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February 26, 2006Allen intervened on deckHe suggested alernate plan be withdrawn
Allen
Local developer Gerald Snowden dropped his cheaper parking deck plan after Allen waded into the deal, a day after Snowden approached city officials in January with a plan for a 500-space deck at 305 W. Front St., property he plans to develop into a mixed-use project. City commissioners never saw Snowden's cheaper alternative. On Monday, commissioners will consider a bond issue of up to $16 million to pay for public parking and other improvements related to Uzelac's Federated Properties project. Allen, of Traverse City, accepted at least $20,000 in campaign contributions from an Uzelac associate, Louis P. Ferris, Jr., CEO of Federated Properties, the company backing Uzelac's proposed 100-foot-tall mixed use project downtown. Other Uzelac development associates contributed at least another $12,000 to Allen campaign coffers, according to Secretary of State records. Allen said he hasn't taken any extraordinary measures to assist Federated Properties' projects, or other developments by his donors. "To the best of my knowledge, not any different than I did for anybody else," Allen said. Millions less Snowden delivered a letter to Bryan Crough, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, a plan to build a parking deck for as much as $2 million to $3 million less than a proposal by Federated Properties, Uzelac's backers. City manager Richard Lewis also was aware of Snowden's proposal. Allen said he advised Crough that Snowden should retract his letter. "It is my understanding that I made the suggestion that it be withdrawn," said Allen. "The very next day we withdrew the letter," said Snowden, who would not comment on why he retracted the letter. Lewis said he left it up to Snowden to tell the city commission about his offer to build a less costly deck. Lewis said he told Snowden: "If you want to go to the city commission ... it is your call to make. If that is what you want to do ... you can bring it up if you feel that strongly." Lewis's failure to inform commissioners troubled at least one of them. "I didn't know anything about it and sure would have liked to," said commissioner Deni Scrudato. Lewis said Snowden's parking deck plan priced the per-space cost at about $16,000. Lewis said Snowden's proposal offered only a price with no other "documentation." Federated Properties estimated a range of $20,205 to $22,412 per space. Allen talked to Lewis after Snowden submitted his proposal. Lewis said he does not recall if he called Allen or Allen called him. They discussed state brownfield funds - tax money typically earmarked to clean up abandoned or polluted industrial sites - to help fund a parking deck, Lewis said. An earlier version of the brownfield plan showed those funds should be spent for a parking deck on Snowden's property, at the southwest corner of Pine and West Front. But the plan was amended last year to show $5.49 million for a parking structure on the southeast corner, where Federated Properties plans its project. Allen said he suggested that Snowden's deck proposal be withdrawn because two projects created "confusion." "(The) Federated project was well along," he said. But Scrudato questioned Allen's involvement. "What business is it of Senator Allen's?" she said. Allen contributors Uzelac, of Howell, said he met Allen about two years ago at an economic group event at the Charlevoix Country Club. The chance encounter with Allen launched Uzelac's plan to change the face of West Front Street. "Jason was the guy that originally introduced me to Traverse City," Uzelac said in November. "He is the real reason that I am there. He is a great asset for Traverse City." The relationship also benefits Allen campaign funds. Investors associated with Uzelac projects donated at least $32,000 to the state senator's campaign and his political action committee, The Republican Victory Committee. "Talking with them, they believe in me ...," Allen said of the donors. "I have been a leader in the Michigan senate and (they) believe in the direction that I am trying to focus on, investments in downtowns." Uzelac met Allen when Uzelac worked with his cousin's development company on a controversial project in Petoskey. Later, Uzelac joined Ferris, a Farmington Hills businessman, to start Federated Properties. Ferris donated $10,000 to Allen in June 2005 and $10,000 in October. Allen also received a $10,000 committee donation in June from James L. Wilson of Grosse Pointe Farms. Wilson is an associate with Uzelac in the Petoskey project. He and Joy Wilson, listed at the same Grosse Pointe Farms address, also contributed $1,000 each on July 28, 2004, to Allen's campaign fund, Friends of Jason Allen. Another one-time Petoskey partner gave $1,000 to Allen's campaign. Wilson could not be reached for comment. Ferris, through his assistant, refused an interview request. Allen also received at least another $4,000 in contributions from members of the local Calcutt family since 1998. Uzelac bought or holds an option on West Front Street property owned by the Harry Calcutt Trust. The trust was also the previous owner of Snowden's West Front site. Allen assistance Allen said he works with many developers, not all of whom make donations. "That is not my criterion, whether you give me money or not," he said. But Allen did tip Uzelac and Federated Properties to another development possibility in Rogers City, a "brownfield" site with environmental problems in a tax-free renaissance zone. The city's development authority spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to prepare the property for a project. Federated Properties plans 22 single-family homes for the Rogers City site. "We got Mike basically because of Jason Allen," said Rogers City mayor Beach Hall. The state senator was "very well aware" of the city's problems in attracting a developer to the site, he said. "It is a very important project for the city," Hall said. Federated Properties' projects in Rogers City and Traverse City have received a host of public incentives, including $5.6 million in tax credits. Allen said he didn't help the developer obtain those credits, awarded by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Uzelac thanked Allen in the MEDC press release that announced the Rogers City credit. Allen said he "would assume" the thank you was for pointing Uzelac to the Rogers City site.
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