Ypsilanti tackles film permits, Water Street development

Ypsilanti is paving the way for two subjects that figure prominently into its future – Water Street and filming.The City Council is debating ordinances that would smooth the way for selling parts of the Water Street property to developers and streamlining the permit process for movies.The 38-acre Water Street property just southeast of downtown is still up for grabs for development. The city bought a number of commercial, industrial, and residential properties a few years ago with the idea of packaging them all together for a developer to create an urban, mixed-use development along the Huron River. Well, the bottom fell out of the real-estate market and then the economy, prompting the developer to abandon the project. The city has been looking for one since and is now looking at selling off the land in chunks for a strip-mall, fast-food, and apartment developments. Deals to sell the land are expected to be done before the end of the year. The new ordinance will allow the City Council to sell the plots by resolution instead of passing a new ordinance for each sale.”They’re all still working in tandem,” says April McGrath, assistant city manager for Ypsilanti.The City Council is also looking at creating a film permit to replace the special event permit it has used for the handful of movies that have been shot in Ypsilanti. Special event permits are used for festivals and such. McGrath explains that films will be charged for the resources they use when shooting in the city, such as staff time or police barricades.”It will end up being more because they cost us more,” McGrath says.Source: April McGrath, assistant city manager for YpsilantiWriter: Jon Zemke