UPDATE (8/12/15): At its August 4, 2015 meeting, East Lansing City Council unanimously approved the Capital Area Housing Partnership (CAHP) option and lease agreements for the proposed Bailey Community Center redevelopment project. The lease is for a period of 45 years with an option to renew for an additional 45 years if both parties are amenable. The uses include a senior housing project (CAHP is proposing that the majority of units be income-qualified senior apartments, with up to 25 percent market rate senior apartments.) and office and commercial space as approved per the City's Zoning Ordinance and Council. This is the first step in the approval process. View a City Approval Schedule for upcoming steps in the approval process.
CAHP will be moving forward with a submission of a Low Income Housing Tax Credit application to the Michigan State Housing Development Authority by Oct. 1.
UPDATE (6/3/15): At its June 2, 2015 meeting, East Lansing City Council heard a presentation from Capital Area Housing Partnership (CAHP) regarding a proposed plan for the Bailey Community Center. View presentation. The proposal aligns with the results of the City's public engagement process and has received positive feedback from the community, specifically members of the Bailey neighborhood. With this in mind, Council voted to pursue a predevelopment agreement with CAHP. Staff will be working with CAHP as expeditiously as possible to meet all necessary deadlines so that CAHP can apply for state funding, which will make the project feasible. The proposed project contains one- and two-bedroom senior (55+) apartments, space for a private daycare provider, office space for CAHP, additional commercial space and community spaces (including the current gym), which will be open to the public.
UPDATE (5/27/15): City staff provided reports on the two Bailey community input meetings (Report 1 & Report 2) at the May 26 East Lansing City Council work session. Since the community input meetings, Capital Area Housing Partnership (CAHP) has come forward with a proposed project for the reuse of the Bailey Community Center, which they would like to discuss with the City. CAHP will be attending the June 2 regular City Council meeting to present the project proposal during a special presentation. The public are welcome to attend or watch online at www.cityofeastlansing.com/meetings. After the presentation, Council will discuss options for moving forward and what process will be taken in regards to the Bailey Community Center. Council has requested that staff provide a list of options for next steps and Council will determine how they want to continue during the June 2 meeting.
UPDATE (5/6/15): The City of East Lansing hosted two public meetings seeking resident feedback about the future use of the Bailey Community Center property. The meetings were held on April 27, 2015 and May 4, 2015 at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center. View a report from session one, held on April 27. The report from session two will be posted online by the end of May.
A topic was also posted to e-Town Hall asking residents what they would like to see done with the Bailey Community Center. The topic was open from February 10, 2015 to March 20, 2015. View a response summary from that e-Town Hall topic.
UPDATE (4/15/15): Community members are invited to participate in two community input meetings regarding the future use of the Bailey Community Center on Monday, April 27 and Monday, May 4 at 7 p.m. at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road. Learn more.
UPDATE (3/25/15): At its March 24 meeting, East Lansing City Council agreed with City staff's recommendation to proceed with a public facilitation process to help in determining the future use of the Bailey Community Center. City staff will present a more detailed description and tentative timeline for the public facilitation process at City Council's work session on April 14. Due to the fact that the entire site (building and park) are included in the City's parks master plan, staff is also researching the possibility of splitting the lot in order to separate the building from the park land. The City would like to reassure the neighborhood/community that the park will remain a community park regardless of what is decided for the building. More details will be provided following the April 14 work session.
ORIGINAL POST (1/27/15): Following several months of discussion, the difficult decision was made at East Lansing City Council’s Jan. 20 meeting to move forward with City staff’s recommendation to close the early age childcare program, currently the primary user of the Bailey Community Center. The program and building are slated to close September 4, 2015. The decision does not impact the Bailey Park, which will remain a community park.
This was not a decision City Council took lightly. Unfortunately, in challenging budget times, difficult decisions must be made in order to maintain other programs and services.
Building Costs
The Bailey Community Center was built in the early 1900’s and, while significant improvements have been made over the years, there were still many things that needed to be addressed. When discussions about the childcare program began, Council requested that a facility analysis be conducted in order to know what improvements were necessary. This analysis determined that there was almost $500,000 worth of building repairs that needed to be made in the immediate future to keep it operational as a community center. Of those repairs, the City has already invested $26,800 and would need to invest at least $209,600 more to only partially operate the building past June 30, 2015. To operate the entire building, the City would need to incur the remainder of that $500,000 in repairs and would face additional costs down the road.
Childcare Costs
At the time the decision was made to discontinue the childcare program, only 13 of the 40 childcare enrollees were East Lansing residents. The current FY15 budget shortfall is estimated to be $150,000+/- for the childcare program alone (excludes building improvement costs); with 40 children currently enrolled that means City taxpayers are subsidizing $3,750 per child over one year. While the City understands that some of the drop in enrollment can be attributed to discussions of closing the building, when you look back prior to the discussions, there was still a significant shortfall. The operating budget deficit in FY14 was $100,852 with average enrollment of 66; meaning taxpayers were subsidizing $1,528 per child.
The increase in operating costs was in part attributed to the hiring of more qualified staff members in order to better serve the children in the program and meet state licensing requirements. In order to offset the increased operating costs, the City had anticipated a multi-year approach for increasing tuition rates. Tuition rates were increased by 8% for FY15; however, in order to make the program financially feasible, rates would have needed to be increased significantly more. City officials viewed the multi-year approach of raising tuition as a more customer-friendly option as opposed to raising tuition rates significantly all at once.
While the decision was originally to close the program on June 30, 2015, City Council voted to extend the closure date to September 4, 2015 at its Jan. 27 work session.
Parent Group Proposal
While the Bailey parent group provided a well thought-out proposal for transferring the childcare program to a parent-run nonprofit, the City would have continued to be faced with financial challenges and risks. The City would still have needed to address the costs associated with the building and its necessary improvements, while transferring all control of the childcare program to a non-established nonprofit. Additionally, while the parent group proposed a repayment structure for the building repairs, it was not all-inclusive for the improvements that needed to be made. There were just too many uncertainties for staff to recommend their proposal to Council.
Moving Forward
East Lansing City Council has approved a resolution authorizing staff to undergo a public input process, similar to Strategic Doing, in order to help determine the future of the building.
The City understands the concerns from residents and hopes to complete this process as quickly as possible. The City does not want a vacant building in the Bailey Neighborhood anymore than the residents. While the building is closed, the City will keep the exterior maintained to prevent blight - windows will not be boarded, landscaping will be maintained and any vandalism quickly repaired. The building will also be partially lit and heated and a broken window panel will be fixed in order to help keep the building maintained.
The City also has no plans or intentions of developing student housing on this site. Neighbors can look to the example of the Avondale Square neighborhood revitalization project, in which the vision of the project was upheld, even in tough financial times. The City continues to sell high-quality, owner-occupied homes in that area of the Bailey Neighborhood.
The hope is that the community input process will result in a plan for the site that the community will support.