Urban Grand Rapids

Over on the ancient forum site UrbanPlanet.org there is 👉a thread where regular participants make predictions👈 at the new year for the upcoming year, and review their predictions from the previous year. Each year proves that predictions are a perilous business. It is all for fun. With 2024 now in the bag I will tally my score to lend credence to the notion that prediction making is a fool's errand.

The Rapids' ridership is showing steady "recovery"; it is deemed "recovery" as, post-COVID, everything must now be bench-marked against 2019, the last year of the before times. By the raw numbers the Rapid closed October at ~65% of 2019 ridership. That is 703,844 rides, deemed UPT or Unpaired Trips by the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA), in October 2024 compared to 1,088,772 in 2019. So far (Jan - Oct) ridership in 2024 is ~63% of comparative 2019 ridership.

The municipal agenda for the Planning Commission meeting on 2024-12-12 is 👉here👈

Adoption

• 2024-08-08: The final draft is sent by the Planning Commission to the City Commission
• 2024-08-13: The required 63 day public review countdown begins on 2024-08-14 after the City Commission accepts the final draft.
• 2024-10-16: Review period is concluded.
• 2024-10-24: Planning Commission recommends adoption to the City Commission.
• 2024-11-19: Public Hearing at City Commission,
• 2024-12-03: The "Bridge To Our Future" Master Plan is adopted by the City Commission

Now the zoning ordinance.

UPDATES

2024-03-30: The powers that be still say "yes", this project is still happening, unequivocally.

2025-06-30: The project fails to be presented to the Michigan Strategic Fund board for the fifth meeting in a row. The silence is deafening.

The Towers

Addresses: 3, 17, 21, 37, 41, 45, 47, 53, and 63 Market Avenue SW, 216 Fulton Street W

The municipal agenda for the Planning Commission meeting on 2024-11-14 is 👉here👈

1947 & 1961 Alpine Avenue NW

This is a returning agenda item; previously discussed at the 2024-08-22 Planning Commission meeting.

The site has now been rezoned, as requested, from SD-IT (Industrial Transportation) to TCC (Transitional City Center); as TCC permits retail uses. The applicant is now applying for Special Land Use (SLU) to both operate a recreational marijuana facility (which requires SLU in TCC) and to construct an eighty eight (88) space surface parking lot. This amount of parking exceeds the maximum amount of parking permitted for the 3,785sq/ft building; this is twenty three (23) parking spaced per 1,000/sq/ft. As each parking space is 153sq/ft (18ft x 8.5ft), not including lanes, this is 13,464sq/ft of parking spaces; three and a half (3.5x) times the size of the building in parking spaces. The site is within the walk-shed of the Rapid #9, which is a frequent service route.

The site is not within 1,000ft of any "sensitive uses" as required by the zoning ordinance for marijuana uses. The nearest residential use is 1,415ft from the site, the nearest religious use is 2,700ft.

Kent county had the lowest voter turn-out since 2012, with 69% of registered voters casting ballots. Election turn-out in 2020 was 73% (72.58%), which was the highest since 2004.

Turn-out in the city of Grand Rapids was 61.48%. Voter turnout in the city rose steadily until ~1:00pm and then rapidly declined, with extremely low rates of voting from 2:00pm until poll close.

The Winners

• 1st Ward : AliciaMarie Belchak w/54.95% (12,548) vs. Dean Pacific w/43.12% (9,846) : total of 22,394 votes
• 2nd Ward: Milinda Ysasi w/97.32% (22,038)
• 3rd Ward: Marshall Kilgore w/57.77% (14,479) vs. Bing Goei w/40.04% (10,034) : total of 24,513 votes
• Mayor: David LaGrand w/62.54% (50,490) vs. Senita Lenear w/36.17% (29,201) : total of 79,691 votes, 10,476 more votes than were cast, in total, for City Commissioner seats.