A proposed Saginaw zoning change would allow small or “light” industrial manufacturers to locate on North Washington Avenue from Second Street (now named for Roosevelt Austin) up to Tenth Street, near First Ward Community Center.
An opponent is Margaret Culpepper, whose home is near Washington at the zone’s border. She plans to attend a resident meeting that Pastor Kareem Bowen will host at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 1, at The Potter’s Touch Ministries, 1402 North Sixth.
City officials, including Manager Tim Morales and Urban Planner Robert Gollin, have pledged that remaining homeowners and churches would not face pressures to move, and that fences and hedges would buffer any new development from becoming an eyesore.
Nothing new is on the horizon, but all concerned are thinking about the future outlook.
“I still don’t want something like that across the street,” says Culpepper, a retired HealthSource Saginaw food service employee.
She paints a larger picture. Rifkin Scrap Metal has moved between the river and Washington, she notes, and the state has raised the speed limit to a highway-like 50 mph.
“We already have that junkyard right here nearby,” she says, “and we can barely pull our cars out onto Washington (from the numbered side streets). Not even Bay Road is this bad. And now they want to add manufacturing?”
Members of the City Planning Commission have recommended the change, which would extend basically from near the Potter Station railroad tracks to First Ward Center, all along a strip of blocks between Washington and Farwell. On a map, the new zone would be narrow, but the impact could reach all the way inward toward the railroad yard, along Norman, Kirk and Sears streets.
From ‘green’ to ‘industrial?’
The First Ward is home to countless memories and to several hundred neighbors, many elders, who remain.
During calendar 2005, Marvin Hare was Saginaw County treasurer and he organized the Saginaw County Land Bank Authority, based on a model from current Congressman Dan Kildee, back when Kildee was treasurer of Genesee County. A prime goal has been to keep tax-reverted abandoned properties out of the hands of private speculators, to promote land uses for the public benefit.
“It’s pretty decimated out there” in the First Ward, Hare said at the time in a Saginaw News interview. “We want to let it grow back into trees (as a potential urban industrial park).”
At that point, “Green Zone” became part of the planning vocabulary.
The only notable development initiative was a decade ago, when an ill-fated GlobalWatt solar cell venture on Norman Street near Fourteenth faded quickly, on land where Daniels Heights public housing had been razed. This leaves the question of whether any industry would choose to locate or relocate in the First Ward, and therefore whether the zoning will make any difference.
Following are a complete statement from Robert Gollin and his city planning staff, followed by the counter-petition that Bowen and Bulls are circulating:
City Hall Perspective
Gollin wrote: “The rezoning of the N. Washington/Farwell corridor to M-1, Light Industrial, is the best use of these properties for the following reasons:
” (1) The proximity and accessibility to I-75 to, as well as other light industrial development seen in BV Twp around I-75 and M-81 (E Washington) makes it an attractive area for this type of development.
” (2) The ability to assemble properties for smaller light industrial properties allows the City to attract new businesses to the area, creating jobs and tax base.
” (3) Any new development on these properties would require the Planning Commission and staff to review their proposed site plans. Any portion of the site abutting residential areas requires some sort of screening such as a fence or dense vegetation.
” (4) Of the 133 parcels within the area being considered: 103 are vacant, 69 parcels are owned by the County Land Bank, 12 parcels have residences (8 owner-occupied, 4 rental), 3 parcels have churches, and 6 contain commercial businesses. Those uses would be able to continue as is. Any plan for expansion could be brought before the Board of Appeals on Zoning.
” (5) The Green Reserve Opportunity Area, described in the 2011 Master Plan, suggests few to no residences in the short term. It proposes that the area return to a ‘natural state.’ The Parks and Recreation plan adopted by City Council January 24, does not include this type of development.
” (6) The Light Industrial Warehouse (M-1) zoning district is described in the 2011 Master Plan as: “Intended to permit certain industries which are of a light manufacturing, warehousing, and wholesale character, and because of their relatively lower intensity of industrial activity, these uses can be integrated with nearby areas, such as commercial and residential.”
” (7) The 2011 Master Plan calls for refocus on the Urban Core of the City. Likewise, the River Corridor Master Plan calls for relocating incompatible type uses out of the riverfront and locate these in areas more suitable for this type of use. The proposed area to be rezoned, would represent areas that these types of use may be more suited.”
Protesters’ Petition
Bowen and Bulls say a preferred planning goal would seek to attract affordable housing. Their petition states:
“In Saginaw, we’re dealing with a rezoning issue on M-13, the Washington corridor, specifically the north end of town. The area affected has been designated as the ‘Green Zone’ for a number of years, which means that the residents couldn’t get any loans to upgrade their property, couldn’t acquire lots adjacent to expand, dwindling city services, so on & so forth. This caused the area to become desolate & unkept. Well, NOW the city wants to rezone it from green, skip over any R-1 or R-2 residential, and go to M-1 light industrial. Horribly problematic.
“A campaign has been waged by a community collective that includes The Ezekiel Project, Community Alliance for the People, First Ward, and Potters Touch Ministries to inform the community affected, which is largely unaware of what’s happening, and to also demand that city council reconsider this action. This area has been historically underserved and polluted by multiple industries. More industrial activity would only further harm it. We ask that you sign this petition and spread the word in support of our community and encourage our city’s elected officials to vote no to this action.”
A resident’s view
The First Ward now resembles a wooded campground of sorts, with houses and mowed adjacent lots scattered like cottages in an overgrown wilderness. The neighborhood has become quiet, with one of the city’s lowest crime rates.
Margaret Culpepper says garbage pickup and street plowing have remained on schedule, in spite of the petition’s claims. Several council members in the past had suggested stopping services as part of the “Green Zone” strategy, but they did not follow through.
Culpepper expresses mixed feelings regarding all the changes she has seen during the decades after she attended Potter School with her childhood siblings and friends, especially the transformation to more peaceful surroundings.
Does she still like her neighborhood?
“In a way, yes, and in a way, no,” she explains, “but they shouldn’t forget that there still are people living here.”
