Council Night

Ballot proposals, tax incentives part of packed City Council agenda Monday

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Saturday, Dec. 10 — The Lansing City Council is scheduled to vote on 28 resolutions and an ordinance Monday night, which includes three potential ballot proposals that must first make it out of Committee of the Whole.

The committee is scheduled to meet at 6:30 Monday night to vote on proposals to reduce the number of yearly Council meetings from at least 50 to at least 26; sell an old parks maintenance facility in the 1st Ward; and sell the old Waverly Golf Course and adjacent Michigan Avenue Park — 120.48 acres. All three proposals would need to be approved by voters in the Feb. 28 election in order to take effect.

The three ballot proposals have been on the committee’s agenda for the past two weeks but were tabled due to low attendance. In order to make it on the Feb. 28 presidential primary ballot, the resolutions need to be approved by Dec. 20.

Resolutions need five yes-votes in committee to go before the full Council. Council President A’Lynne Robinson could call for a special Council meeting before the 20th if the votes are not there to pass the resolutions Monday.

This is the third try by the Bernero administration to get the Waverly proposal on Lansing voters’ ballots. The property is in Lansing Township but owned by the city. Proceeds from the potential sale would go towards the city’s parks and recreation system.

A resolution to ask voter permission to sell the former parks maintenance facility in Oak Park, known as the Vector Building, would be “for redevelopment purposes.”

Aside from the three ballot proposals, the Council is scheduled to vote on an ordinance to designate a historic district at the Knapp’s building downtown, 300 S. Washington Square. Such a designation would qualify the developer for state and federal tax breaks on new construction that maintains the building’s historic integrity.

In other business, the Council is scheduled to vote on 25 other resolutions and hold public hearings on tax exemptions for an equipment and tooling manufacturer opening a facility in southeast Lansing. ELMET North America, a subsidiary of Austria-based ELMET, GMHB, is seeking an Industrial Facilities Exemption and an abatement on personal property taxes for a planned expansion on its site near Jolly Road and U.S. 127, which is scheduled to open Jan 1. Two separate resolutions are for the abatements. The Industrial Facilities Exemption is on a $15,000 expansion, while the personal property abatement is on $753,000 worth of new machinery, office furniture and computers. The Council will vote on the two resolutions after the public hearings.

Other business includes eight claim resolutions with city residents; four tributes to various groups and people; appointments to local boards; and setting new City Council personnel policies and procedures.

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