Averill Woods Neighborhood Association
  • Home
    • Blog
    • Contact us
  • About Us
    • Boundary Map
    • Leadership Team
    • Accomplishments
  • School and Community Garden
    • Request Garden Plot
    • Garden Makeover April 21, 2012
  • Community Building & Beautification
    • Annual Rating of Elected Officials
    • Averill Park and Woods >
      • Averill Woods
      • Averill Woods Documentation Project
      • Borrow Tools
      • Free Home Repair and Maintenance Classes
      • Radon testing
      • Credit Counseling, Home buying, and Foreclosure prevention
      • Grow Food
      • Woods Clean-Up 2010 (May 22)
      • Woods Clean-up 2009 (November 14) >
        • Averill Woods "Before" Photos
        • Averill Woods Work Day Photos
        • Averill Woods "After" Work Day Photos
      • Woods and Garden Clean-up 2015
    • Candidates Night
    • Economic Development Efforts
    • Connecting Neighbors >
      • Neighborhood Garage Sale List
      • Lugnuts game
      • Block Party
    • Neighborhood Garage Sale
    • Events with Averill Elementary School >
      • Averill Family Reading Night
      • Fall Jamboree
      • Averill Elementary School Beautification Projects
      • Averill Elementary School Open House
      • Innovative Programs at Averill >
        • Spanish Immersion Program
        • Rosetta Stone Language Software
        • Media Center
        • Environmental Science
      • Keeping Healthy and Fit at Averill
      • Volunteering and Donating to Averill

New wrinkles in the Niowave situation?

4/23/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Lansing State Journal reports that the State of Michigan may return the tax abatement to Niowave, even if our City Council votes to repeal it for non-compliance.

The implication is that the State Tax Commission has taken away one tool that communities have to enforce businesses to comply with the agreements made with the community.

Bob Trezise of LEAP drops a bombshell

This new information was presented just hours before the special City Council Development and Planning (D&P) committee meeting last evening t4/22/2015 at 7:00 p.m. that was dedicated to the Niowave issue.  

Here is the information from Bob Tresize, who helped broker the initial agreement between Walnut neighbors and Niowave in an email dated 4/22/2015 2:46 p.m.:

Recently, the Lansing City Attorney’s Office was asked by Council President Houghton to examine the options that Lansing City Council has at its disposal in response to the written report about Niowave’s progress on their building. The Council has been exploring the possibility of revoking incentives related to the building, including the PA 328, a 100% personal property exemption. LEAP has recommended that Council not revoke this incentive.

The City Attorney now reports that the PA 328 law is silent on the issue of revocation.

The LEDC and LEAP’s interpretation of this silence has been and is that the incentive was and is revocable. All other incentives are revocable, so LEAP and, previously, the LEDC has been working under that same assumption for PA 328s. PA 328 agreements, along with revocation language, were routinely included in the city’s Universal Predevelopment Agreement for economic incentives. It is important to note, that these agreements all were reviewed and approved by a wide variety of city departments, as well as the State Tax Commission itself, which actually approves the incentive.

On Monday of this week, LEAP contacted the State Tax Commission for clarification of the PA 328 revocation issue. To our shock and disagreement, the State Tax Commission reports that, approximately two years ago, it reviewed a request for revocation by another community and decided, in that case, that it did not have the authority to revoke that particular PA 328. The city and LEAP were unaware of this position, because the State Tax Commission did not apparently make an overall policy decision. They simply noted that they do not have the authority to revoke and did not make an overall ruling. We do not recall any notifications or other statements about this from the State Tax Commission.

It is fair to say that, generally speaking, the economic development community and municipalities are not aware of this case or the precedent it appears to establish.

We strongly share your anticipated disappointment and anger by this turn of events. We strongly believe that all incentives, including PA 328s, should and can be revoked for good cause by a local community and the state. LEAP has recommended revocation of incentives, agreed to by the Lansing City Council, on several occasions, including incentive packages for OPRAs and PA 198s.

The issue could potentially be resolved at the state level. LEAP believes it is imperative that a local community have the choice to revoke an incentive. Though we would have disagreed with Council’s choice to revoke this particular incentive under this particular circumstance, it is nonetheless critical that a community have the right to make that choice of revocation if justified.

Bob Trezise, President and CEO
LEAP

Council President and Chair of Planning and Development Drops the Ball

Council members not on the Development and Planning (D&P) Committee and were in attendance at the meeting last night could not speak due to the failure of the D&P chair, Tina Houghton, to provide proper notice of a public council meeting in accordance with the open meetings act. 

Council member Jody Washington also pointed out a protocol error on the part of Houghton in this email from 4/13/2015: " I was not happy when I found out that Councilmember Houghton took it upon herself to negotiate an agreement [with Niowave]. She was out of line and that is not within her authority to do so."

Houghton was also scheduled to participate in the Current State radio program this morning, but was unable to be reached at the last moment. 

WKAR Interviewer Reports Frustration

WKAR interviewer Mark Bashore, spoke with Dale Schrader of Walnut Neighborhood Organization about the Niowave issue.

Both Bob Trezise (LEAP CEO) and Jerry Hollister (Niowave COO) declined t participate in the interview. Mark Bashore expressed surprise and frustration with the limited amount of information being provided by Niowave.

Council member Carol Wood determined to pursue options:

This was posted on her Facebook page today 4/23/2015:
To the Walnut Neighborhood Organization I am very upset over the revelations at last night’s Development & Planning Committee meeting. As of late it seems I doing a great deal of apologizing on behalf of Council to the community, but here we go again. Both Councilmember Yorko and I requested that this meeting be posted in a way that would allow you to hear any comments from any Council Members present with regards to Niowave but the posting of the meeting was done in a manner that did not allowed us the ability to speak to you during the meeting. Due to that I am including my concerns and recommendations below, because I do believe we as a Council DO HAVE OPTIONS.

I have a call into the State Tax Commission and will be requesting the informal opinion that was the bases for the City Attorney’s decision and will share that with you as soon as I have that.
I also believe that we as a Council should pass a resolution to revoke PA 328 Personal Property Tax Exemption based on the contract agreement between the City and Niowave and have the State determine whether it is valid or not.


City Council during the approval of the PA 328 Personal Property Tax abatement were told repeatedly by LEAP and the City Attorney’s office that we had the ability to rescind the abatement if Niowave fail to comply with the agreement. Based on this information Council approved the abatement and since this information now appears to false the approval of the resolution was based on false information and resolution should be declared not binding which would mean Niowave DOES NOT have a valid resolution for the State to issue the abatement.


LEAP is paid by the City of Lansing under a contract and has responsible to bear in this situation as well. Since their job is to be current on all matters dealing with economic development and in the memo from Mr. Trezise he states “approximately two years ago” the State made a decision there is liability on behalf of LEAP and they should be require to paid the lost revenue back to the City because of the erroneous information given to Council.
0 Comments

Live blogging from City Council Meeting 4/13/2015

4/13/2015

0 Comments

 
We have a pile of Southside folks at city council tonight.  A large group is here to oppose the rezoning of the EDS building. Even our zoning administrator and planning board director agree it is in consistent with our master plan. Council took notice. The owner of the property is speaking now saying that residents don't understand the situation and the building could be used for office buildings and retail space. NOTE: They do not need to rezone to use it for office and retail space. They only need the rezoning to be able to put the self-storage on the property which is the part residents oppose.

Several of us are also here representing neighborhood groups asking for CDBG funds to be restored for an independent neighborhood council.

Karl Biasi, one of the 3 remaining LNC board members and former president of Colonial Village Neighborhood Association spoke very passionately about how distressing this situation has been and how disappointed he has been in the city.

Below is my heartfelt statement about the LNC situation that our leadership team supported. I really had to hold back my tears.

Now I'm in tears again from the wonderful support that A'Lynne Boles, Carol Wood, and Jody Washington on the issue of rezoning.   They REALLY stood up for our Southside and refused to let us "settle."

A bunch of boring stuff now.

Oh! Brian Jeffries just got appointed to the parks board. Oops! President Houghton's Freudian slip. It was Brian Beverly that was appointed.


0 Comments

Council member Yorko advocates for budget amendment to enforce existing housing codes.

4/13/2015

0 Comments

 
Email from Jessica Yorko on April 10, 2015:


NOW IS THE TIME TO CONTACT ELECTED OFFICIALS ABOUT AMENDING THE BUDGET TO PROPERLY ENFORCE EXISTING HOUSING CODES.
 
BUDGET ADOPTION IS SCHEDULED FOR MAY 11, 2015 and....
 
You and others affected have an opportunity to speak up on these issues on Tues, April 14, 5pm at the Fire Department budget hearing at Foster Center Room 211, at other budget hearings, at “City Hall on the Road” onThurs, April 23, 6pm, 2500 S. Washington, and by emailing council@lansingmi.gov and mayor@lansingmi.gov.   
 
The Mayor's budget recommendation includes NO changes to code enforcement positions. What is needed is an additional SEVEN FTEs dedicated to rental housing inspections (in addition to the current 3.5 FTE dedicated for this purpose). Six votes of city council are needed to amend the budget and uphold mayoral vetos.
 
See attached comparison chart showing our code enforcement staffing levels. Ingham County is now 5th worst in Michigan for “severe housing problems.”
 
Under the current staffing levels:
 
a) We cannot increase rental inspection frequency from the current 2-3 years for each property to an annual inspection (as is the standard in EL and Meridian), so our housing inspection frequency, and quality, will continue to lag behind that of our neighbors.
 
b) Our code officers are not able to go back and visually re-inspect to ensure violations are corrected in rental housing, due to time restrictions. Instead, they accept a letter from the property owner stating that changes were made. This was reported on by City Pulse last year and has been confirmed by officers that they simply do not have time to re-inspect and this is the protocol, to accept a letter and "pass" the property for compliance.
 
c) Under the current staffing levels, we cannot adopt a process whereby the city would make corrections of unresolved rental property violations and charge the cost of those repairs to the property owner, which is common in other communities. We simply do not have the staff time to administer this process, which again, could pay for itself if admin fees were established and charged when such repairs need to be made by the city. BEING ABLE TO GET REPAIRS MADE IS VITAL TO PRESERVING OUR HOUSING STOCK!!!
 
d) Under the current staffing levels, we do not have the staffing support needed to create a landlord licensing program.
 
e) Under the current staffing levels, enforcement for premise violations (trash, grass, weeds, disabled vehicles) will always lag behind what it should be, because there is only one dedicated premise officer, and the other officers also handle numerous other responsibilities in addition to premise.
 
If fees for rental registrations and inspections were adjusted and/or a landlord licensing program were created to distribute the cost of this to the owners of rental property, the cost would be approximately $20/year in additional cost per rental unit to rental property owners.
 
Or increased fees could applied to properties with violations.
 
There are about 30,000 rental properties in Lansing.  $600,000 / 30,000 = $20.
 
If existing/established fees were being charged for re-inspection (which they aren't) and/or other fees were adjusted slightly, these staffing increase would not need to come from the city general fund.
 
Please take a moment to look at page 3 of the attached PDF and see what the fees and rules are in neighboring areas.

This means about $600,000 in budget amendments for this purpose that would have to supported by 5 members of council and upheld by 6 if the Mayor tries to veto.
0 Comments

Neighborhood Issues at City Council Meeting April 13, 2015

4/12/2015

0 Comments

 
Here is the agenda for the Monday April 13, 2015 Council meeting.

Date: Monday, April 13, 2015
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: Council Chambers, 10th Floor, City Hall.

ISSUES: There are 3 issues currently in play that neighborhood leaders and residents may wish to address. 
(1) Proposed budget for CDBG Fiscal year 2015.  In the past these funds were used to support the operation of an independent neighborhood council, among many other things.  The funds seem to have been diverted to a position within the city.  This hearing is an opportunity to request that those funds be returned to fund an independent neighborhood council as advocated for by Colonial Village Neighborhood Association. This is public hearing item number 1 on the agenda. Details below:
CITY OF LANSING NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ANNUAL CONSOLIDATED STRATEGY AND PLAN SUBMISSION AND ACTION PLAN PROPOSED BUDGET FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) FUND RESOURCES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016 The City Council of the City of Lansing will conduct a public hearing on Monday, April 13, 2015 at 7:00 P.M. in the City Council Chambers, 10th Floor Lansing City Hall, 124 W. Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI on the City’s proposed Annual Consolidated Strategy and Plan Submission which includes the budget for the use of Community Development Block Grant, HOME Program and Emergency Solutions Grant Program funds for the Fiscal Year starting July 1, 2015 and ending June 30, 2016. Copies of the proposed Annual Consolidated Strategy and Plan Submission and Annual Budget for the use of funds are available for review in the City Clerk’s Office and in the Development Office of the Department of Planning and Neighborhood Development and will also be available for review at the public hearing. All interested parties are invited to attend the public hearing. 517-483-4477. CHRIS SWOPE, LANSING CITY CLERK 
(2) Rezoning of the former EDS building from commercial to wholesale (Z-1-2015).  The Rejuvenating South Lansing group has analyzed the situation and is recommending against the rezoning. This is public hearing item number 2 on the agenda. Details below:
CITY OF LANSING NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Z-1-2015, 930 W. Holmes Road Rezoning from “F” Commercial District to “G-2” Wholesale District The Lansing City Council will hold a public hearing on Monday, April 13, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers, 10th Floor, Lansing City Hall, 124 W. Michigan Avenue, Lansing, Michigan to consider Z-1-2015. This is a request by DealPoint Merrill, LLC to rezone the property at 930 W. Holmes Road, excluding the area beginning at the front property line along W. Holmes Road, to a depth of 120 feet to the north and from the front property line along S. Washington Avenue to a depth of 80 feet to the west, from “F” Commercial District to “G-2” Wholesale District, with the condition that no fences will be constructed on the property. The purpose of the rezoning is to permit the building at 930 W. Holmes Road to be used for a “climate controlled self-storage and logistics facility” as well as retail and office uses. For more information please call Lansing City Council at 517-483-4177. If you are interested in this matter, please attend the public hearing or send a representative. Written comments will be accepted between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on City business days if received before 5 p.m., Monday, April 13, 2015 at the City Clerk’s Office, Ninth Floor, City Hall, 124 West Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI 48933 or email city.clerk@lansingmi.gov. Chris Swope, City Clerk 
(3) Rescinding personal property tax abatement for Niowave due to non-compliance with agreement. The Walnut Neighborhood organization worked with Niowave, and LEAP to negotiate an agreement which was a requirement of their receipt of the tax abatement.

Niowave has failed to comply with the agreement and the Walnut Neighborhood Organization is requesting support for this matter from council members. 
Given Niowave's continuing unwillingness to complete the FULL terms of its Sept. 2013 agreement with the neighborhood, we expect City Council to keeps its October 2013 agreement to RESCIND Niowave's tax abatement.
They are also requesting other interested neighborhoods to support their request during the "Public Comments" time at city council and/or at a special Development and Planning meeting scheduled Wednesday, April 22, 2015, 7:00 p.m., GLHC Neighborhood Empowerment Center, 600 W Maple.
HOW TO SIGN UP TO SPEAK: 
  • To speak on the first two issues sign up to speak under "Public Hearings".  
  • To speak on the third issue,  Niowave, sign up to speak under "Public Comments" at the end of the meeting.  
  • You must sign up at the beginning of the meeting on the forms by the door when you enter the room.
0 Comments

Colonial Village Neighborhood Association takes position on Neighborhood Council

4/12/2015

0 Comments

 
April 12, 20015 email received from Karl Biasi, former president of Colonial Village Neighborhood Association and former board member of Lansing Neighborhood Council:

"Shortly after the City took action to defund the Lansing Neighborhood Council I met with the Colonial Village Neighborhood Association Board.  They authorized the attached letter to support a city-wide neighborhood support group responsible to neighborhood organizations.  It was sent to City Council members at that time."

[Document below]
0 Comments

Walnut Neighborhood Organization queries Council Members on Niowave Vote

4/11/2015

1 Comment

 
Zoning issues in one part of the city can affect all of us. Neighborhood organizations try to support each other on these matters.  

The Northside neighborhoods were very support of our Southside neighborhoods when we were dealing with zoning about cell towers in our neighborhood. 

WNO is hoping that the Lansing City Council will remove Niowave's personal property tax abatement.

The tax abatement was given to Niowave on the condition that Niowave would fulfill a long-negotiated plan to improve their building facade to fit the character of the neighborhood.

Many believe the Niowave manufacturing facility was built in non-compliance with the residential zoning of the property and was built by mistake and overlooked by city zoning protocols.  

Niowave has recently discontinued its efforts to improve the facade as outlined in the original agreement. 

Therefore, WNO is polling city council members to determine if they are willing to revoke the personal property tax abatement:

Letter to City Council Members

From Walnut Neighborhood on April 11, 2015: "This email was sent to all Lansing City Council members last night.
So far one non-committal response from Judi Brown-Clarke."

Dear City Council Member,

As you may know, a special meeting for the Committee on Development & Planning has been set for Wednesday April 22, 2015 at the GLHC Neighborhood Empowerment Center at 7 PM.

On October 14, 2013 at both the Committee of the Whole Meeting and the City Council meeting, our neighborhood was assured by the City Council that the agreement that had been worked out between LEAP, EDC, Walnut Neighborhood and Niowave would be fulfilled or Niowave would have their Personal Property Tax Abatement rescinded. The vote from public record is as follows: Yeas: Council Members Boles, Dunbar, Houghton, Jeffries, Quinney, Washington, Wood, Yorko. This vote demonstrated your support for all neighborhoods not only Walnut.

Over the course of our struggle with Niowave we had received eleven letters of support from various neighborhood organizations as well as several other groups who came to City Council to voice their support over the many months it took us to hammer out the agreement approved by Council.

After receiving the final report from LEAP stating that the agreement was not fulfilled, we have patiently waited for the City Council to rescind the PPT Abatement with Niowave as promised. As you are fully aware, the agreement that was voted on by Council was worked out between Walnut Neighborhood Organization, EDC, LEAP and Niowave. Today, WNO was handed an agreement that was negotiated between Council Member Houghton and Mr. Hollister of Niowave and we STRONGLY disagree with the half measures proposed in the resolution.

Our first question is whether you will support the Neighborhoods in Lansing?

If so, then we ask you to vote “no” on the current resolution that was presented to the Committee of Development & Planning by Council Member Houghton.

Secondly, will you support to rescind the Personal Property Tax incentives to Niowave that this Council promised to do back on October 14, 2013?

Please email me back the answers to our questions of whether or not you would support the Lansing neighborhoods in this matter.

Thank you for your service on Lansing City Council.

Responses from City Council Members

Jody Washington of 1st Ward.

"I will be supporting whatever your neighborhood wants. I was not happy when I found out that Councilmember Houghton took it upon herself to negotiate an agreement. She was out of line and that is not within her authority to do so.
I will vote with whatever your neighborhood wants.
I will vote no on the current resolution, if that is what you want.
I will vote to rescind the personal property tax exemption, if that is what the neighborhood wants.
I am absolutely in favor of keeping businesses within Lansing. However, I am not in favor of businesses not being good neighbors.
I hope to see you at the meeting being held regarding this matter on April 22nd."
Jody Washington
Lansing City Council - 1st Ward


Carol Wood, At Large.
"As a member of City Council who has been part of this journey from the beginning it saddens me that we are at this place today. I believe after all that the neighborhood has had to endure and the endless negotiations in good faith with Niowave, LEAP, EDC and the City Council which allowed Niowave to have their abatement and would give the neighborhood something that they could live with we are now at this point. We have a half completed promise and new negotiations that did not include the very neighborhood that would have to live with the decision is not acceptable.
In an article from the Detroit Free Press dated October 12, 2014 it states: “Grimm and a group of private investors started Niowave in 2005. They moved the company into the former Walnut Street School building in north Lansing in 2006, added a research facility to the property in 2012 and broke ground on a $79-million isotope production facility near Capital Region International Airport last month. The company employs 70 people and expects to add 90 as operations ramp up at the isotope production facility over the next few years.”
I do not understand how this company can say they don’t have the funds to fulfill their commitment to the neighborhood. I have supported Walnut Neighborhood and the other neighborhoods in the city who stood with you on this issue and will continue to do so."
Carol
Carol Wood
Councilmember At-Large
517 483-4188 office
1 Comment

Rejuvenating South Lansing - Updates from March 24, 2015

4/8/2015

1 Comment

 
“REJUVENATING SOUTH LANSING”

Information Exchange For Problems & Solutions


March 24, 2015

Update information:


930 W Holmes (old EDS Building):

I attended the City of Lansing, Committee on Development and Planning on March 18th opposing the rezoning of Z-1-2015(Commercial) to G-2(Wholesale). Councilmembers Tina Houghton is Chair, Judi Brown Clarke, Vice Chair; and Vincent Delgado, Member.

The business owner is in CA and the developer is from Detroit. The plan is to open a self-storage business with truck rental and possible retail business.

I shared my reasons for opposing the rezoning and my concerns. I believe we need to have a separate meeting to discuss the many issues involved regarding this rezoning. Please contact me and we will set up a meeting date.  I wanted to share this important date: April 13, 2015 at the Lansing City Council meeting which is scheduled for 7PM. This rezoning will be brought before City Council to vote on approving the rezoning. We will have an opportunity to give public comment regarding opposing this rezoning.

Skate City Roller Rink at 905 Southgate: At our February meeting there was discussion regarding this new business. I stopped in and spoke with Michael, the owner of the business. Michael told me they are open for business. He will be attending our March 24th meeting to share information with us.

Donation Containers: This was discussed at our February meeting regarding the problems neighborhoods and businesses are having with these containers. I have received emails and calls about several in South Lansing. I forwarded some of the pictures sent to me to Scott Sanford, Code Compliance and Council Member at Large, Carol Wood. Carol will be bringing it up at the April 9, Public Safety Committee meeting. Keep taking pictures and letting me know where these “safety issues” and junk yard looks appear.

20% Wage increase for mayor, city clerk and council members: I attended the Committee of the Whole Meeting, City Council at 5:30pm last night and gave public comment regarding opposing this increase. There was a resolution opposing the 20% wage increase.  I think it is important to know the vote of the Council members: These are the Council members supporting the 20% pay increase: Tina Houghton, Kathie Dunbar and A’Lynne Boles. Opposing the raises: Carol Wood, Jody Washington, Jessica Yorko, Judi Brown Clarke and Vincent Delgado.

 

 

1 Comment

    Subscribe to news

    Bookmark and Share

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2012
    February 2012
    October 2010
    August 2010
    April 2010

    Categories

    All
    Averill Park
    Bea Christy
    BWL
    City Budget
    City Clerk
    City Council
    City Policy
    City Services Parks And Recreation
    City Services Police
    Code Enforcement
    Community Building
    Crime
    Election
    Lansing School District
    Minutes
    Neighborhood Council
    Niowave
    Safety
    School Community Garden
    Traffic
    Volunteers
    Zoning

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Share this news



Photos used under Creative Commons from wadem, gersonpaes