The City of Mount Pleasant will be hitting new heights in development along Mission Street during the next budget year and beyond.

An ordinance re-write could be completed as soon as next spring, said Jeff Gray, director of planning and community development.

The re-write would allow developers along the very southern and northern ends of Mission Street more height for building renovations and would require fewer parking spaces.

“The goal is to encourage redevelopment,” Gray said. “These changes are intended to achieve a different character out there … you’re trying to find these things to offer flexibility.”

A zoning ordinance amendment is included in the city’s 2009 Proposed Operating Budget. It is intended to comply with the Mission Redesign Plan and “to improve site design of commercial structures.”

It widens development and building options to take full advantage of the site’s capacity. The hope is to encourage more mixed-use facilities, which generally involve ground-floor retail facilities underneath upper-story residential housing, he said.

That seems to be the direction the process is moving, Gray said, and concentrating on the Mission Street near Central Michigan University’s campus, and north of Pickard Street is only the beginning.

One project, at the corner of Mission and Preston streets, is not waiting for the re-write.

Bobenal Investments Inc. will construct a mixed-use facility with six retail stores on the first level, an underground garage and 24 condominium units.

The structure will sit in the former lots of Taco Boy and Pizza King, 712 Preston Road, Taco Boy will be moving to 804 S. Mission St. later this month.

Jerome Fine of Bobenal Investments said the Mount Pleasant Zoning Board of Appeals has granted the necessary variance to move forward with the project, but no timeline has been set for when construction will begin.

“We’re continuing to market the project and do the work necessary, such as engineering and those type of things, and we’re also exploring financing for the project,” he said. “Urban mixed-use projects are relatively new. This is an excellent location that could lend itself to this kind of project.”

Fine said the economy, however, has affected their progress.

“The economy in Michigan right now, and also the credit situation in Michigan, makes this project present some challenges,” he said.

Economy may chill development for a time

Gray said the state of the economy has also effected what the city can do for the project.

The number of interested parties for future redevelopment projects they receive has become a concern, which he said is not a unique circumstance to Mount Pleasant.

“Commercial lending as it is now, people are taking their time, but we do continue to have inquiries and conversations,” he said. “We’re hoping that as we make progress with this ordinance that we’ll be able to bring some projects forward.”

City Commissioner Kathleen Ling said she preferred a different order in granting the variance to Bobenal Investments and rewriting the ordinance.

“For me personally, I would’ve felt more comfortable if we changed the zoning ordinance first,” Ling said. “I would’ve liked to have seen some public input on the direction we’re moving in before we approved a major project.”

It’s understandable that the variance was approved as the project seems relatively positive for the community, she said, but discussion needs to follow where and how mixed-use facilities are appropriate.

“We live in a community where we are inundated with student housing,” Ling said. “I don’t think Mission Street should be the location for new student apartments … It’s for retail, we want commercial uses there.”

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E-mail the author: Jackie Smith