Campaign begins to declare old Eastern High School a historic district

MONDAY, Aug 19 — A citizens’ group opposed to University of Michigan Health-Sparrow’s plan to tear down old Eastern High School launched a campaign today to convince the Lansing City Council to prevent its demolition in the near future.

The group, called the Committee to Preserve Historic Eastern and Promote Mental Health, wants the Council to declare old Eastern a historic district. The first step would be for the Council to pass a resolution to create a historic district study committee and declare an emergency moratorium. Doing so would block anything that “will cause irreparable harm to the resources located within … a proposed Historic District,” according to the city’s Historic Districts ordinance.

The committee, comprising alumni, eastsiders and preservationists,  is using social media to encourage residents to ask the Council to approve a request by the city’s Historic District Commission to study whether to make old Eastern a historic district.

“This study committee would have up to a year to complete its work and issue a report,” said Council member Ryan Kost, a committee co-chair. “Meanwhile, we hope University of Michigan Health-Sparrow will use the time to look for alternatives to demolishing old Eastern.”

The commission took the first step toward declaring old Eastern a historic district when it voted 5-0 last week to ask the Council to create a study committee to determine whether the eastside landmark qualifies.

The city’s planning office is preparing language for a proposed Council resolution. If it passes, then Mayor Andy Schor would appoint study committee members, with Council's approval, whose majority has “a clearly demonstrated interest in or a knowledge of historic preservation,” the ordinance says.

The committee would have up to 12 months to complete its study and submit a report.

Then the Council would decide whether to add old Eastern to the list of Lansing’s 11 historic districts. The most recent addition was Central United Methodist Church, 215 N. Capitol Ave., in 2017.

Council approval of the study and emergency moratorium would throw a monkey wrench into UM-Sparrow’s proposal to demolish old Eastern and build a psychiatric hospital in its place, at least until the study is completed.

“We applaud UM-Sparrow’s desire,” said Kost. “However, we are confident it can accomplish its goal elsewhere on its campus.”

UM-Sparrow needs U of M Board of Regents’ approval to carry out its plan. Sarah Hubbard, a regent who lives in Okemos, said the vote is expected this fall, the Lansing State Journal reported last week.

UM-Sparrow ended discussions last week with the Preserve Eastern citizens’ committee. U of M executives and committee members held one meeting in July and were scheduled to tour old Eastern together. But UM-Sparrow accused committee members of being “adversarial” and not acting in “good faith” and cut off negotiations, including the tour.

As a result, the committee stepped up its activity to impede UM-Sparrow’s plan to demolish old Eastern.

Its first effort is the social media campaign it launched today. In it, the committee asked residents inside and outside of Lansing to express their support to Council members for a study committee and emergency moratorium.

The committee reiterated its support for UM-Sparrow’s goal of improving mental healthcare, but not by tearing down “an architectural and historic landmark.”

The committee asked residents to send emails to city-council@lansingmi.gov by next Monday and suggested language they could use.

Last month, the Council unanimously approved a resolution encouraging UM-Sparrow to move forward on a proposed $97.2 million, 120-bed psychiatric hospital to address what it has called a  "crisis" in mental health care in Michigan. But the resolution  said doing so and saving old Eastern "are not mutually exclusive."

UM-Sparrow has contended that old Eastern's location, on Pennsylvania Avenue across Jerome Street from UM-Sparrow Hospital, is the only place the new facility could go because of its proximity to the emergency room.

In response, Council member Ryan Kost, who wrote the resolution, said he has identified about 20 vacant or low-use acres on UM-Sparrow's eastside campus where the facility could go, some closer to the emergency room than old Eastern's location.