Company Abandons Plans for Ventilation Stacks Near Lafayette Park Playground

A heating and cooling company said it is abandoning its plans to install ventilation stacks near the Lafayette Park playground area following community backlash.

Detroit Thermal, which delivers heating and cooling to buildings through an underground network, had planned to install ventilation stacks near the Lafayette Park greenspace and playground as part of a development plan to upgrade and reconnect a steam line to the 1300 Lafayette East Cooperative. 

Several Lafayette Park residents spoke out against the proposal, saying they don't want steam vents near where their children play.

Harvey Hollins III, a spokeperson for Detroit Thermal, told The Detroit News the company is walking back its original plans for Lafayette Park, saying it won't place any ventilation stacks in the Lafayette Park playground area.

Detroit Thermal also confirmed that it won't remove any trees. Once the project is completed, the neighborhood landscape will be returned to its existing state. The company also said that the two ventilation stacks needed for the project will be shorter and narrower than standard stacks and “will be positioned safely and unobtrusively.”

According to information provided by Detroit Thermal, the 1300 Lafayette East Cooperative disconnected from Detroit's underground steam system several years ago. It invested in a self-contained boiler system, but when the boilers failed, the cooperative residents were forced to rent boilers “at an extraordinary financial cost and with a high rate of outages,” noted a statement in a press release.

“The Cooperative board asked Detroit Thermal to reconnect the building because the current boiler system is not sustainable, and the 600 residents desperately need a heating solution for the coming winter,” the company said.

James Fidler, a board member of one of those cooperatives, the Nicolet Co-op, told The Detroit News on Wednesday, April 30, that Detroit Thermal has not yet shared any updated information with residents.

Fidler added that “without seeing the actual plans” that Detroit Thermal is suggesting, it's difficult to determine “what they're asking of us at this point.”