Residents cheer as Kalamazoo blocks development near nature preserve
Posted By: mlive on November 7, 2025. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
Kalamazoo officials have unanimously denied a controversial rezoning request near Asylum Lake Preserve for the third time. The planning commission’s decision was greeted with cheers and applause after more than three hours of public comments on Thursday, Nov. 6. The property in question is located north of the Asylum Lake Preserve, a 274-acre natural space owned by Western Michigan University.
Previously, the developer had planned to put a car wash on the property. This time around, the developer has been tight-lipped about the plan.
The preserve — which includes woodlands, wetlands and walking trails — is bordered by Stadium Drive and Drake Road, one of the city’s busiest intersections. Community members organized for weeks prior to the Nov. 6 meeting. A petition to deny rezoning for the property adjoining Asylum Lake Preserve sat at 14,342 signatures after the meeting. Nearly 70 residents spoke during a public hearing, filling the commission chambers, overflow room and hallways of City Hall.
Not one spoke in favor of rezoning the parcel.
A development this close to the preserve, speakers argued, would contribute to environmental and visual degradation of the natural space. Some compared commercial development near the preserve to development along the Kalamazoo River that lead to decades of pollution and costly cleanup.
“Recommending (commercial) zoning here would allow for substantially increased surfaces, toxic runoff, traffic noise and light pollution while eroding ecological health of the preserve and the quality of life,” said Woods Lake Association President Christopher Bovin.
Without the commission’s recommendation, the property will remain zoned for residential development, per city documents. The same parcel has come before the commission twice, in 2020 and 2023. Property owner Haji Tehran intended to build a Drive and Shine Car Wash on the site.
Both these requests were denied or withdrawn.
Tehran purchased the property for $2.5 million in 2017, per public records. It’s listed for sale as a “retail development” by Callander Development. Interest in the property dries up as soon as potential buyers learn it’s not zoned for commercial use, said Emily Palacios, an attorney representing Tehran. A new property owner was interested, City Planner Bobby Durkee said, under the condition it is rezoned for commercial use.
Grand Rapids developer Dave Rapp presented to the commission, but did not provide specific plans for the area. The rezoning request itself came from Stadium Drive #1 LLC, with an address connected to attorney Miller Johnson’s Kalamazoo office.
He has worked on everything from residential developments to industrial projects, Rapp said. “Mostly stand-alone retail uses, a lot less strip centers.” Rapp declined to comment after the meeting.
Left undeveloped, homeless encampments have moved on to the property, Palacios said, as photos of litter flashed on screen.
“The presence of that encampment is not a call for commercial development, but is a clear symptom of a neglected property and irresponsible community developers,” one resident said. In the city’s 2025 Master Plan and Strategic Vision, city officials slated the property for future commercial development. Rezoning the property would bring it into agreement with the bustling commercial district along Stadium Drive, per city documents, as well as the plan developed in the Master Plan.
The appeal of the heavily developed corridor along Stadium Drive near U.S. 131 is understandable, said Commissioner Brian Pittelko, but the parcel in question is more closely aligned with the homes and natural space to its south. Developers failed to demonstrate community need for rezoning this parcel, said Commissioner Roland Bissonnette. “With no real plan indicating what the land would be used for, you can’t articulate a need based off of vagaries,” Bissonnette said.
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