08/09/2006

Angry supporters unsure of next move

By Bill O'Brien

bobrien@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Supporters of a downtown parking deck proposal were in a foul mood after city voters crushed a $16 million bond sale.

Louis P. Ferris, chief executive officer of Federated Properties LLC, angrily threw a Record-Eagle reporter out of a post-election gathering at the Park Place Hotel to the cheers of a small group of deck supporters that included Downtown Development Authority Chairman Peter Schmitz and ex-Grand Traverse County administrator K. Ross Childs.

Some deck supporters in attendance hurled obscenities at the reporter.

"You can talk to our attorneys tomorrow and find out what we're going to do," Ferris, of Ann Arbor, said. "Write it down."

Federated Properties' executive vice president/independent contractor Michael Uzelac wasn't sure of his company's next move. He wouldn't say if the company would proceed without the millions of public dollars Federated would have tapped into had voters approved the measure.

"We're not sure," Uzelac said. "We'll have to take a deep breath, take a step back and see if there's something else we can do."

Federated Properties paid more than $2.9 million for the two properties involved in the proposal. It paid $1,675,000 last year for the former Grand Traverse Auto dealership at 124 W. Front Street, and another $1.25 million this year for the 145 W. Front Street site that was a former car lot and earlier a grocery store. The properties were sold by the Harry Calcutt Trust.

Schmitz said the city should continue to work with Federated to come up with other ideas to revive both parcels.

"The folks at Federated Properties still own the property, so we as a community need to find a way to work with them," he said.

Schmitz, also a spokesman for the pro-deck group Citizens for Traverse City, said there are a number of "options" the city could pursue with the property owners to spruce up what he called a "blighted" area and fulfill the city's master plan.

"I don't think we want to reject any possibility at this point," he said.

Few ideas were offered as to what's next for the site. The property is in the city's C-4 "Regional center" zoning district that allows for a variety of retail, office and residential land uses integrated with hotels, convention centers and public parking facilities.

The land on the north side of West Front Street is in the C-4a zoning district with maximum building heights up to 45 feet. The south side is in the C-4c zone, permitting structures up to 85 feet with an extra 15 feet for rooftop mechanical or elevator equipment.

City commissioner and project opponent Deni Scrudato said it's time to revisit both the zoning ordinance and master plan for the West Front Street area. She called the proposal "ridiculously out of proportion" for that section of town.

"The master plan was written by people and it's been changed before, and it needs to be changed again," she said.

City manager Richard Lewis plans to host a "roundtable discussion" to discuss the project and the process from "all angles and sides." Lewis expects such a conversation would provide all parties with a "nice education" and preparation for future community issues.

"This community is going to go through this again, whether it's in one year or two years or 10 years," Lewis said.

Staff writer Vanessa McCray contributed to this report