East Lansing's City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, Sept. 8, to cut the downtown diverse housing requirement from 25% to 10% of units.

The change applies to developments in the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) district that require a special use permit. The council also gave developers two new options: build the required affordable units south of Saginaw Highway instead of downtown, or pay a fee into a city fund that supports diverse housing.

The issue came to a head when a developer proposed a 15-story apartment complex downtown but said the 25% requirement made the project too expensive, according to East Lansing Info. That developer ultimately shrank the proposal to 12 stories to avoid a height threshold that triggered the mandate. The 12-story project was approved at a site off Grand River Avenue that previously housed the Student Book Store.

Attorney Carrie Freeman, who represents East Lansing developers, presented the council with a protest petition carrying 175 signatures from landowners. The petition targeted a separate ordinance that could have expanded the diverse housing requirement to new zoning districts. The council considered three versions of that second ordinance and passed the version that does not expand the requirement.

The council sided with petitioners.

The path to the Sept. 8 vote started at the June 16 council meeting, where the council voted 4-1 to direct staff to draft the revision, according to council minutes. Councilmember Mark Meadows cast the lone dissenting vote. Mayor Erik Altmann, Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Grigsby, and Councilmembers Kerry Singh and Steve Whelan voted yes. At that same June 16 meeting, Altmann's initial motion to repeal the diverse housing requirement entirely failed for lack of a second, and a subsequent repeal motion was defeated 3-2, with Singh, Meadows and Grigsby voting no.

City manager search moves forward

At the same Sept. 8 meeting, the council approved a Request for Proposals (RFP) to hire a firm for a national search for East Lansing's next city manager.

The city will begin accepting proposals on Tuesday, Sept. 15. The council pushed its tentative decision date for selecting a firm from Tuesday, Oct. 13 to Tuesday, Oct. 20 to give firms more time to respond.

This is only the third city manager search since 1995. Ted Staton served from 1995 to 2011, George Lahanas from 2011 to 2023, and Robert Belleman from 2023 until his departure earlier in 2026. The city paid $19,000 for the 2023 search, according to East Lansing Info. Council members have signaled they want a more rigorous process this time.

"I want to make sure as part of the RFP collection that there's a demonstrated national search capacity that they've delivered on, not just that they claim to work nationally," Singh said at the council's Aug. 11 meeting, when the search was first discussed.

Interim City Manager Annette Irwin, who took the post June 22 after retiring from the city's Planning, Building and Housing Department, has said the search will take months after a firm is selected.