Planning Commissior
By JOHN GOYER ding its decision to city council, which
and ELEANORA DILISCIA has final say on the project.
In a vote that won applause from the Speaking for Berger was Clarence
audience, the Washtenaw County Plan- Roy, of Johnson, Johnson, and Roy,
ning Commission last night who prepared a land use study for the
unanimously rejected a proposal to project. Roy said because the city.had
build a conference center-hotel on the declined to buy the land, and because
Huron River bank at the north end of the proposal provided for open space,
Main Street. "then the proposal does conform to the
The commission decided the proposal spirit of the (county's planning) goals."
did not coincide with its long-range ROY ALSO pointed out that with the
goals to develop the river bank as open definition of the city's boundaries, "the
space. ability of the citizens to provide needed
"I HAVE heard nothing tonight that tax dollars is stretched." '
leads me to believe that our original Tom Borton, of Applied Environmen-
assessment that the Riverside area tal Research, a firm that also helped
should be used for recreational pur- prepare the land use study, said the are
poses is inappropriate," said com- concerned was "not a pristine piece of
mission member James Walter. land. It had been a lower wetland and
Developer and-owner of the proposed has been filled."
hotel, Richard Berger, had been Sam Rabinovitz, a 25-year resident of
seeking approval to use the 32- acre site the north side, said "I am very much
for a 22-story convention center in- afraid of the negative affect that River-
cluding a 400-room hotel and five-story side Plaza will have on the north side
condominiums. The entire development area. Nowhere is any mention made of
would cost around $7 million. the north side as though we lived 50
Boyer initially planned a 30-story miles away when we live on the river
conference center and seven-story con- bank."
dominiums, which he later modified MILDRED KOEN, another resident
under neighborhood pressure. - held up a copy of the commission's land
HOWEVER, THE modifications still use policy. "I tried to color in with
did not meet with neighborhood ap- yellow the parts of your policy that this
provad nd eeral esit en t attend project was in contradiction of, and I
proval and several residents attended found myself coloring in your whole
the meeting to dissent. plc '
THe city planning department will policy."
Tonsidethe c ounty plannnder m- The residents who attended the
consider the county planning com- meeting were a few of the 80 members
mission's recommendation before sen- of the North Side Neighborhood
House panel OKs ban on
permits for nuclear plants
The Michigan Daily-Thursday, May 10, 1979-Page 15
1 rejects hotel proposal
Association (NSNA). In response 'to neighborhood
Neighboring residents formed the pressure, Berger prepared an
North Side Neighborhood Association assessment of the project's impact on
(NSNA) in February to oppose the de- the area. His study maintained that the
velopment. The group is concerned project would leave shoreline
about the environmental, visual, and vegetation and the center would be built
traffic impact of such a large project. in a limited area in order to preserve
The NSNA, according to Marge the riverbed.
Phillips, is afraid sewage from the
proposed hotel and salt washed off its A
parking lot will damage the riverbed. According to the report, the plan
With the exception of Main St., roads provides for adequate strm-water run
through the northside neighborhood of- off "in a manner which will minimize
fer the only access to the hotel, creating the effects of water quality." Further-
potentially heavy increase in traffice more, the project will re-plant portions
should the hotel be built. ' of the site and use "special measures of
RIVERSIDE residents say they protection during the construction
would prefer to see the 32-acre site period of environmentally significant
become an open space park, used for areas . . . and the incorportion of
small businesses as originally zoned or careful soil and sedimentation control
simply left alone ' methods during this period."
Senate panel OKs
lighter, pot penalties
i
1
Q
l
P
LANSING (UPI) - The Senate
Judiciary Committee approved
legislation yesterday removing
criminal penalties for possession of
small amounts of marijuana.
The measure, ill-fated during the past
two years, was sent to the full Senate on
a 4-2 committee vote after an attempt to
retain but reduce criminal penalties
was defeated.
UNDER THE bill, possession of 30
grams or less of marijuana - about an
ounce - would be punishable by a $100
civil fine. The offender would have no
criminal record.
Currently, possession of that much
pot is a criminal misdemeanor
punishable by 90 days in jail and a
$1,000 fine.
The bill would completely erase
penalties for possession of small
amounts of marijuana in one's home,
while possession of between 30 and 100
grams or furnishing that amount
without selling would be a
misdemeanor punishable by 90 days in
jail and a $100 fine.
PENALTIES for selling larger
amounts of marijuana would remain
the same as currently, except they
would be stiffened in cases where an
adult sells pot to a minor.
The action amounted to an abrupt
reversal by the committee, which last
week voted to retain the criminal
misdemeanor penalties but remove jail
terms for possession of 30 grams or
less.
That compromise, similar to a bill
which passed the Senate twice only to
die in the House, failed to win sufficient
support for committee approval.
SOME SUPPORTERS of liberalized
penalties feared the more radical bill
providing all-out decriminalization
would encounter trouble in the full
Senate.
Also included in the bill are
provisions allowing persons to obtain
marijuana on a prescription basis for
treatment of glaucoma and to relieve
discomfort in cancer chemotherapy.
The original bid to reduce pot
penalties began in the House, but the
lower chamber defeated the measure
after some of the most emotion-charged
debate Lansing has witnessed in recent
years.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House
Interior Committee yesterday ap-
proved a six-month ban on federal con-
struction permits for nuclear power
plants.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.),
who pushed the measure, said it would
affect permits for six reactors at four
sites in Arizona, Massachusetts,
Oregon and Texas.
Approval came on a 23-7 vote after
panel members generally agreed that
the ban was largely a symbolic step to
show the Congress is doing something
about nuclear safety in the wake of the
Three Mile Island plant accident in
Pennsylvania.
A SIMILAR amendment to the 1980
budget authorization for the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission failed in an In-
terior subcommittee on a 11-9 vote. To
stand up, the ban would have to survive
tests on the House floor and in the
Senate and be signed into, law by
President Carter.
House Speaker Thomas O'Neill said
the ban probably would pass the House.
"There is no question that after the
Three Mile Island situation there is a
go-slow feeling in the House toward
nuclear power," O'Neill told reporters.
"I would be surprised if it didn't pass."
REP. MORRIS UDALL (D-Ariz.),
the committee chairman, said he was
sympathetic to a ban although he op-
posed it. The panel has scheduled a
sweeping inquiry into all aspects of
nuclear energy andtshould make a
more comprehensive decision in
coming monthe, he said.
Rep. Philip Sharp (D-Ind.), said,
"We'll have no effect on anyone's
health or anyone's safety. If we choose
up sides today we'll kiss off the
credibility of the committee" and its
nuclear power inquiry.
MARKEY SAID the ban would send
"a clear message" that Congress is
"serious about increasing nuclear
safety. We are not going to investigate
and detate the accident while at the
same time the industry expands as if
Three Mile Island never occurred."
Rep. Phillip Burton (D-Calif.), said
the ban would at least alert power com-
pany investors to the danger of commit-
ting money to build more nuclear power
plants.
Markey's measure would not affect
the 70 power plants already in operation
or 92 other plants already under con-
struction.
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