Ann Arbor City Council Preview: February 18, 2025

Gentle reader, tonight is a special Tuesday-edition of #a2Council. Here's the agenda. 

The evening kicks off with a healthy, 15-item consent agenda. CA-1, CA-2, CA-3, and CA-4 are all street closures for Take Back the Night, the Burns Park Run, Time to Teal, and Artoberfest, respectively. 

There are three public hearings on the docket tonight. PH-1 is on the second reading of the ordinance to amend the rules for the Public Market Advisory Commission, which oversees the Farmers Market. PH-2/DS-1 is the second reading of a routine township island annexation. The parcels in this annexation are located at 255, 315, 371 Scio Church Road, 2180 Ann Arbor-Saline Road. PH-3/DS-2 is the vacation of Cornwell Place. This is where someone accidentally built into a public space. 

There is one ordinance first reading on the agenda today. C-1 is for a routine township island annexation at 1146 S Maple. 

On to the resolutions. DC-3 is a resolution directing enhanced enforcement of the Bike Lane Ordinance. This is aimed at keeping vehicles and trash cans out of the bike lanes. You love to see this. 

DC-1 and DC-2 are resolutions relating to whether Ann Arbor should build it's own utility. Both have been postponed. DC-1 is to approve a $1.7M professional services agreement with NewGen Strategies and Solutions, LLC to complete grid asset valuation and municipalization study. DC-2 is to authorize city staff to preform the preliminary work to put a the question of acquisition of DTE's assets to a vote and prepare for litigation. There will be lots of callers about these items tonight. 

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

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: February 10, 2025 Working Session

Gentle reader, tonight is a special, working session edition of #a2Council. Here's the agenda. The real meat of it is tonight, Council will be seeing a presentation on the proposed revisions to the Comprehensive Plan. You can see that presentation here. 

Call to action: watch the presentation to council tonight. The meeting starts at 7. Call for public commentary at the end of the meeting and tell them you support an aggressive re-write of Ann Arbor's Comprehensive Land Use Plan to maximize affordability, equity, and sustainability. This means maximizing the amount of new housing allowed in all zones in the city. If you can't call in tonight, you can also email council. 

Previously:

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

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: February 3, 2025

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

The evening kicks off with a modest, 10-item consent agenda. CA-1 and CA-2 are street closures for Fool Moon and FestiFools, respectively. CA-3 is a street closure for the Big House 5k. 

There is one public hearing on the agenda this evening. PH-1/B-1 for the second reading of an ordinance to amend the rules for best value contracting. 

There are two ordinance first readings on the agenda tonight. C-1 is an ordinance to rezone 0.6 Acres from R1C to Public Land at 2570, 2576, and 2582 Dexter Road. Look, I love parks, but I wonder if Ann Arbor wouldn't be better served with housing here, instead of a pocket park. Especially this area, which is within walking distance of 2 grocery stores. 

C-2 is an ordinance to amend the rules for the Public Market Advisory Commission. This is the commission that oversees the Farmers Market. The changes here look like pretty standard updates to commission rules that commissions do from time to time. 

On to the resolutions, or, should I say resolution, because there is only one. DC-1 is a resolution to direct the City Attorney to provide a public legal memorandum regarding the City's intervention in DTE Proceedings before the the Michigan Public Service Commission. 

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