[robk1982]

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...move_forw.html

By Blake Thorne | Flint Journal


FLINT, Michigan — A missed procedural vote in the Senate earlier this month looks like it won’t derail a developer’s plans for the Michigan School for the Deaf campus.

Lawmakers behind the measure to sell the about 80-acre campus on Miller Road knew last week they had their work cut out for them if they wanted to get at least 25 Senators back on the Senate floor to fix the oversight keeping the bill from passing.

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On Wednesday morning, 36 senators returned to Lansing to give immediate effect to the bill and a handful of other bills with similar problems, said Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, who sponsored the Senate version of the bill.

Plans call for developer Lurvey White Ventures to put $36 million into the campus, building a new school for the MSD and renovating an existing building into a new home for Powers Catholic High School.

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"All the parts of the puzzle are together," Gonzales said.

The vote is the second step forward for the project this week. On Monday, the state awarded Lurvey White a $5.6 million brownfield tax credit for the project.

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The project isn’t without opposition. Leadership of an alumni group had called for people to protest at the steps of the Capitol, claiming the deal “"lacks needed accommodations of MSD students and will cost exorbitant amounts that will drive the school out of existence," according to a release from the Michigan School for the Deaf Alumni Association.

More than a half-dozen protesters rallied against the legislation outside the state Capitol before lawmakers came into session. Protesters carried signs that read "No Deaf Child Left Behind" and had other messages saying the sale could put jobs at risk because of privatization.

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John Ehlke | The Flint Journal
The Michigan School for the Deaf's Fay Hall.