Ann Arbor City Council Preview: April 20, 2020

Tonight is the final #a2council meeting of April. Here's the agenda.

The evening kicks off with the administrator's presentation of the budget. Then a short, 10 item Consent Agenda. Don't let that fool you though, you know councilmembers are going to pull items off left and right! I am most excited about CA-7 and CA-8. These are are pre-entitlement resolutions for affordable housing at 415 W Washington and 350 S Fifth (Y Lot), respectively. Great to see these affordable housing developments going forward. CA-10 is also really important. It's a resolution adopting the A2Zero Carbon Neutrality Plan.

There are three public hearings on the docket tonight. PH-1/B-1 is for an amendment of the city's non-discrimination ordinance. PH-2/B-2 is the MSGCU Rezoning (2151 West Stadium) changing 0.6 acres from C2B (Business Service District) to C3 (Fringe Commercial District). PH-3/DB-1 is approval of the site plan for 2151 West Stadium.

C-1 is the first reading of an ordinance that "is to align the unit income target goals of the DDA Housing Fund with the City of Ann Arbor’s Affordable Housing goals as 60% of Area Median Income (AMI) and to clarify that the DDA Housing Fund can be used for plans, studies and processes that support the development of affordable in the downtown that includes 60% AMI households within a range of incomes." Sounds good to me.

Make sure you tune in tonight at 7 and follow #a2council on twitter for all the action.

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: April 6, 2020

Gentle reader, I hope you are well. Tonight is the first April #a2council meeting. Here is the agenda.

The evening kicks off with a dense, 26 item consent agenda. I am most excited about the sidewalk gap items: CA-8, CA-19, CA-22, and CA-23. Hopefully all these will pass.

There is one public hearing tonight. PH-1/B-1 is on rezoning 2151 West Stadium Boulevard which was a Szechuan West, I think. The building was demolished in 2011. The rezoning would be from C2B (Business Service District) to C3 (Fringe Commercial District).

C-1 is the rezoning for the proposed Garnet Building at 325 East Summit Street. This is now coming to council as a PUD after it didn't make it as campus business district, if I remember correctly. C-2 is an ordinance to amend the city's Non-Discrimination Ordinance to "Clarify Definition of Source of Income, Add Ethnicity as a Protected Class, and Add an Exception Allowing Discounts for Veterans."

I am very excited about DC-2, the resolution to direct planning commission to create a transite supported development district. Essentially a Transit Development District would be like a zoning overlay that would allow for greater density and reduced parking maximum along well served bus routes. CM Ackerman hosted a town hall on this recently. You can watch the video below.

Two points on this. First, a Transit Supported Development District is critical if we want to meet the city's carbon goals. Denser housing has a reduced carbon footprint; making it easier to bus and harder to drive also reduces our carbon footprint. Second, this is inline with the current Master Plan and my understanding is that transit oriented development is mentioned in Master Plans going back decades.

Another exciting resolution is DC-3. This would approve the Housing Commission spending $200k on emergency eviction prevention.

I am probably missing something in the agenda. Drop me a line in the comments and tell me what you're most excited about. As always, don't forget to watch on CTN at 7 and follow the action on the #a2council hashtag.