East Lansing Adopts First-In-State Mass Timber Incentive
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EmailThe East Lansing City Council has adopted changes to its zoning ordinance to create development incentives for mass timber construction, and to allow for mass timber production in certain areas of the city.
On Tuesday, November 19, 2024, the East Lansing City Council made their city the first in Michigan—and one of the first in the country—to incentivize mass timber through policy. In a unanimous decision, the Council Approved updates to its zoning code that aim to reduce the risk real estate developers face when taking on green construction or affordable housing developments that often require longer and more expensive planning processes.
“In adopting this building incentives ordinance, the Council signals that the City of East Lansing understands and welcomes the human and environmental benefits of decarbonizing its built environments including through mass timber construction,” says Sandra Lupien, Director, MassTimber@MSU.
The approved approach enables developers of mass timber, or LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) or affordable housing projects to earn points for those activities and then to spend those points on bonuses, such as additional floors or smaller lot sizes.
“From a mass timber perspective” says Lupien, “We hear the same thing from building developers and owners across the state: ‘We love mass timber, we want to choose mass timber, but as early adopters, we need help to make it pencil out.’ East Lansing has become the first city in Michigan and one of the first in the U.S. to directly address that need through policy, setting an example for other communities.”
Lupien, along with MassTimber@MSU Research Director, George Berghorn, Assistant Professor of Construction Management, served on a study committee led by Landon Bartley, the City’s Principal Planner, to help inform the zoning ordinance changes.
In addition to the incentives for mass timber, LEED, and affordable housing, the approved changes open the door for mass timber manufacture by allowing the production and processing of mass timber products in East Lansing.
Read the November 19, 2024 Staff Report to the City Council: https://cityofeastlansing.civicweb.net/document/389817/Consideration%20of%20Ordinance%201536,%20amendments%20to%20.pdf?handle=ED4B49E0FDF34A45A91444205ACCD597
Read an article about the Council’s Action in East Lansing Info:
https://eastlansinginfo.news/city-council-passes-building-incentives-system-picks-firm-to-lead-search-for-new-police-chief/
