Monday, December 21, 2020

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: December 21, 2020

 


Happy Solstice gentle readers! Tonight is the last #a2council meeting of 2020. What a year it's been. Here's the agenda

Even before we get to the consent agenda, I wanted to share the Healthy Streets Project Finding, which will be shared with council tonight. One thing it is worth nothing is that these street modifications were effective at reducing driver speed. 


Given how effective this program was, if we are still in some form of social distancing this spring, I hope council will implement People Friendly Streets again. 

Hopping into the consent agenda. We've got a moderate 15 items on the docket this evening. Of note: CA-5, appropriating an additional $50k to barrier busters. CA-10 is buying two electric Ford Mustangs for the Police. CA-15 is approving the contract with the police union. 

There are two public hearings on tonight's agenda. PH-1/B-1 is on the ordinance to exempt residential solar installations from height restrictions when placed on flat roofs. PH-2/B-2 is on the change to water rates. This will probably be a spicy chili. 

On to the new ordinance, first readings. C-1 makes several changes to the zoning ordinance. From my brief reading this looks like these changes are pretty minor. C-2 creates rules for electric vehicle parking. C-3 is the first reading of a zoning change for the new Lockwood Senior Living facility. This new iteration of the project is seeking rezoning of 2195 Ellsworth from R1C (single-family) to PUD. Of the 154 unites in the building, a minimum of 42% would be subsidized and designated low-income unites for a period of 99 years. There may be some opposition to this, but I think this should easily pass the new council. Finally C-4 is a rezoning of the parking lot at 2111 Packard from P (parking) to C3 (fringe commercial). Any time we can get rid of mandatory parking that is a good thing. 

Rounding out the agenda with the resolutions. We've got DC-1 which concerns Short Term Rentals. DC-2 is the adoption of council rules. Based on statements by some CMs I would not be surprised if this is a spicy chili. DC-3 endorses HV 241, the Water Shutoff Protection Act. And finally, DC-4 appoints 4, as yet unnamed, members to the Council of the Commons. 

As always, gentle reader, I am probably forgetting some very important items here. What agenda items are you most looking forward to seeing. I am guessing that tonight will be another late night around the virtual council table. Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2council hashtag.


Monday, December 7, 2020

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: December 7, 2020


Haul out the holly gentle reader, we are entering the final month of #a2council meetings. Here's the agenda

The evening kicks off with an early spicy chili, MC-1, the Mayor's nominations and appointments. In comments at the last council meeting, CM Hayner has indicated that he has some issues with some of these nominations. Then we move to a modest, 12-item, consent agenda. Of note, CA-12, $102,456.04 to purchase 4 police motorcycles. 

There are 7 public hearings on the agenda. PH-1/B-1 is an updated to the sign ordinance. PH-2/B-2 is a rezoning of 0.14 acres at 1043 N Main from AG (Agricultural) to RD1 (Single Family Residential). PH-3/DB-1 and PH-4-DB-2 are township island annexations. PH-5/DB-3 is the approval of the Brightdawn Village Rezoning Plan. This 120 unit project at 2805 Burton has received some criticism from neighbors so I would not be surprised if there is some commentary here. PH-6/D-2 confirms the Barton Drive resurfacing and special assessment.  PH-7/DC-3 is a sidewalk gap filling on Nixon and Traver. This may look like a ton of public hearings, but if I were a betting man, I'd guess there will not be a ton of people speaking during PH-1 through PH-4. 

Elsewhere in the agenda we have C-1, which initiates the next round of township island annexations. C-2 is the first reading of an ordinance to update water rates. I'd expect there to be some debate between the CMs during this agenda item. DC-2 is an update to how floodplains are treated in the Uniform Development Code. Based on last night's Council Caucus session there will probably be some discussion on this. There is also DC-3 a resolution to revise the resolution to ask the EPA to intervene in the Gelman Plume. This will probably be the spiciest chili of the night. 

As always, gentle reader, I am probably forgetting some very important items here. What agenda items are you most looking forward to seeing. I am guessing that tonight will be another late night around the virtual council table. Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2council hashtag.