Kids in the Hall

Council delays action, again, on potential ballot proposals; public hearings and new polling places upcoming

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Tuesday, Dec. 6 — With three Lansing City Council members absent from Monday’s Committee of the Whole and full Council meetings, action on two potential ballot proposals stalled yet again.

This week, Council members A’Lynne Robinson, Kathie Dunbar and Derrick Quinney were absent.

The Council’s Committee of the Whole is considering ballot proposals that would ask voters permission to sell the former Waverly Golf Course and adjacent Michigan Avenue Park and also to cut the number of its yearly meetings nearly in half. Click here for more on the two proposals.

The items were slated for discussion when Council staff released the committee’s agenda on Friday, but were pulled Monday afternoon. The Council is tentatively planning to have its last meeting of 2011 Monday, so the proposals might be up for action by then to meet a Dec. 20 deadline to have ballot proposals approved for the Feb. 28 election. A majority of the Committee of the Whole and the Council must approve the resolutions in order for them to appear on the ballot.

In related election news, the Committee of the Whole unanimously approved a resolution Monday to change three polling locations in the city.

City Clerk Chris Swope recommends the changes, which moves three locations in the city for various reasons. Third Ward voters in Precinct 6E who vote at Woodcreek Magnet School will vote at Averill Elementary School near Waverly and Holmes roads because Woodcreek closed. Second Ward voters in Precinct 3 would move from South Washington Apartments to the Washington Street Armory, 2500 S. Washington Ave., because of residents’ complaints at the apartments. Fourth Ward voters in Precinct 8 will vote at Letts Community Center instead of Riddle Elementary due to handicap accessibility limitations at the school.

The resolution goes before the full Council for final approval and, if passed, would be in effect for the Feb. 28 presidential primary election.

In other business, the Council approved four resolutions and introduced one ordinance Monday:
  • Scheduling a public hearing for Jan. 9 to consider rezoning 301 W. Lenawee St. and 526 Townsend St. from professional office to business district for a planned mixed-use development at the former YMCA building downtown. The developer, Dan Essa, plans to redevelop the properties for 244 residential units and first-floor commercial space.
  • Scheduling a second public hearing for Jan. 9 to consider a waiver of the noise ordinance for the state Department of Transportation while it works on the Saginaw Street bridge over the Grand River. The department plans to work Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  • Three tributes recognizing the life of Dorothy Wilson, who lived in Lansing for more than 80 years; Friendship Baptist Church’s 77th anniversary; and American Legion Post 535, Michigan’s only remaining all-woman American Legion post.

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