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	The Ypsilanti Courier A Heritage Newspaper Weekly Publication

Rezoning OK'd by City Council

By Christine Laughren, Staff Writer

PUBLISHED: April 24, 2008

The city of Ypsilanti will have more properties added to its tax roll after the City Council approved rezoning of three parcels that are part of the former Ave Maria College campus.

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The council approved the rezoning of 300 W. Forest and 305 Jarvis from a residential district to a Workshop Studio district at their April15 meeting.

The Council also approved the rezoning of 318 W. Forest from a one and two family residential parcel to a residential office space.

The buildings will be used as a base of operations for schoolpictures.com, a company that specializes in K-11 school pictures.

Skip Cerier, the president of schoolpictures.com, said the properties would be used for a photography studio, printing, publishing and office spaces.

"The exciting part for us is that we're able to take a building that has never produced a single penny in tax revenue an convert it into a source of income for the city," Cerier said.

Although some members of the City Council voiced concern, the rezoning of the property could be detrimental to the surrounding neighborhood, all of them agreed the increased tax revenue is much needed in the city.

Council member Brian Robb said some residents in the area were concerned about increased truck traffic in the neighborhood. However, Cerier assured council members truck traffic would not increase by much. He said his business would just be one more stop for the UPS truck, which goes through the neighborhood anyway.

Schoolpictures.com, currently at 2045 Hogback Rd. in Ann Arbor, looked at buildings in 18 cities and four states. Cerier said the company has seen sizable growth in the past few years and needed a larger building.

He said he decided on the Ave. Maria site due to the proximity to Eastern Michigan University and I-94. The size of the building and the available parking were also major factors.

The company eventually hopes to hire at least 200 people in the community. Cerier said photography, marketing and communications majors could also get experience interning.

The buildings have not been purchased yet but Cerier said he hope to close on them soon. He said the City Council has one more opportunity to look at the rezoning language.

Contact Staff Writer Christine Laughren at 697-8255 or at claughren@heritage.com