What do you get when you blend inane ordinances with inert development projects? A conflict that restricts the actualization of further development near campus.
The FarmHouse Fraternity is attempting to expand on its current location, 151 Bogue St., but is being stifled by a city ordinance that maintains all new buildings in the Bogue Street area reserve 50 percent of their first floor space for retail purposes. Created with the dormant East Village development project in mind, the ordinance is preventing the fraternity from beginning the project, as it only planned to reserve 25 percent of their floor space for retail.
Surely the fraternity only is attempting to get as close as possible to the city’s current expansionary vision when including retail space in their planning. What kind of retail items would a fraternity sell?
Tailgate T-shirts on football Saturdays? Would they install a convenience store next door? A Thai restaurant (those seem to be popular in East Lansing nowadays)?
What the fraternity wishes to do with its expansion is not the issue here. The issue is a defunct development project restricting actual growth outside of campus. When the project goes before the East Lansing Planning Commission this Wednesday, the committee should have no qualms about allowing this development to happen despite the fact that it doesn’t meet the city ordinance because the ordinance is no longer relevant to the area.
The East Village development project is now a pipe dream. Letting its specter continue to hover over a development project that actually could happen does more harm than good to the area.
There’s no current need for a mixed-use development project in that area. If the East Village project were resurrected, where would a mixed-use building along Bogue go? If it would replace Cedar Village, doing away with housing and adding retail, at a time where there is little demand for the latter and major demand for the former, is unnecessary. It’s not as if there is an abundance of planned development along Bogue Street; FarmHouse’s planned development isn’t interfering with any other planned development in that stretch.
The push for added retail space is also unnecessary. Bogue Street currently is doing just fine without added retail space; aside from the 7-11 on the corner of Bogue and Grand River Avenue, there’s no retail space at all on Bogue street.
So when the East Lansing Planning Committee looks at the planned development, the best solution to this is to just let FarmHouse Fraternity construct its addition to accommodate members and move on. Let those who want to develop the area do so unencumbered by an ordinance that is without purpose. The committee might also, in light of the lack of East Village development going on in that area, consider rescinding the ordinance altogether to prevent a scenario like this coming along again.
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