Planners Ok Beautification For Bypass

The Packard-Beakes Bypass Beautification Plan was approved by the Planning Commission and referred to City Council yesterday afternoon at the coramission's regular meeting. The action came after an explanatory presentation b y Assistant Planning Director Mike Prochaska. The intent of the plan is to i créate an urban parkway atmosphere like the Huron Parkway, according to Prochaska. Some of the basic eleIments are about 210 trees, kiosks, benches, modern paving patterns at Miller, Huron and [Liberty intersectiqps, and repair of curbs and sidewalks. Intersection paving wou ld involve special patterns of I brick and concrete, possibly with colored or textured concrete. The thoroughfare plan of 1959, which was last amended in 1967, calis for a bypass around Main. Packard and Beakes will be extended to Ashley and First. Traffic will move north on Ashley and south on First. Prochaska said a rough preliminary cost estímate would be $140,000 or $70,000 without the concrete treatment of the intersections. In other action the University presented the plans for its Hill St. parking structure, the last in the ring of five structures to serve the central Campus. The commission took no action. The $1.5 million, five-level structure will provide parking for 500 cars. It was preceded by the structures at Thompson St. Thayer St,, Fletcher St. and Church. The three-story structurewhichwillhavean entrance off of Hill St., will be on the corner of Hill and Tappan. Mayor Pro Tem LeRoy Cappaert's request for zoning aüvisory on an 18-acre township island south of Miller Ave. at Pine Tree Dr. was answered by the c o m m i s s ion passing a motion approving the planning staff recommendation that the land be zoned for R3 multiple family. This was with the understanding it be developed at a density comparable with adjacent development of around four units per acre. No action was taken on the purchase of the 46-aere Harold Allen property at 365 Sumac Lane north of Geddes and east of Huron Parkway because of a staff report saying that Allen had no intention of selling the property in the near future. The property had been considered for park land acquistion. But the door was left open for future negotiations because Allen said he would consider the sale in a long-term context. The answer to Cappaert's resolution concerning criticisms of landscaping at Maple Village Shopping Center and the possibility of similar conditions occuring was planning staff opinión expressing the difficulty of legislating integrity and responsibility into a communty. The advancement of controls to eliminate land destruction will take a firm commitment of city officials, and more import a n 1 1 y communty attitudes must be expressed in the need I and wants of each resident, the report said. Present control elements deal mainly with the . quantity and not directly with the quality of land ' tion, the opinión said. Proposed control elements which deal more directly with quality are now under consideration, such as performance bonding, design review board, landscape and land use buffer I ordinance, and soil erosión and I ,sedimentation control andl abatement, the report said. Discussion of the State St. Mali which involves the closing I of the street from N. University I to Liberty was postponed until I the next meeting.