Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: February 16, 2021


 What better way to celebrate a snowy Fat Tuesday than with a #a2counil meeting? Here's the agenda. If you'd like a deeper dive into some parts of the agenda, check out the latest episode of A2AF. 

The evening kicks off with a deep, 22-item consent agenda. Of note, CA-5, traffic calming for Glenwood. Also, CA-12, street closing in front of Conor O'Neil's for St. Patrick's. At the risk of editorializing, are we really at a place where we should be encouraging drunken revelry? I guess it'll be outside...

There are two public hearings on the docket for this evening. PH-1/DB-1 is on the site plan for St. Francis of Assisi, 2150 Frieze Ave. The parish is planning a 2-story, 14,570 sq ft addition. Are site approvals for religious institutions just a formality? Does anyone have a good grasp of the intersection between RLUIPA and local zoning law? PH-2/DB-2 is the site plan for 907 and 913 S. Main. This by-right project involves the demolition of two single family houses and replacing them with a 6-unit apartment complex. The real question here is: why do we make by-right projects come up for review by council?

Elsewhere on the agenda, we have C-1, a routine township island annexation. DC-2 is a motion to reconsider the council rules amendment from last council meeting. It's probably the first spicy chili of the night. We've also got DC-3, a resolution to determine the cost feasibility of supplemental snow removal within the DDA boundaries. This may seem like a no-brainer. But my understanding is that this is already handled by the downtown business improvement zones. For a deeper dive into this check out the latest episode of the Ann Arbor AF podcast. 

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.

Sledding hills, 2021

 

Gentle reader, I am sure you've noticed that we have some snow today. AAPS has called a virtual snow day and that must mean you have sledding on the mind. My personal favorite sledding spot is Huron Hills Golf Course. It is steep and has a great long run. I know people also love the hills at Vets Park and Hunt Park. In Ypsilanti, Riverside Park and Ypsi High are also very popular. If you do go sledding today, make sure you follow CDC guidelines on outdoor social distancing.

Enough about me gentle reader, what are your favorite sledding hills? Here's an article from the Damn Arbor archives with more information on sledding hills. Note: This article was first published on Dec. 27th, 2012.

Look out your window. We've got some snow. It's the holidays so you really have no excuse not to go sledding. With that in mind, I am posting some links to some classic articles about sledding in Ann Arbor:

Guide to Ann Arbor: Sled-DANG! In A2 from Damn Arbor's very own Quinn Davis

Sledding on Arborwiki

Guide to the Ann Arbor area's best sledding hills by Ed Vielmetti

I will add this: Huron Hills is probably my favorite sledding spot in the city (see this article on the Chronicle). The Arb is pretty sweet for sledding too. But the frozen hummocks of grass kind of hurt your bum as your sled there. But really it doesn't matter where you sled, as long as you get out and enjoy yourself.

Monday, February 1, 2021

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: February 1, 2020

 


Gentle reader, tonight's the first council meeting of the shortest month of the year. Here's the agenda. Also, check out the latest episode of Ann Arbor AF where the take a deep dive into the agenda. 

The evening kicks off with a decent, 16 item consent agenda. Item's 5 through 8 are all purchasing conservation easements. CA-10 and 11 are purchasing parkland. Nice. 

On to the public hearings. We've got 4 on the docket tonight. Two rezonings and associated PH-1/B-1 is the rezoning for the new Lockwood development. The site at 2195 Ellsworth is being rezoned from R1C to PUD. PH-2/DB-1 is the public hearing approving the PUD for the site (I think this is like the site plan. PH-3/B-1 is the rezoning of 2111 Packard and PH-4/DB-2 is the site plan for this project. 2111 Packard is currently zoned Parking and this would the zoning it to allow mixed use three story buildings on the site. I think we can all agree that forcing parking through zoning is a bad use for land. 

Moving down the agenda we have DC-1, a resolution to appoint 3 at large members to the Council of the Commons. DC-2, the resolution to join WRRMA, the county solid waste org. DC-3 is a "Resolution to Determine Cost and Feasibility of Supplemental Snow and Ice Removal" sounds benign, but part of it is looking at shoveling out people's driveways after plows go by. This may be a spicy chili. DC-4 is cool, it's a plan to support equitable community engagement. DC-5 is a resolution to amend council rules with an eye towards helping meetings not last so long. DC-6 is a resolution to allow a drive through COVID testing site at Briarwood. This is one drive through I am happy to see. Finally, we have DC-7, a "Resolution to Restate the Purpose and Membership of the Council of the Commons." I have not read this because it's so late. 


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.