Monday, March 1, 2021

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: March 1, 2021

 


It's that time again gentle reader. Tonight is the first #a2council meeting of March. Here's the agenda, and here's the A2AF episode about the meeting

The evening kicks off with a scant, six-item consent agenda. Of note, CA-4, which would allow sidewalk cafes in MDOT right of ways. 

There is one public hearing tonight, PH-1/DC-3. This is a resolution that would set fees to cover annual investigation and review of on-prem liquor licenses. This resolution would set the annual fee at $50 for this year and raise it to $90 in subsequent years. 

Further down the agenda there are five ordinance first readings tonight. C-1 and C-2 are both rezonings to make nature areas. C-3 is a routine annexation of a township island on Newport Road. C-4 is an ordinance to clarify that new construction should still be responsible for building sidewalks in light of the sidewalk millage. C-5 is an ordinance that would prohibit housing discrimination against formerly incarcerated people. Props to CMs Nelson and Radina for bringing this forward. 

DC-1 is, perhaps, the first spicy chili on tonight's agenda. This is a resolution to waive attorney-client privilege on advice regarding the new council rules.  I don't really know where to start with this one. Some CMs feel that the new council rules, specifically, the section that asks them to take their beefs to the Council Administration Committee rather than air them during council, represents unlawful viewpoint discrimination. They want the Michigan ACLU to redteam the City Attorney's Office, I think. The part I don't get is, if the new council rules constitute illegal viewpoint discrimination, why does the ACLU need to see the City Attorney's advice? There is a good discussion of this on the latest A2AF podcast, linked above. 

DC-2 is a resolution to evaluate alternative proposals for 2857 Packard. Apparently the development plan for the Weber Property is in rough waters. DC-4 awards a five-year recycling contract to Recycle Ann Arbor. 

DC-5 is exciting. It's a resolution directing the City Administrator to assess the feasibility, and propose cost estimates and strategies for a municipal sidewalk snow removal program, among other things. This resolution has some great whereas clauses. Very exciting to see this happening. 

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.

No comments:

Post a Comment