Developers and a few lawmakers have opposed the ordinances, and have either offered land swap deals or threatened lawsuits to avoid the proposed laws.
The city is the strongest office market in Southeast Michigan, and is home to many Fortune 500 headquarters. The city hosts the Kmart headquarters and Delphi, a tier-one automotive supplier, as well as many financial companies.
City officials admit the many acres of developments over the last 50 years have paved over natural wetland and streams, creating flooding in the local natural rivers, which act as drains for the city. The water flows into the Clinton River and into Lake St. Clair, which has had many beach shut-downs over recent years because of E. coli concerns.
Cities such as Troy are being accused of flooding the sanitary sewers with rainwater runoff, and sending sewage into the rivers.
Landowners and developers complained enough to force the removal of the laws.
Mayor Matt Pryor, a builder by day, says he is going to meet with the rest of the city council to discuss other methods of beautifying the area without taking land, such as requiring developers to plant trees with projects, shifting density from wet areas to dry lands, allowing the sale of development rights to be accompanied by deed restrictions and shifting of taxes and passage of a millage to purchase natural areas.
Also, the city voters are set to vote on a .5-millage increase April 1. That would raise about $2.4 million each year for 10 years to buy about 20% of 356 parcels in the city. Certain large parcels, such as those owned by local developer Joel Garret, have been waiting for new projects while this debate goes on.
"I guess I'm not sad to see the laws go. If people want to protect wetlands, there's other ways to go about it other than taking people's property and shut down all development," he says.
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