Monday, December 16, 2019

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: December 16, 2019

Seasons greetings gentle readers! Tonight is a magical night, the final night of #a2coiuncil for the decade. Here's the agenda.

There is a deep consent agenda with 23 items. Of note: CA-8, the contact for Community Visioning and Master Land Use Plan Services. This is the outreach of the master plan update. At last night's caucus meeting, there was talk of delaying this. So expect it to be pulled. There is also CA-17, which would prepare plans for the Jackson Ave sidewalk gap elimination project.

There are 3 public hearings on the agenda this evening. PH-2/DB-1. This is a resolution to approve the Project Site Plan a project on Hideaway Lane.

DC-1 is a resolution to support center of the city interim use and long term planning. So that could be contentious.

DC-3 is a resolution to endorse HB 4738, which would create a statewide crosswalk law. While this may sound good, it would supersede and weaken Ann Arbor's Crosswalk Ordinance. HB 4738 would make it so that cars must yield to pedestrians within crosswalks. Ann Arbor's Ordinance makes it so cars need to yield to pedestrians waiting to cross at crosswalks. To make cars yield the right-of-way, HB 4738 would make a pedestrian enter a crosswalk. This may seem minor for able-bodied people, but imagine someone who uses a wheelchair, or a parent pushing a stroller to have to put the stroller into the intersection before cars would have to yield. Ann Arbor's Crosswalk Ordinance is about changing behavior, and HB 4738 would weaken it.

Gentle readers, what agenda items are you most interested in? Make sure you tune in to the action tonight 7:00 on CTN and follow along with the #a2council hashtag on twitter.

Thursday, December 5, 2019

How can the Y Lot and the Old County Road Commission Building be used to help housing affordability in Ann Arbor?

Gentle readers, as you know, Ann Arbor is in the process of deciding what to do with several city-owned properties. Two of those properties are the Y Lot on William between 4th Ave and 5th Ave and the Old County Road Commission Building at 415 W. Washington, across from the current YMCA. Right now Ann Arbor is collecting input on how these properties can best be used to support housing and affordability. You can find more about these projects here. In addition to a survey on the project page, there are also 5 community discussion sessions on housing and affordability today and running through December 9th. Here are the session dates:

Thursday, Dec. 5 at the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, 150 S. 5th Ave., Suite 301, 5-9 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 6 at the Ann Arbor District Library Downtown Branch, third floor freespace, noon-4 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 7 at the Ann Arbor YMCA, Michigan Room, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 8 at Cirq, 210 S. 1st St., noon-4 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 9 at the Ann Arbor District Library Downtown Branch, third floor freespace, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
There is a housing shortage in Ann Arbor. There is insufficient affordable (subsidized) and market-rate housing. Please at the least take the survey and let the city know what you think. If you have the time, please go to one or more of the conversations and make sure your voice is heard.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: December 2, 2019

Gentle readers, it's the most wonderful time of year. That's right, it's time for the first December meeting of #a2council. Here's the agenda.

The evening kicks off with a reasonable 11 item consent agenda. The biggest item here is probably CA-7, a contract with Emterra Services for Recycling.

There are three public hearings tonight. PH-1/B-1 is on an ordinance to amend the city's fees around going out of Business Permits. The hearings for PH-2/DB-1 and PH-3/DB-2 are probably the most interesting. These are to approve the site plans for 212 S. State and 616 E Washington, together which would approve a 19-story building behind the Michigan Theater. This building uses an affordable housing premium to exceed the normal height limit in the D1 zone. I hope this project goes through.

Elsewhere in the agenda, there is DC-5, a resolution regarding the future of the Center of the City/Library Lot. Interestingly, this directs the Administrator to undertake several specific actions, even though the Center of the City Task Force is still compiling their report regarding their outreach efforts. This will likely unearth strong feelings about the Center of The City/Library Lot.

Gentle readers, what agenda items are you most interested in? Make sure you tune in to the action tonight 7:00 on CTN and follow along with the #a2council hashtag on twitter.