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July 20, 2000Proposed Commons changes under fireSupporters say they are needed to give potential developers more flexibilityBy BILL O'BRIENRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Some of the proposed changes to the development plan for the Grand Traverse Commons got a rough ride at a public hearing Wednesday night. The district plan amendments being requested by the Grand Traverse Commons Redevelopment Corp. Board were criticized by some as a "wholesale re-write" to the existing plan developed with the community's support six years ago. Supporters of the amendments, however, said they are needed to give potential developers more flexibility after years of dead-end proposals for the site. The planning commissions of Traverse City and Garfield Township took no action on the proposed amendments after hearing almost two hours of public input Wednesday night. Planners said a joint sub-committee of the two bodies needed more time to review the proposed changes before making a recommendation. "We are really needing additional time to study this," township planning chairperson Marianne Fields said. The proposed changes include a new transportation plan, which features an extension of Franke Road into the south end of the campus. Parts of the service road network for the old state hospital would also be re-aligned and some streets re-connected, and Elmwood Street would be routed east of the state of Michigan office building before connecting with 11th Street. The present plan calls for Elmwood to be closed near the Grand Traverse Pavilions property. Grand Traverse County also wants to convert the barns along Silver Lake Road into a joint county-city and state law enforcement center, an estimated $3 million project. It would remove the city and county's police patrol and administrative operations from the Governmental Center downtown. Another proposal is to develop a botanical gardens project on about 15 acres around the state hospital's old power plant building, and several other text changes in the 1994 district plan are proposed. But some of the requested changes met with skepticism and criticism - or both. Of the 30-plus area residents who spoke at the hearing comments ran more than two-to-one opposed to the amendments, including many against the law enforcement center. "Shame on the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners for (the proposal)," former city commissioner Geraldine Greene said, one of several speakers who felt a police station was inappropriate for the barns property. "Where is our open space going to come from...we now quasi own it. Let's try and keep it," she said. "I think it is not a compatible use of that fertile pasture area and those vintage barns," said Mary Clark of Traverse City. "I believe we can do better." Others complained there has been little public involvement in creating the new amendments, while county officials and supporters of the botanical gardens project responded there's been widespread public discussion - and support -for both proposals. Some speakers supported the gardens project but not the county's plans for the barns, and some felt the gardens would be a better fit in the barns area. Some residents again favored relocating the city zoo to the Commons campus. The Committee to Preserve Building 50, a local group working to preserve the nearly 400,000 square-foot former administration building for the state hospital, also submitted a report in opposition to the amendments. The group feels some of the changes could make Building 50 less attractive to potential developers. "(The proposal) is really a regressive step back from what the community tried to put in place with the original district plan," said committee member Brian Upton. |
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