Thursday, January 23, 2025

Come see the proposal for the new Comprehensive Land Use Plan tonight at Planning Commission


Proposed future zoning from tonight's Planning Commission Presentation

Gentle readers, tonight is a very important meeting of the Planning Commission. Here's the agenda

Call to action: please call or write Planning Commission. Tell them that you support the new Comprehensive Land Use Plan but that they should skip the Retail Hub and Innovation Hub districts. While you are at it, encourage smaller minimum lot sizes and a larger and taller downtown. 

The consultants who have been working on the updated Comprehensive Land Use Plan will be presenting their proposal for the new plan. I've been a member of the Comprehensive Land Use Steering Committee, which has advised the consultants during the duration of this process. 

Overall I think the proposed plan does a great job of addressing the goals Council set forth: improving affordability, equity, and sustainability. 

Now I am going to nitpick. 

  • I want to make sure that in the low rise residential district, the maximum height is at least 45' and that minimum lot size is no more than 1200 sq ft. This will help to maximize affordability by reducing land costs for projects. It will allow more people to live near transit and their workplaces improving sustainability. You can read more about my lot size thoughts here: Legalize Cottage Courts.
  • The Core/Downtown Hub district should be expanded. It should reach at least south to Hoover, east to Washtenaw, and north to the river. I also think the North Main Corridor should be Core/Downtown Hub. This area is well served by transit and close to amenities like the Border to Border Trail. I'd love to see some high rises here to great people when the enter the city from the North. Expanding downtown will have the added benefit of making it more costly for U of M to expand into city land. There should also be no height limit for this district. It's wild that Ann Arbor made one tall building in 1969 and has not built anything even close to that height since then. Bring on true skyscrapers. They skyline is looking too uniform and boxy. As for the case for expanding downtown, check out Abdul Ateya's article here: Improving Housing Affordability by Expanding Downtown.
  • Finally, I don't think there is any need for the Innovation and Retail districts. My understanding is that these districts would limit the amount of housing that can be built in these zones. To put it plainly, we are in a housing crisis, not a strip mall crisis--well not the sort of crisis where we need to preserve our existing strip malls. These districts go beyond the mandates that council set forth and they add needless complication to the zoning code. If you would like to take a deep dive into this, please check out the Leaf-Levin Memo: Restrictive Districts
Again, the call to action for you, gentle reader, is to call-in tonight or email Planning Commission and encourage them to go farther. This is a generational opportunity to begin to address our community's affordability and sustainability crises. The Planning Commission meeting starts tonight at 7. Make sure you follow the #a2Council hashtag on Bluesky for blow by blow coverage. 

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: January 21, 2025

 


Gentle readers, tonight is a special Tuesday edition of #a2Council. Here's the agenda. The meeting is pretty short and a lot of the drama will likely be in the public comments at the start of the meeting. People will be calling in to share their thoughts DC-2, the resolution to authorize the city administrator to engage the AADL in discussion regarding the potential development on the Library Lot. If you want to know what we think about the Library Lot, please read this guest opinion: Desolate and Uninviting—The Failure of 2018’s Proposal A and the Future of the Library Lot.

The meeting kicks off with a scant, 5-item consent agenda. Of note, CA-1, street closures for the Shamrocks and Shenanigans run, March 9th. 

There are no public hearings on the agenda tonight, but there is a ordinance first reading. C-1 is an ordinance to amend the rules around best value procurement. 

On to the resolutions. DC-1 is a resolution authorizing a settlement City of Ann Arbor v 201 N Fourth. My reading of this is that the owner of 201 N Fourth accidentally built onto a city owned alley. My understanding is that this settlement has the 201 N Fourth buying the encroached upon property for an undisclosed price. 

DC-2 is tonight's spicy chili and what many of the public comments will be about. This resolution may be the beginning of the end of the Library Lot Debacle. The Ann Arbor District Library has expressed interest in working with the city to build something on the Library Lot. This resolution directs the administrator to begin working with the AADL on this. It is very exciting to see something happening here. 

Wrapping up the evening we have, DS-1 is a resolution to issue up to $12m in bonds for capital improvements to Fire Station No. 4. 

If you want to follow the blow by blow tonight, make sure you check out the #a2Council hashtag on Bluesky. 

Monday, January 6, 2025

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: January 6, 2025

 


Gentle readers, tonight is the first #a2Council meeting of the new year. Here's the agenda

The evening kicks off with a modest, 10-item consent agenda. Of note, CA-1, a resolution to approve $16,000 for mussel relocation relating to the Gallup Bridge construction project. CA-2 is a resolution approving a contract with the shelter association of Washtenaw County for 2024-2025 winter emergency shelter and warming center. 

There are four public hearings on the docket this evening. PH-1/B-1 is for the second reading of an ordinance to amend the Universal Development Coder rules for fences, reimbursements, & public and private utilities. PH-2/B-2 is for the second reading of an ordinance updating the snow emergency parking rules. PH-3/B-3 is for the second reading of the ordinance preventing landlords from charging exorbitant pre-tenancy fees to potential renters. Really glad to see council addressing this. PH-4/DS-1 is a public hearing on setting the cost for selling new city flags. The proposal is $10.00 for a "parade flag" and $65.00 for a "large city flag." 

There are just two resolutions on the agenda this evening. DC-1 is a resolution to approve a contract for legal services with Dykema to take point on the lawsuit stemming from city employees refusing to get vaccinated against COVID. The other is the aforementioned DS-1 pertaining to flag sales. 

If you want to follow the blow by blow tonight, make sure you check out the #a2Council hashtag on Bluesky.