AUDIO: Kalamazoo city commission holding public hearings on housing proposals

KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo city commissioners will hold a couple of public hearings on rezoning to permit new housing in the community.

The big project is a proposal to put 80 new units at Burdick and Vine just west of Bronson Hospital. Developer Jamari Bogen says it will be called the “B on Burdick,” what they call “workforce housing.”

The current zoning would not permit the five-story structure he has planned.

The other project would rezone all the residential properties along Roskam and Millard Courts, from industrial to mixed residential and manufacturing. It was last zoned industrial in the 1950s but has remained a residential area, despite rezonings nearby as recently as two years ago.

Assistant city planner Bobby Durkee says rezoning will allow a couple that wants to build a foster home on a vacant lot to move forward with their plan, and all provide all property owners in that area with more flexibility.

Anyone with comments on either rezoning can be heard tonight at 7 at Kalamazoo City Hall.