By Fritz Klug
News Editor
After months in the state legislature, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed House Bill 5207 into law on Jan. 5, lifting restrictions on Western Michigan University’s ability to develop 55 acres of green space in Oshtemo Township.
Known as the Colony Farm Orchard, the land sits between Drake Road and US-131, near WMU’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Asylum Lake Preserve. It was once used to grow fruit and house patients from the Kalamazoo State Hospital. It was then used by Michigan State University for pesticide research beginning in the 1960s.
Currently, it is being used to dump leaves by the city. Locals hike the land and use it to harvest honey and wild asparagus. It is also the home for many native animals. The land is fenced off to the public because of the amount of debris and demolished infrastructure of the former hospital buildings, according to Paul MacNellis, director of landscape services for WMU’s Physical Plant.
“WMU has kept the property fenced and locked since the ’70s for good reason,” MacNellis said.
MacNellis added that the pesticides used by MSU have left little traces of residue on the orchard, according to a 1992 survey by SME (Soil and Materials Engineers), but that more studies could be done for the entire property.
The orchard is to be developed as an expansion of the university’s Business Technology Research Park. University administrators point to the approximate 650 jobs that have been retained in the park and internship opportunities for students as reasons for the expansion.
But the planned expansion and process has caused many in the community to grow discontent with the university and question it’s use of land they say has an inherent ecological value to the surrounding area. Many maintain that the original deed restriction should have been respected and the land be used for something else besides private development.
When the state of Michigan gave the land to WMU in the 1970s, it included a restriction that the property be used “solely for public park, recreation, or open space purposes,” except if the legislature authorizes WMU “to utilize the property for some other public purpose.”
When developed, the university will sell the land to private companies to develop it. Like in the first park, the sales of the land will reimburse the university for costs of the infrastructure.
Also in the bill are provisions that grant 2.55 acres of land on the corner of Oakland Drive and Howard Street from the state to WMU for one dollar and lift public-use language on a patch of land off of Blakeslee Street that houses a former tuberculosis sanitarium.
From bill to law
On July 16, Rep. Robert Jones (D-Kalamazoo) introduced three bills in the House concerning the three conveyances at the request of the university.
Two weeks earlier WMU’s Board of Trustees approved the termination of a lease Michigan State University had on the property, giving MSU $985,000 and three years to relocate their pesticide research.
The bill went to commission later that month and was voted on in the house on Sept. 17. It passed 44-2. It then sat on the Senate’s agenda for the rest of September, October, and November as the legislature worked on passing a state budget.
Another reason why the bill was held up was due to politics in the Republican-controlled legislature, Rosine said, since it could give Jones, a Democrat, an advantage in the 2010 elections.
On Friday, Dec. 18 at 10:30 p.m., the bill was passed in the late night Senate session. The vote was 29-1; two senators present did not vote and six were absent, including Senator Liz Brater, (D-Ann Arbor) who voted against the bill in committee.
Alan Cropsey (R- Dewitt) was the lone senator who voted against the bill.
“The land was supposed to be green space,” Cropsey said. “An industrial park is not a compatible use for it.”
Cropsey said that he and his staff spoke with former state senator Jack Welborn who asked him to vote against the bill because of the original deed restrictions on the property.
Welborn, whose deceased brother Robert was the state representitve who worked to get the provision in the original deed, said he was not surprised that the bill passed.
“Western double-crossed the people,” he said. “The deed restriction was clear.”
Sen. Tom George, (R-Texas Township), said that he had heard from constituents who both opposed and supported the bill.
“I understand the concern about preserving green space,” George said. “It was about finding a balance and I came down on the side of job creation.”
George said that as the times change, so should the laws and deeds.
“It is the duty of the legislature to make adjustments.”
The bill then was presented to Gov. Granholm on Dec. 29 and she signed it into law Jan. 5, 2010.
Local Opposition to Development
As soon as Jones introduced the legislation in July, local groups began to contact state representatives to express why they opposed the bill.
For Larry Ross, president of the Oakland Drive Winchell Neighborhood Association, the ecological consequences of the expansion are enormous for the surrounding areas.
“You’re killing Bambi and Thumper,” Ross said, referring to the classic Disney movie “Bambi.”
Ross said he would like the university to invest building a business park in an area where land has already been developed and sits vacant. “It’s the same thing no matter where they put it,” Ross said. “There is no reason [businesses] can’t be brought to town and located anyplace. WMU sees open land as a place to put businesses.”
Ross pointed out that the greenery in the current BTR Park is just “a drop in the bucket” of what once was there.
“The legal part is done,” Ross said, “now the moral part will start bubbling up.”
On WMU’s campus, SSE hosted a letter writing workshop as well as a nature walk of the land they call the Enchanted Forest.
The proposed expansion has led some to stop donating money to WMU. Marci Stucki, a Galseburg resident, said she would no longer donate money to the WMUK because of the expansion plans. “The orchard shows a lack of imagination. [WMU] could be visionary and lead brownfield development,” she said.
Andrew Weisenborn, co-chair of Students for a Sustainable Earth, said that he and other members of SSE are looking to meet with university administrators to provide input into the development.
University to keep community involved
The expansion of the BTR Park is good for the university and the community, according to Bob Miller, vice president of community outreach. Miller has been the point person for the BTR Park since its conception in 1999.
Miller said that there are currently no plans for what the park will look like or what kind of companies will be housed there, but mentioned that that they will be in growing industries, such as life sciences, medical devices, and sustainable energy.
The infrastructure of the park will be developed in a sustainable manner, Miller said, and will focus on improving the water quality of Asylum Lake.
WMU has sold land within the BTR Park for $80,000-$100,000 per acre and spent $6 million on the park’s infrastructure. Miller estimates that the costs of the expansion will be $3 million, in addition to the $1 million to terminate the lease with MSU, money they will be made up by selling lots when the lots are sold. A 2004 appraisal valued the orchard at $310,000.
Miller said the university will work with local groups before they begin to develop land and will bring the same level of environmental stewardship to the park’s extension and building standards for its tenets as with first park.
Miller added that he is grateful for the bi-partisan and multi-chamber support the bill received. “They all realized that [the bill] was all about jobs and employment, also, at some point in the future, more internships.”
Vice President Rosine said he is very pleased with the vote. “We worked hard to get it passed,” he said. “It was really a team effort.”
Rosine said that any development of the Orchard property will be at least three years off, while Michigan State University moves their etymological research off of the property.
“Hopefully the economy will turn around by that time,” he said.
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