a special commentary the Sunday daily on city hall politics Number 60 Night Editor: Chris Parks Sunday, March 26, 1972 I' I City moves Lansky's- is, deaf to complaints f By NORMAN B. WILSON IN APRIL, 1968, Ann Arbor's Human Relations Commission asked remov- al of a junkyard from a heavily resi- dential area of the city. The commission charged, that P. Lansky and Sons was an eyesore and health hazard that also caused traffic tie-ups in the surrounding neighbor- hood. When Mayor Robert Harris was elected that same year, the relocation of this junkyard quickly became a pri- ority item. However, what might have seemed a simple and straightforward task really became quite the opposite, eventually angering many residents of the proposed relocation site and shat- tering their faith in local government. P. Lansky and Sons is located on two sites, one on North Main St. and one on Summit St. across from a play- ground. Both sites are in Ann Arbor's Model Cities area and nearby residents have long clamored for a relocation of the whole operation. Model Cities Policy Board requested the city to relocate Lansky's from the Summit St. site. The board also re- quested that the city make Lansky re- pair his fence, reduce the scrap steel to a level not exceeding the height of the fence and to prohibit all trucks from parking in that area to prevent a safety hazard. AFTER YEARS of relative inaction, the city decided to move the Sum- )mit St. site to allow expansion of the 'adjacent playground. In late August of last year, City Council voted 10-1 in favor of a site in the southeast cor-. ner of the city - part of an area used by the city as its refuse dump. This decision was made without con- sulting the thousands of residents who live in this part of the city and the : ote was taken in spite of vocal oppo- sition and massive protest to the pro- bosed relocation site. The land was re- zoned and a permit granted for the operation of a junkyard. Harris sent a letter to the residents of Arbor Park and Colonial Square Co-operatives- two nearby housing developments - explaining the action. Stating that the relocation decision was made after extensive study, the Mayor promised that the city would re- View with area residents future devel- opments in the "landfill." .But local residents were skeptical and formed the Southeast Ann Arbor Council to review area development plans. At first blush the landfill seems an ideal site for the operation of a junk- yard. Unfortunately, the city admin- Istration has created a problem like the one it was trying to solve. The landfill itself is slated to become the largest park in An Arbor. The city purchased the first land for the project in 1959 and more adja- cent land was purchased later with De- partment of Housing and Urban De- velopment (HUD) help. The entire 172 acres was purchased for the develop- nent of a park. Because HUD money will also pro- vide for the Summit Street playground. expansion and the Lansky relocation, residents of southeast Ann Arbor turned to HUD for relief. HUD in turn asked the city to justify the city's rather extraordinary plan. ON THE SURFACE Harris and City Administrator Guy Larcom had proposed to HUD that it trade six acres -valued at $45,000-for Lansky's Sum- mit St. site. Four more adjacent acres were to be reserved for future use by Lansky. if and when the city bought the Main St. site. Promises were made for buffering the site with mounds, fences, plantings, and limited access. However, through the multiple trans- action between HUD, the city and Lan- sky, the city would benefit financially. Since the city and HUD would evenly split costs for paying off Lansky, after Lansky used the entire sum to pay for city property, the city coffers would gain 100 per cent interest on the trans- action. In addition, the transaction would shift the amount of the city's initial contribution from a frozen bond fund to an operating fund where the money could be readily used. HUD officials found themselves trapped between two of their own projects by the city's strategy. In re- sponse, HUD asked the city several questions: Was the landfill the only suitable site? What was the explana- tion for replacing a half acre with six? What would be the methods of shield- ing the junkyard from the adjacent parkland? Was there any other per- tinent information? THE CITY's analysis of other pos- sible sites included township areas, as well. Relocation at the city airport was rejected since the airport rests above the city water storage tanks, thereby implying that runoff even from a relocated Lansky operation would be contaminated. In addition, the version the city gives of its search for other relocation sites is subject to question. The city's response to HUD, dated Feb. 4, reject- ed most of the city area, by saying that Ann Arbor is almost completely resi- dential and little land remains that is undeveloped. This explanation not only overlooks the considerable area recently annexed by the city, but also implies that no vacant and available land in the city has the correct zoning. The city rounded out its case by re- jecting three sites on the basis of in- correct zoning. The city also included a letter from it's consultant attesting to the unavailability of any site except the landfill. This same consultant had been told of correctly zoned land in the city a month before he sent his letter to Lar- com. A few weeks after .the city re- plied to HUD, he contacted the city again, explaining he had overlooked some sites brought to his attention and that there was indeed land that might have been considered. THE REMAINDER of the city's letter is brief but no less remarkable. The city attempted to justify replacing the present half-acre Lansky on Summit St. with six acres by saying that Lan- sky would only move away from the Main Street site if the new site could accommodate the operations of both the old sites. The city said six acres would be re- w 4 The Lansky decision was made without consulting the thous- ands of residents who live in this part of the city and the vote was taken in spite of vocal opposition and massive protest to the proposed relocation site. j..' ''..;::' Jimini.*:";:"'::":ti:''":*. .*.l:":;.};.:.,:.{...:...... . . . city-owned land, and private land within the city. Because the city regu- larly received complaints of building code violations on Lansky's property, it was hardly surprising that no coun- ty townships volunteered to plan a site for a junkyard that was once in- cluded on the Michigan Highway De- partment's eyesore list. "Scrap yards have the same effect as a plague upon township officials," complained the city's real estate con- sultant early this year. The analysis of city-owned land eliminated seven of nine sites because "they were all purchased with HUD grants for park and open space pur- poses." This same consideration, how- ever, seems to apply to the landfill property. Another park site was eliminated on the basis of land use conflict, a reason which applies equally to the landfill quired to satisfy city codes concerning land needed for operations like Lan- sky's. But Lansky's two sites now total only 1 3/4 acres and still, according to official figures, conform to the speci- fied code. To sweeten the deal, the city planned to furnish Lansky with a septic tank and well if he moved to their land- fill site, but since Lansky's six acres have already been "fille'd" with refuse and covered, according to Barry John- son, assistant Washtenaw County pub= lic health engineer, many environmen- tal questions arise. The Southeast Ann Arbor Council asked Harris to explain the discrepancy between official figures - supplied by the city tax assessor - and those sent to HUD. Harris said he could not at that time but has since written them a letter with figures even farther off the mark.,Harris not only contradict- ed the City Assessor's figures, he said that as a result of city regulations, Lansky will need three acres and an eventual three more to accommodate both old sites. Finally, the Mayor neatly demon- strated the carelessness of Planning Director Michael Prochaska. Prochas- ka, Harris wrote, said that all the land zoned for heavy industry in the area senhower Parkway extension, and the Ann Arbor Railroad was controlled by bounded by S. State, the proposed Ei- one outfit which was unwilling to sell to Lansky. HOWEVER, at the City Council meet- ing on March 20, C. William Col- burn, a Third Ward Republican City Council candidate, proposed sites in this alternative area. In early March he had met with representatives of the Lansky business, the owners of the sites, and Republican councilmen. To- gether they found that Lansky was most interested and preferred the al- ternative site to that proposed by the city. In that meetings the price of the land ranged from $15,000 to $20,000 per acre. Both the owners and the Lan- skys were interested in pursuing furth- er negotiations. But the afternoon before the Coun- Photos by DENNY GAINER cil meeting city officials got wind of the proposal Colburn would make that evening. Planning Director Prochaska was dispatched to make polite in- quiries. While the owners of the al- ternative area do not hold all the land financing together a major office in common, they were planning and building which will be near the sug- gested relocation site. Prochaska pointed out that the prox- imity of a junkyard would threaten the value of their projected office build- ing. His argument was that since the office building would be ten or eleven stories high, some possibility existed that the higher floors would look down on the Lansky operation - a half mile away. As a result, Prochaska said that the district center plan for the whole area might have to be reviewed again by his office were the junkyard to be relocated there. Being seasoned land speculators, the businessmen little needed the advice of the Planning Director concerning the future value of their own land. The possibility of a review by the city evidently had its effect, however, since the asking price of the land went up prohibitively high to $30,000, an in- Lansky's Summit St. site . . better site than the landfill has come up. But, he continued, citizens are now approaching the city with sites faster than they can be considered. He fur- ther noted that the controversy cen- tering on six acres had missed the point - that the goad needed to get Lansky to move included a six acre site. At least Larcom has finally cleared up the six acre mystery. The city's in- sistence on giving Lansky six acres was not in order to fulfill code require- ments, but to offer what they thought was needed to make Lansky move to an area where the city buries its refuse. Quite clearly it is to Harris' politi- cal benefit to move a junkyard which has been a thorn to the Model Cities residents for decades - especially with Democrats being criticized for their, role in the Packard-Beakes bypass question. Another possible benefit is purely monetary. Even if the sale itself nets only a small amount of money, the ef- fective transfer of "frozen" funds into an active account is significant enough to benefit a city that considers itself in a financial crisis. larities, the city can assume that in- accuracies will not be caught. In spite of having knowledge of the failings and oversights in the information re- ceived from Ann Arbor officials, Wil- liam Szymczak, the community devel- opment representative in charge of making the first review of the city's proposal, has given his preliminary ap- proval. The matter is now in the hands of a HUD review committee. The only snag that the city need meet now is a HUD requirement that the city replace the land sold to Lansky's with parkland of equal quality. Meanwhile, petitions with thousands of signatures have not had an effect on the city administration.nLetters from the boards of nearby massive HUD-funded housing cooperatives ask- ing HUD to hold open hearings on the matter have been seemingly ignored. Beyond the nuisance of having a Junk- yard scored by its current neighbors moved to their neighborhood, local residents seem frustrated by their in- ability to influence city ;government. And to them, at least, the image of even local governments as impersonal bureaucracies has taken on a new re- ality. The author is a graduate student in corn- paratiue literature and vice president of the Southeast Ann Arbor Council. * V 4 UNLESS THE few inspections vestigations that HUD's Regional Office makes reveal and in- Detroit irregu- 4 *ry h ..