Opinions

Opinion: Reflections on Nov. 9 Planning Commission meeting

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By Elizabeth Jordan

Thursday, November 18, 2010

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The Flint Planning Commission refused to recommend that the Flint City Council rezone property on Beecher Road across from McLaren Hospital as a union office. It approved a communications pole in the South Flint Plaza.

The AFSCME labor union wants to use a house it purchased on Beecher Road as an office. The property had been vacant for two years.

The union planned to tear down the garage and add a ramp to the front to make it accessible. They anticipated two to three people being there during the week with little to no impact on the traffic in that area. The request was to re-zone the property from A-2 (single-family, residential) to D-1 (office).

There was a lot of discussion by the group.

Having the building occupied would be better than leaving it vacant. Neighbors adjoining the property showed up to speak in favor of the change. But other than an office on the other end of the block, there is no other property zoned D-1 on the block. There were other commercial properties on the other side of the road, but changing zoning for that parcel could alter the residential character of the neighborhood.

A site plan for a wireless communications monopole behind the buildings in the South Flint Plaza, Fenton and Bristol roads, was approved. A special use permit had previously been awarded.

Commissioner Robert Jewell updated the group on the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). The CEDS plan submitted by the county to the federal Economic Development Administration approved the document, which means projects from our county can now be considered for funding from that source.

A draft memorandum of understanding covering the proposed roles of the city's administration, planning commission and council on the Master Planning Initiative was handed out for review and comment. Although staff indicated the mayor hoped to get feedback at the meeting, commissioners generally felt they needed time to read the material before responding to it. The topic was put on the agenda for the next meeting.

Jordan used the occasion to make three points about the Community Challenge grant proposal that was funded by HUD.

Her first point was that given the prominence of a steering committee in guiding the master planning process in the proposal, it will be important to understand what the relationship between the steering committee and planning commission will be.

Secondly, she noted that the proposal had included firm commitment and letters of support from several organizations, but there were others not included in the grant whose involvement early on would be valuable.

In prior meetings, she had expressed her hope that people with on-the-ground experience working with people in neighborhoods, such as community organizers and community facilitators, be involved with the design of a planning process on the front end. This does not negate the need for traditional institutional partners, but rather reflects the unique skill sets involved in grassroots community engagement.

She said that even though the grant had been submitted to HUD already, the city could actively pursue letters of support with additional community partners to secure their involvement. Having that ironed out now would bring community groups on board early enough to get their input on the process design and formalize the stated intention of working with them.

Her last point was about the fact that Genesee County is among the top 10 most segregated places in the country and Flint is one of the most racially divided cities. This is an important dynamic within the community. It influences how people live with each other, what neighborhoods look like and the life opportunities children have.

The HUD Community Challenge grant guidelines allow fair housing as a goal, but it was not among the goals listed in the grant nor was race mentioned anywhere. She said she thought we should make a point of paying attention to race as we go along and look for ways to make fair housing a priority even though it was not written in the grant request. If we were to pursue that, the expertise of groups such as the Human Relations Commission would be helpful to seek out.

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