Businessman backs off Genesee Neighborhood parking lot plans

THURSDAY, Jan. 20 — A Farmington Hills businessman is tapping the brakes on plans to build a 6,000-square-foot parking lot on the edge of a central Lansing residential neighborhood following several complaints from nearby residents.

Instead, he said he would be willing to give the property away to be developed as a community garden.

The Lansing City Council held a public hearing last week on a special land use permit requested by A.L. Williams LLC to construct a parking lot on a vacant residential parcel along Butler Boulevard. The property owner (and former Lansing resident) Aaron Williams told the Council that he planned to combine the residential lot at 611 N. Butler — an empty chunk of grass where a foreclosed home once stood — with an adjacent parking lot at 609 N. Butler, which Williams also owns.  The properties are located off of Saginaw Street near Pine Street.

In his pitch to Council last week, Williams insisted that neighboring businesses along Saginaw Street could use the extra space for customers and employees.

Representatives from the Genesee Neighborhood Association quickly cried foul. The existing parking lot at 609 N. Butler is already routinely empty, as are at least three other parking lots within shouting distance of the property. Most neighboring businesses on that block — three of which Williams owns — are also vacant.

“Our neighborhood does not support this,” Hazel Bethea, association president, told the Council during a public comment period last week. “As much as we support small businesses, we believe there are other options for this business. There’s an unused parking lot directly behind the business. Across the street is another. This request is not in line with the character of our neighborhood.”

Yesterday morning, Williams told City Pulse that it’s “nobody’s business” how his privately owned property should be used. He also wouldn’t elaborate on which specific businesses could use the extra parking space in the neighborhood.

This morning, he called back. And it appears that he’s had a change of heart.

“My intent is not to be the bad guy,” Williams explained and apologized. “I’d really like to get something going on in that space, but I need some participation from the local community."

He said he is not wedded to a parking lot and would give the  property away "if someone wants to step up and do something with it.”

Williams said his initial plans included leasing the space in his newly expanded parking lot to a nearby car detailing business and Strange Matter Coffee, which recently bought space on Saginaw Street for a roastery and manufacturing plant.

Strange Matter owner Cara Nader told City Pulse that her company has no use for additional parking there.  Neighbors have also questioned the need for more automotive shop parking.

Williams said he’s now willing to withdraw his parking lot request — as long as a local nonprofit organization or another neighborhood group wants to use the space for a garden. He just doesn’t want to be responsible for maintaining it.

“It cost me thousands and thousands of dollars to clean up that property,” Williams said. “I poured so much money into this lot. I also shooed out the crackheads and the needles they would leave behind. So, now, I’ll sit down and talk with the neighborhood, but I’m not going to be the only one cleaning it up.”

He added: “Get the neighborhood together. I want to be a good neighbor on this.”

In a memorandum sent to the city’s Planning Board, Zoning Administrator Sue Stachowiak also  noted that the request for a special land use permit — if approved — could set a troubling precedent in other Lansing neighborhoods.

“It would breach the line between the commercial and residential areas, which could set a negative precedent for future requests to utilize residential properties in the area for parking lots,” Stachowiak wrote. “This would not only be contrary to the intent of the zoning ordinance, but to the master plan, a primary goal of which is to preserve the character of residential neighborhoods.”

In a rare move, the Planning Board ignored her recommendation to reject the plan, voting 4-3 to approve the request and send it off to the Council for approval — but only with a few specific conditions. The Planning Board called for a 6-foot-high opaque fence that must be installed along the southern and western boundaries of the property. It should also be designed in a way that headlights are parked facing away from nearby residential properties, the Planning Board decided.

After last week’s public hearing, a resolution that would formally enable the special land use permit was referred from the Council’s Committee on Economic Development and Planning, which, if not withdrawn by Williams, could potentially kick the request back to the Council in February for final approval, officials said.

Councilman Peter Spadafore said yesterday that he’s inclined to vote against the permit if it comes back to the table — largely for the same reasons as the dissenting Planning Board members.  He said he just doesn't see the need.

“I’m still not opposed to a parking lot,” Williams added. “I can put a fence around it. I can put it all up for sale. It can become a community garden. But if the community doesn’t want a parking lot, then the community can also step up and provide some help and take care of it. Don’t just stand there and throw eggs.”

Ingham County Treasurer Eric Schertzing said Williams is free to pass the parcel to the Land Bank — either by donation or foreclosure — which could, in turn, designate the property for a community garden space. The only missing component would be finding a local partner to maintain and develop the property.

“The biggest thing is that it’ll need some management,” Schertzing said. “With lots like this brushing up against commercial properties, I see it as an opportunity to create a buffer with the residential neighborhood. Could a community garden become that buffer? Sure. There just needs to be some people and a vision.”