Zoning Initially OKd On Federal Building

Zoning Initially OKd
On Federal Building

By Glen Harris
City Government Report

Rezoning of the proposed federal office
building's downtown site was approved
initially by City Council Monday night
amid shades of dissatisfaction.

Like the Planning Commission which
provsiouly approved the rezoning, coun
cil members applauded the construction,
but not without opposition to plans to
construct a ground level parking lot on
^S. Fourth Avenue. The building would be
on land bounded by S Fourth Avenue,
W. Liberty Street and Avenue,

The rezoning was appiyvcu on a 9 to 1
vote. Councilman James Kenworthy, D-.
Fourth Ward, voted against it, and Coun-
cilwoman Colleen S. McGee, D-First
Ward, abstained without explaining why.
Final action on the zoning ordinance

may come this month. •'«

I- ' BY . ... »IS

''"t: '" nmeBt Rep • '

Re;. „ proposed fi '^i-ce
building's downtown site was approved
TnittaTIv by City Council Monday night
amid shades of dissatisfaction.

Like the Planning Commission which
previously approved the rezoning, coun-
cil members applauded the construction,
but not without opposition to plans to

Kenworthy indicated no opposition to
construction of the city is '-, ibout making the
downtown area more pedestrian orient-
ed, it should not accept the parking lot.

He proposed new public negotiations
between the city and the government re-
garding the parking lot. Concerning dis-
cussions last week between Mayor James
E. Stephenson, Administrator Sylvester
Murray and government officials in Chi-
cago at which some concessions were
made to the city, Kenwo"*'"' "id the big
^concession, the lot, "i^, > be sold
out."

Sti,:

Mayor Stephenson, however, warned
that the government's General Servu-e
Administration • is serious when it said
any major changes could cause the
building plans to go back to Congress for

al funding, perhaps causing a
(:.,n:. .n the building, or perhaps even,
losing it. ;

"It's crazy to toy with that kind oft
'; thing," Stephenson said. 1

COU'K ^r i?nan Carol Jones, D-Second
Wai\. .lered that concerns about
Arm Arbor losing the building are "un-
re|»stic, unfounded fears."

But' Stephenson sense of the
GSA official he and *i.»rray met with
last week was that if the city created a
hassle and f101""?'1 ^ construction "we»
could loo " ; H

Final ariion on me rezoning, to a pub-
lic land use, and action on a site plan for
the building will come after a public
hearing. However, council approval is
not binding since the federal government
does not have to follow the city's build-—
ing requirements. «