Mayor Meets with Neighbors, The Barnes/Gerber Letter
Dear Mayor Farmer:
We have been in the apartment business in the City of Ypsilanti for many years under the names Flo-Mar Apartments and Barnes & Barnes Apartments. At both Barnes and Flo-Mar, we take great pride in our buildings and our ability to provide safe and attractive housing not only for students, but for others as well.
For many years we have both been lobbying any City official we could find to crack down on landlords who rent without a Certificate of Occupancy and let their properties become bedraggled. These properties attract undesirable tenants, which are a major source of crime and contribute to Ypsilanti’s bad reputation.
Barnes, Flo-Mar, and the City are damaged when our tenants’ apartments and vehicles are broken into. We have always been convinced that cracking down on landlords who rent to criminals will rid the City of blight and crime.
Recently, a plan was submitted to downzone the area in which Flo-Mar and Barnes are located in response to these issues. The purpose of this downzoning plan, as we have been told by City officials, is to:
1. Improve dilapidated rental properties, prevent crime, and eventually get rid of certain landlords
2. Reduce the number of cars parking on City streets
3. Reduce density
We are opposed to this downzoning plan and think it’s a bad idea for three reasons:
1. Dilapidated rental properties and crime - Only aggressive enforcement of applicable building codes and ordinances and coordination between city departments can solve these issues.
2. Parking - Issuing residential parking permits and eliminating on-street EMU commuter parking will address and eliminate this problem at its source.
3. Reducing density - Ypsilanti has been losing population for decades. To make Ypsilanti a “Cool City”, it needs more people, and particularly more young people, to live here. “Cool City” as applied to Ypsilanti is presently a misnomer. Ypsilanti needs people. The issue that we should be addressing is the quality of housing, not density.
We said that we are opposed to downzoning. However, we are willing to withdraw our opposition as a result of a meeting with Lis Knibbe, Mayor Farmer, and ourselves.
At that meeting, in Lis Knibbe’s office, it was agreed by those present that we would not oppose this downzoning plan if, and only if, the following two conditions are met:
1) If a structure in the area proposed to be downzoned sustains substantial damage, it can be rebuilt without qualification except that the number of bedrooms cannot be increased. It was also agreed that the habitable area can be enlarged within the original footprint of the damaged structure.
2) Property owners will not be required to get a Special Use Permit or anything other than a standard building permit in order to rebuild.
On the basis of that meeting and these two conditions, we are willing to withdraw our opposition and feel that this will be an acceptable compromise. However, if either or both of these two conditions is/are not incorporated into any resolution of this matter, we remain opposed to the proposed downzoning plan.
Sincerely,
Marvin H. Gerber
Robert C. Barnes
We have been in the apartment business in the City of Ypsilanti for many years under the names Flo-Mar Apartments and Barnes & Barnes Apartments. At both Barnes and Flo-Mar, we take great pride in our buildings and our ability to provide safe and attractive housing not only for students, but for others as well.
For many years we have both been lobbying any City official we could find to crack down on landlords who rent without a Certificate of Occupancy and let their properties become bedraggled. These properties attract undesirable tenants, which are a major source of crime and contribute to Ypsilanti’s bad reputation.
Barnes, Flo-Mar, and the City are damaged when our tenants’ apartments and vehicles are broken into. We have always been convinced that cracking down on landlords who rent to criminals will rid the City of blight and crime.
Recently, a plan was submitted to downzone the area in which Flo-Mar and Barnes are located in response to these issues. The purpose of this downzoning plan, as we have been told by City officials, is to:
1. Improve dilapidated rental properties, prevent crime, and eventually get rid of certain landlords
2. Reduce the number of cars parking on City streets
3. Reduce density
We are opposed to this downzoning plan and think it’s a bad idea for three reasons:
1. Dilapidated rental properties and crime - Only aggressive enforcement of applicable building codes and ordinances and coordination between city departments can solve these issues.
2. Parking - Issuing residential parking permits and eliminating on-street EMU commuter parking will address and eliminate this problem at its source.
3. Reducing density - Ypsilanti has been losing population for decades. To make Ypsilanti a “Cool City”, it needs more people, and particularly more young people, to live here. “Cool City” as applied to Ypsilanti is presently a misnomer. Ypsilanti needs people. The issue that we should be addressing is the quality of housing, not density.
We said that we are opposed to downzoning. However, we are willing to withdraw our opposition as a result of a meeting with Lis Knibbe, Mayor Farmer, and ourselves.
At that meeting, in Lis Knibbe’s office, it was agreed by those present that we would not oppose this downzoning plan if, and only if, the following two conditions are met:
1) If a structure in the area proposed to be downzoned sustains substantial damage, it can be rebuilt without qualification except that the number of bedrooms cannot be increased. It was also agreed that the habitable area can be enlarged within the original footprint of the damaged structure.
2) Property owners will not be required to get a Special Use Permit or anything other than a standard building permit in order to rebuild.
On the basis of that meeting and these two conditions, we are willing to withdraw our opposition and feel that this will be an acceptable compromise. However, if either or both of these two conditions is/are not incorporated into any resolution of this matter, we remain opposed to the proposed downzoning plan.
Sincerely,
Marvin H. Gerber
Robert C. Barnes
