LANSING – Legislative officials expressed regret that the Detroit City Council voted Tuesday to reject a plan to expand Cobo Center, but said they were still committed to efforts to expand the facility and keep the North American International Auto Show in the city.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm also expressed disappointment at the action, and doubted that Legislature would be interested in revisiting the issue.

House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) was hopeful the council would reverse itself, possibly after Tuesday’s primary election vote. The council could technically reverse itself since a final decision from the council needs to be in hand by next week.

But Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) said he wasn’t sure what else state officials could do to arrive at an agreement that would satisfy both city officials and regional leaders.

Indeed, the council acted a day after Senate Minority Floor Leader Buzz Thomas (D-Detroit) said the agreement guaranteed city oversight for a regionalized Cobo because decisions by a newly created regional board would have to be unanimous.

The council voted 5-3 to reject the legislative solution on oversight of a $288 million expansion of the facility. The proposal brought by Council President Monica Conyers had failed on earlier votes.

Conyers and other council members argued that the legislation signed last month by Granholm was unfair to the city in part because council members were not part of the negotiations. Under the legislation, unless the city rejected the transfer, ownership and operations of Cobo would be turned over from the city to a regional authority that included officials from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties as well as the state.

Earlier this month, council members had asked officials representing Granholm to consider new negotiations, and they were told the agreement reached in December was the best the city could get.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said he was stunned by the action, and said the county had no incentive to negotiate any other arrangement to expand and revitalize the center.

Debate and discussion on expanding Cobo has been underway for several years, with officials worried that the auto show – once the premier show on the planet, but now in competition with the shows in Los Angeles and Geneva for most prestigious – would move to Chicago or another location with a larger facility.

Auto show officials said they were hopeful the council’s decision was not a final decision but only a temporary setback.

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