Help us stop the over-development of our beloved Heritage Hill!

I am all for development but adequate parking must be considered!

I agree! Hold the real estate developers accountable! Keep Heritage Hill how it is! If development is inevitable, it should be done in a way that is conducive to our neighborhood along with consideration to its beautiful historical appearance.

Back in the 1970's Heritage Hill was being threatened by much of the same activity that is beginning to occur now just spun differently. While it would be nice to see something done with the building at College the current plan is not acceptable. Parking, overcrowded streets, speeding are serious issues already existing in our neighborhood. This opportunistic activity by many real estate developers has no intention of keeping Heritage Hill as it has become known. As usual it is all about the money.Their vision is very short sighted.

9 years ago Featured

I live at 45 College Ave, apt #2. There is already so much traffic & problems with parking in this neighborhood especially in the winter when you can only park on one side of the road & people leave their cars anyway & then the snow plows can't get through etc. it's a mess as it is, I can't imagine how horrible it will be with hundreds of added cars ripping through our neighborhood. I agree that low density brownstones would be a good compromise.

Parking is a major concern. We are tired of the excessive abuse that results from the free for all parking on many streets. Lafayette is inundated with students who do not want to pay for parking. The 3 foot city statute to allow ingress/egress from driveways is not adhered to, nor is it adequate to allow safe ingress/egress from our own driveways (should be 6 feet at least). Many times they block us in completely. Regarding 50 college, 102 beds and 102 parking spaces is only adequate if there is only one car per apartment. What happens when there are 204 cars? ALSO: Why do they have free reign to increase units when as an owner I am not allowed to event rent one room? This is unfair for owners residing in HH. Not interested in having non-resident landlords getting this ability - just those of us living here trying to maintain HH.

Curbing the population density of Heritage Hill has been a focus for many years. This is part of what makes our neighborhood a close-knit caring community, as opposed to a big city of strangers! Not to mention car traffic is already becoming something to avoid. More is not better here.

I'm not opposed to development but it should be done tastefully and transparently and thoughtfully with input from neighbors.

It seems ok to have a parking space for each unit for the college proposal. As city dwellers we should take more public transportation. However the project on State is ill conceived and doesn't fit the neighborhood guidelines and dynamics. Why suddenly should there be so many permit exceptions...slippery slope!

Allowing these projects to come to fruition will destroy the character of this historical neighborhood. Please do not allow this to happen.

We live on Union between Cherry and Fulton. Traffic on our street is heavy. In the summer there is parking on both sides of the street and in the winter on one side. Our street is packed full of cars. The apartments next to us provide one off street parking slot per apt. So tenants are forced to use Union and Packard streets for parking. The parking issue is not the only issue. Speed and avoiding speed humps is also a problem. This is a main one way north bound street with a traffic light at the corner of Fulton and getting a green light at the bottom of the hill seems to be the challenge taken on by drivers of cars or school buses. Adding this many apartments and possible drivers scares me. Our beautiful single (intentional) family homes should be protected from over population in our neighborhood.

Not opposed to development, but it should be done with transparency, limits, and with the input of nearby property owners.

9 years ago Featured

This area is already extremely congested. Parking is inadequate, streets are not wide enough and the intersection of 5 streets is already overburdened. These housing developments fly in the face of longstanding efforts to keep this historic neighborhood a low density, pleasant city neighborhood with a balance of owner occupied housing. I do not see even one benefit to the neighborhood!

Hundreds of apartments are being built in Grand Rapids. The need for more is not proved. Why would the city feel the need to ammend the zoning law to encourage the building of larger apartment houses in a part of the city that is attractive to homeowners because of its wonderful housing stock and comfortable density? Why do we have zoning if so often the city allows a variance? There is good reason to stand firm against this kind of development in Heritage Hill, while the argument for building such high density buildings lies only in the pocketbook of real estate developers.

The long-term impact of all these apartment buildings that have inadequate off-street parking is not being considered. The experts cite reports that predict that millennials won't have cars, will ride bikes, and will use only public transportation. But, what if they are wrong??? These buildings will blight the city's downtown neighborhoods. They tried these same experiments in the 1950 -60's -- and look at those problems today.

Preserve the wonderful neighborhood of Heritage Hill -

9 years ago Featured

As a resident on Madison and a property owner of home on Gay, I have a very invested interest in the project proposed. It is detrimental to th preservation of this unique historic district. Please oppose the zoning change.

My computer was in Palm Springs when I wrote this. I do actually live in Heritage Hill!

Please sign and send this to family, friends, neighbors and anyone who cares about protecting Heritage Hill!!