A lingering medical marijuana moratorium and a brownfield extension for Demmer
Posted
Andy Balaskovitz
Tuesday, Nov. 23 — Before Monday’s Lansing City Council meeting, amedical marijuana moratorium ordinance was pulled from the agenda. Theordinance would impose “a moratorium on the issuance of permits orlicenses for medical marihuana establishments.”
At-Large Councilwoman Carol Wood, who sits on the Public Safety Committee, saidlanguage in the ordinance needs to be looked into by the cityattorney’s office.
City Attorney Brig Smith said in an e-mail that the pending issues are “based not on law, but policy.”
“I suspect the policy issues include whether a moratorium is needed andwhat permanent policy would follow a temporary moratorium,” he wrote.
The resolution is likely to come before the Council next week and a public hearing will follow the week after.
In other business, the Council approved a 20-year extension for DemmerProperties’ brownfield tax incentive plan that will reimburse thecompany for the amount it spends on environmental cleanup and a newballistics testing facility.
Demmer Properties is an affiliate of Demmer Corp. and seeks theimprovements at the former Motor Wheel plant at 1600 N. Larch St. and736 McKinley St. in north Lansing. The Council originally approved thebrownfield in 1999.
Along with a new ballistics testing facility, Demmer will invest$335,000 to $1.1 million more in ongoing site cleanup, which wasadvised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Depending on theextent of the cleanup, which is still being monitored for groundwatercontamination, the company will either spend $335,000 to simply monitorthe soil for leaking contaminants or will have to physically removethem, which could cost up to $1.1 million.
The resolution passed 5-2, with City Council President A’Lynne Robinson and First Ward Councilman Eric Hewitt opposing.
Robinson said she would not support the resolution because Demmer hasnot given the amount of employees who are currently laid off. Demmerspokesman Charles Barvieri said 996 employees receive paychecks fromDemmer, but could not say how many were laid off.
Robinson said she had been asking Demmer the same question since 2006in regards to this brownfield plan, because Demmer promised to create300-350 more jobs as a result of the incentive.
“I know that doesn’t answer your question,” At-Large Councilman BrianJeffries said to Robinson about the 996 figure. “But they have wellexceeded their mark.”
The roughly 38-acre site has manufactured wheel components for the military and passenger vehicles for more than 80 years.
In other business, the Council unanimously approved 12 otherresolutions and two ordinances ranging from tributes to winemakinglicenses.
Two late-item resolutions were added to the agenda that schedulepublic hearings on Dec. 6 for an industrial facility tax exemptioncertificate for Foresight Property Investment, 2822 N. Martin LutherKing Jr. Boulevard. Because the state denied an Obsolete PropertyRehabilitation Act (OPRA) tax freeze on the property, the city has beenadvised to establish a plant rehabilitation district on the property,followed by the industrial facilities tax exemption. The state deniedthe OPRA certificate because it is an industrial site. “This tool worksexactly the same way as an OPRA tax freeze,” Ken Szymusiak, of theLansing Economic Development Corp., said in a letter to the city.
The Council voted unanimously to rezone nine properties in theEastside Neighborhood that will allow local builder Dave Muylle to moveforward on a dense residential development that will lead to 14cottage-style houses. Muylle owns all of the parcels and they sit onroughly one acre just south of Michigan Avenue between Leslie andRegent streets.
The Council agreed to schedule a Dec. 6 public hearing on updatedlanguage to the city’s wireless cell phone tower ordinance. The newlanguage stipulates that anyone looking to build a wireless tower mustfirst be locked in an agreement or an “option to lease” agreement witha telecommunications provider.
The Council gave out $750 to the Colonial Neighborhood Association($250) and the Old Town Neighborhood Association ($500) for theirrespective planned holiday festivities.
A request by the Michigan Brewing Co. for a winemaking license wasapproved unanimously, granting the downtown restaurant permission tomake their own wine at 402 S. Washington Square. “They indicated theywill not be stomping grapes there,” At-Large Councilman Derrick Quinneysaid.
The city will donate an outdated “live scan computer,” or afingerprinting machine, to Lansing Community College for research andtraining purposes.
The Council approved three fund transfers Monday. The first is for$113,806 for training the Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART) toaddress violence against women. The second is $156,836 in federalfunding, which will be split between the Ingham County Sheriff’sDepartment and the city for police-related technology upgrades. Thethird is $125,204 from the federal government for the Lansing PoliceDepartment’s domestic abuse counseling program, Capital Area ResponseEffort (CARE).
A public hearing was scheduled for Jan. 10, 2011 that would renamea portion of Cavanaugh Road at the Hawk Island Park entrance after Dr.Donald L. Green, the pastor who founded the Lansing Baptist School.
The final two resolutions paid tribute to Denise Quarles and thePolish Falcons of America, Nest 652. Quarles was recognized for herwork with Zonta International, an organization that promotes the statusof women worldwide. Quarles serves as the governor of the District 15Zonta Club, which includes Michigan and parts of Ontario, Canada. ThePolish Falcons, which promotes Polish culture in the area, wasrecognized for their 95th anniversary.
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