City Planning Commission considers rezoning CMU buildings on city land
The Mount Pleasant Planning Commission is considering rezoning land in University Park to give Central Michigan University legal control over its buildings.
The area south of West Campus Drive is primarily zoned under "U" or University land. Approximately 300 acres, however, are categorized as "RCD," or Research Center Districts. This area is set aside "to provide scientific, business, industrial research operations and related testing and production in a park-like setting."
The Planning Commission will host a public hearing on June 30 to decide whether RCD sections with CMU buildings should be rezoned as "U" to allow CMU more legal control over land on which they have property.
City Planner Jacob Kain said the university claims to already have legal authority over the land. Rezoning it would "formalize the status quo," he said.
Properties not owned by CMU would remain under the RCD categorization.
The commission discussed whether the university could build a hotel or dormitory in the area if it was rezoned. Kain said he had no indication CMU had plans for a dormitory.
"This agreement will, in a peculiar way, give the city more control over what happens," Kain said. He said the change would allow the city to enact a "secondary process" to have a say in the use of the area.
"The city has a significant amount of money invested in the park, in terms of bringing that initial infrastructure in," he said.
