“I’m concerned we’re setting some kind of precedent the city does not have to have as nice plans as other (developers),” DeVooght said, calling the plan “shoddy” and “incomplete.”

These concerns were echoed by other commissioners throughout the meeting, who said the city’s plan was not as detailed as possible.

“The plans presented to us are inadequate,” Commissioner Dale Springer said.

By the time the vote came, Springer said, “I have done an about-face.”

He voted in favor of approval.

The contrast between skepticism and the eventual approval was because of the customizable nature of the project – many details about the individual homes weren’t available because the homebuyer would be able to customize at the time of purchase.

The project will replace 72 renters with 16 homes and 15 townhouses, all to be filled by permanent residents.

The city shut off utilities at 648, 643 and 619 Virginia Avenue, in addition to 1365-1637 Snyder Road and a duplex at 608 Virginia Ave., which is attached to 1363 Snyder Road. This allowed the properties to be declared blighted by the city’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.

Because the properties were blighted, the project qualified for Brownfield funding. But this blighted designation is different than the one given to the East Village, which is home to the Cedar Village apartments, among others.

“It falls under different legislation,” said Tim Dempsey, East Lansing’s community and economic development administrator. “The blighted criteria for Brownfield development is much lower.”

The properties were blighted by the city’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, not the state.

“We’re capturing what’s defined as local taxes under the Brownfield plan,” Dempsey said. “We do not capture any local school district taxes or state taxes.”

The city captured future city tax revenues, as well as taxes from Lansing Community College, the Capital Area Transportation Authority, Ingham County and the Ingham Intermediate School District, raising more than $1.7 million through the capture.

Project funding from the capture essentially is an advance of funding based on the future tax value of the properties after redevelopment.

The total annual tax revenue from the properties to be redeveloped is more than $85,000, based on the Dec. 31, 2006, tax collection date.

After the redevelopment project is completed, the total annual tax revenue from the properties is estimated to be more than $150,000, according to city documents.

The $1.7 million advance is scheduled to be paid back to the sources from which the city captured taxes to fund the project during the next 20 years.

No new tax revenue will be deposited into the city’s general fund until the captured taxes are paid back.

_Ryan Beene can be reached at beenerya@msu.edu