KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — Most proposals for rezonings in Michigan communities get passed without question after going through planning commissions and staff, but an unusually ambitious plan to rezone 243 parcels in Kalamazoo’s Southtown area went down in flames at Kalamazoo City Hall Monday night after city staff worked on it for months to get it ready and property owners trashed it.
It was the first Planning Department proposal to spring out of City Hall following the approval of the latest Master Plan.
City Staff argued that the change in zoning would create a more residential friendly transition between the downtown and the Edison and Vine neighborhoods, and provide the kinds of businesses and services needed in those areas.
Property owners told commissioners that the more restrictive zoning would make their properties less valuable, because there would be less they could build on them, and in some cases the limitations would prevent them from ever being profitable.
Not only did the motion to approve the zoning changes fail to get a majority vote, it failed to get a get a vote at all because there was no second for the motion.
