improved living quarters remains.
“Unless you continue to upgrade, you get degradation of housing stock, which is what is happening now at MSU,” he said before the meeting. “The new entities force the others to upgrade.”
Plans for the complex include the construction of two three-story buildings, one with apartments and the other would be a combination of apartments and commercial office spaces.
David Weight, Central Neighborhood Association co-president, asked city council Tuesday to deny the permit request.
Weight helped distribute a questionnaire to about 290 residents near the development site, excluding those in fraternities, sororities and apartments. Of the questionnaires returned, Weight said 85 percent said a student-housing development would not be acceptable. The main concerns were an increase in traffic, lack of parking and noise and misuse of the property by students.
“The overwhelming feeling of this neighborhood is that we don’t want any more student housing,” said Nick D’lsa, co-president of the neighborhood association.
Kendra Snyder can be reached at snyderk6@msu.edu.
