House Plan OK’d at Former Bindery Site

The Ann Arbor planning commission, at its March 15, 2011 meeting, unanimously recommended approval of a site plan for a single-family house at 215 N. Fifth Ave. – formerly the site of the Bessenberg Bindery, which has moved to the Thomson-Shore Inc. facility in Dexter. The plan calls for tearing down the building and constructing a two-story, single-family, owner-occupied house with an attached two-car garage. The garage will be accessed from the public alley on the west side of the site. Architect Dick Mitchell was on hand to describe the design.

The project requires a site plan because the single-family house is on property that’s not zoned solely for residential purposes. It’s zoned D2 (downtown interface) and is located in the Old Fourth Ward Historic District. The Ann Arbor Historic District Commission has already reviewed the site plan and issued a certificate of appropriateness at its Feb. 10, 2011 meeting. The project will next be voted on by city council for final approval.

This brief was filed from the boardroom in the Washtenaw County administration building, where the planning commission is meeting due to renovations in the city hall building. A more detailed report will follow.