Ann Arbor City Council Preview: August 21, 2023

The Y Lot. CA-9 is the sale of the Y Lot to the Ann Arbor Housing Development Corporation.

Gentle reader, it's #a2Council Night in Ann Arbor. Here's the agenda. 

The evening kicks off with a modest, 13-item consent agenda. Interestingly, street closures are back at the top of the consent agenda, after two meetings at the end. Wild times. CA-1 through CA-4 are all street closures. CA-1 is Festifall. CA-2 is for the Eli Lilly Mobile Research Unit. CA-3 is for the UM Show Your Love A2 Party. CA-4 is for the Neutral Zone's 25th Anniversary. 

Perhaps more interestingly, CA-9 is the sale of the Y Lot (350 S 5th) to the Ann Arbor Housing Development Corporation. This will be used to build a large building that includes a substantial portion of subsidized housing. You love to see it. Some people have questioned why the city is not just giving the property away to the Ann Arbor Housing Commission. The reason for that has to do with the bonds that the city took for the property sale. In order to protect the tax-exempt status of these bonds, the city has to sell the property at fair market value. You can read more in the administrator's report to council. 

There are three public hearings on the docket this evening. PH-1/B-1 is for a batch of routine township island annexations. PH-2/B-2 is the second reading of the ordinance adding the Home Energy Rating Disclosure requirement to the city's building code. PH-3/DB-1 is on the Brownfield plan for 303 N Fifth, and 312, & 314 Detroit Street. 
 
There are two ordinance first readings on the agenda this evening. C-1 is on rezoning 2670 & 2690 Ann Arbor-Saline Road from R1C to Office. C-2 is to make some tweaks to the city's recreational Cannabis law. Specifically it adds some new rules for Cannabis microbusinesses among other things. 

On to the resolutions. DC-1 is to appoint Vanesa Jackson to the Human Rights Commission as a non-resident elector. DC-2 is to approve the FY24 contract with SPARK. DC-3 is a resolution to urge the legislature to end the sale of flavored tobacco in the state. DC-4 is a resolution to approve disbursements from the community events fund. 

And that's all there is. What items are you most looking forward to seeing? Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2Council hashtag or on a2mi.social.