Archive for September, 2012

The rezoning for a Speedway gas station at the northeast corner of North Maple and Miller got initial approval from Ann Arbor city council at its Sept. 4, 2012 meeting. The site plan and the rezoning for the gas station had been recommended for approval by the Ann Arbor planning commission at its July 17, 2012 meeting.

The council gave its approval to the site plan on Sept. 4, but the rezoning issue will need to come back for a second and final approval, as all rezoning requests must. Rezoning of land is a change to the city’s ordinances, and because of that an initial vote of the council is required, followed by a public hearing and a second vote … [Full Story]

The third of four steps associated with a tax abatement for Barracuda Networks was taken by the Ann Arbor city council at its Sept. 4 meeting – setting a public hearing on the tax abatement, to be held Oct. 1, 2012.

The council had previously set a hearing on the establishment of an industrial development district (Michigan’s Act 198 of 1974) at 317 Maynard St. in downtown Ann Arbor and voted to establish that district at its Aug. 9, 2012 meeting. That set up the opportunity for Barracuda Networks to apply for a tax abatement as it moves from its current location on Depot Street to the downtown site. [.jpg of parcel map showing 317 Maynard] [.jpg of aerial photo ... [Full Story]

At total of 13 organizations were allocated $44,778 from the community events fund in the Ann Arbor city council’s annual allocation at its Sept. 4, 2012 meeting. The largest amount given to any one organization was $25,000 to the Ann Arbor Summer Festival for Top of the Park, followed by $6,000 to the Ann Arbor Jaycees for their summer carnival and Fourth of July parade. In many cases, the allocation from the community events fund was awarded to cover costs assessed by the city – for street closures, for example.

The complete breakdown of awards: Ann Arbor Jaycees ($6,000 for the Summer Carnival and the Fourth of July Parade); Main Street Area Association ($1,000 for the Rolling Sculpture Car Show); Ann Arbor … [Full Story]

A three-story townhouse with five housing units at 922-926 Catherine St. got an initial approval from the Ann Arbor city council at its Sept. 4, 2012 meeting. The rezoning request associated with the project had been recommended for approval at the July 17, 2012 meeting of the Ann Arbor planning commission.

The two vacant parcels are on the south side of Catherine between Ingalls and Glen, across from the University of Michigan School of Nursing building. The lots are located in the Old Fourth Ward historic district.

The development – which according to the owner, Tom Fitzsimmons, will be marketed to students, UM employees, young homebuyers, and empty nesters – entails rezoning the parcels from PUD (planned unit development) to R4C … [Full Story]

A plan to expand Knight’s Market, at the northeast corner of Spring and Miller, has received its final authorization from the city. The Ann Arbor city council approved the site plan and gave final approval to the rezoning necessary for the plan at its Sept. 4, 2012 meeting.

The market’s owner, Ray Knight, also owns two separate, adjacent parcels. (Knight is perhaps best known for his family’s restaurant, Knight’s Steakhouse, located at 2324 Dexter Ave.) The grocery store has been on land zoned C1 (local business) and M1 (light industrial). Another parcel at 306-308 Spring St. was zoned R2A (two-family dwelling) and M1, and contains two single-family homes and part of a parking lot. The third parcel at 310 Spring St. … [Full Story]

A recount of ballots cast in the Aug. 7, 2012 Democratic primary election left results unchanged in all elections in Washtenaw County that were recounted. The recount took place on Sept. 4, 2012 and was conducted by the Washtenaw County board of canvassers.

The recount of the Ward 4 Ann Arbor city council race confirmed that incumbent Margie Teall had the most votes.

The initial count of ballots across the nine precincts of Ward 4 showed Teall with a total of 866 (50.5%) votes, compared to 848 (49.5%) votes for Jack Eaton. In the recounted totals, each candidate lost a vote in Precinct 4-9. In Precinct 4-6, Teall picked up one vote and Eaton lost one, leaving Eaton and Teall with 846 and 866 votes, … [Full Story]

In a report on the Aug. 21, 2012 Ann Arbor planning commission meeting, we incorrectly reported that Food Gatherers distributed 5.75 million tons of food during the last fiscal year. The amount of food is measured in pounds, not tons. We note the error here, and have corrected the original article.

The Detroit Free Press looks as the tenure and accomplishments of University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman, who was appointed to the position 10 years ago. [Source] A separate article talks to several UM regents about plans for selecting Coleman’s successor when her current contract expires on July 31, 2014. The report quotes board chair Larry Deitch: “It is important to ‘never say never.’ However, I am highly doubtful she will stay beyond (her contract). I believe she is ready for new opportunities and challenges – both personal and professional.” [Source]

Today marks the first day of classes for students in the Ann Arbor Public Schools and many other local districts.

So I’m taking advantage of the occasion to launch an occasional series that is meant to present math puzzles I’ve stumbled over “in the wild,” in the course of covering local government. It will appear only as time allows, so this could very well be the only installment of the series.

The puzzles are meant to be accessible to kids in high school, junior high, or elementary school – so for many Chronicle readers, they will be trivial.

But these puzzles might offer readers’ children a chance to apply what they’ve learned in math class to an actual, authentic real-life example – drawn from the municipal workings of the city in which they live.

Today’s puzzle has a geometric flavor. The basic question: How tall is the schoolhouse in Figure 1?

First, let’s please agree not to argue about the quality of the drawing. I admit that it may look more like a church than a schoolhouse. I took as my starting point a photograph included in a recent piece by local history columnist Laura Bien.

The drawing is not Laura’s fault, of course. The drawing differs from that photo in many ways. For example, the drawing lacks a belfry and an American flag on the roof. I left them out, because they make the math puzzle more complicated than necessary.

Another reason I left them out: The real-world example – on which the puzzle is based – was not a schoolhouse. I chose a schoolhouse for the drawing just to honor today as the first day of school. The real world-example is a two-building apartment complex called City Place, located on South Fifth Avenue, just south of William Street.  [Full Story]

Ann Arbor planning commission meeting (Aug. 21, 2012): Projects related to food, Fiats and housing all won recommendations for approval at the most recent planning commission meeting.

Food Gatherers hopes to expand its large warehouse, adding cooler and freezer space to accommodate its focus on fruits, vegetables and other fresh food. The Carrot Way site, on Ann Arbor’s far north side, is a hub for the nonprofit’s food distribution – staff and volunteers distributed about 5.75 million pounds tons of food in the last fiscal year to those in need. Several commissioners praised the work. They had only a few questions or comments about the project, including a suggestion to use graywater for irrigating gardens on the site.

Also winning approval was a plan to build a new Fiat showroom next to the post office on West Stadium Boulevard, now owned by the Suburban Collection of Troy. The color scheme for Fiat is scarlet and gray, which elicited some ribbing from commissioners that the building’s designer had heard before. And no, he said, there’s no maize-and-blue dealership being planned for Columbus, Ohio.

The third project on the commission’s Aug. 21 agenda was also competitively colored: Changes in the site plan for Plymouth Green Crossings. The owner is asking for several alterations to a 2006 plan – adding parking spaces, eliminating a proposed freestanding restaurant, and more than doubling the permitted amount of space that can be used for restaurants on the site. Currently, the complex includes a bank and two mixed-use buildings with housing and retail/commercial businesses.

All three projects will move on to the Ann Arbor city council for consideration. [Full Story]

Today, The Ann Arbor Chronicle celebrates the four-year anniversary of its launch.

Judged against the developmental milestones of human four-year-olds, The Chronicle can now be expected to command a vocabulary of at least 1,500 words, express itself in relatively complex sentences, use words that relate one idea to another, and express number and space concepts.

Over the last couple of weeks, as University of Michigan students have streamed into Ann Arbor for the start of the fall semester, I’ve wondered what this four-year-old kid called The Chronicle will be doing when it reaches college age.

And should I perhaps be thinking about starting a college fund?

Funding for The Chronicle is, of course, one theme we typically highlight in these Monthly Milestone columns – as a reminder that part of our funding comes from voluntary subscription dollars contributed by readers.

That’s a reminder to some readers to translate a good intention into action. And it’s a hearty thank you to those who already send in regular contributions in the form of a voluntary subscription.

This month, I’m putting The Chronicle’s funding in the context of a public art millage that the city council has placed on the Nov. 6 ballot.

But to start off, I’ve tallied up some summary statistics on the items published in the first four years.  [Full Story]

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In the coming weeks, the Ann Arbor city council will be taking up discussion of a policy that was changed a half-decade ago – as part of a land sale by the city.

A June 4, 2007 city council action authorized the sale of city-owned property on East Eisenhower for $23,750. But the council’s action that summer also included a “resolved” clause that rescinded the city’s policy dealing with the proceeds from the sale of city-owned land. As a result of that “resolved” clause, proceeds from the sale of city-owned land were no longer required to be deposited into the city’s affordable housing trust fund.

The city council will soon be reviewing that policy, with this possible outcome: It could again become official city policy that the proceeds from sales of city-owned land will be designated at least in part to support affordable housing.

Leah Gunn, chair of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority board, conveyed news of the upcoming policy discussion to her colleagues at an Aug. 29 meeting of the DDA’s operations committee. But it’s Sandi Smith – a city councilmember representing Ward 1 and a DDA board member – who is leading the effort to reconsider the land-sale-proceeds policy. She emailed her colleagues on the city council earlier in the week alerting them of her intention to revisit the issue – with an action item to come at the council’s Sept. 17 meeting.

Gunn will be seeking support from the rest of the DDA board, encouraging the city council to revert to the previous policy in some form – so that proceeds from the sale of city-owned land are designated to support affordable housing. That resolution of support will be on the DDA board’s Sept. 5 meeting agenda. Gunn also indicated that she’d ask her colleagues on the Washtenaw County board of commissioners to pass a resolution of support for the city council to change the policy. The county board’s next meeting is also on Sept. 5.

Any change in the current policy will come in the context of the DDA’s current planning effort, called Connecting William Street, for five city-owned parcels in downtown Ann Arbor, some of which could eventually be sold.

The upcoming council discussion, focusing just on this policy, will take place five years later than Ward 3 city councilmember Stephen Kunselman had wanted. On June 4, 2007 Kunselman had objected to including the policy shift as one of many “resolved” clauses in a land transaction resolution, saying that it wasn’t consistent with transparent governance.

The motivation for the change in policy back in 2007 involved a desire to put the $3 million in proceeds from selling the First and Washington parcel toward the building fund of a new police/courts building (now officially dubbed the Justice Center). The property was sold to Village Green, which is currently constructing City Apartments, with 156 residential units and a 244-space parking structure on the bottom two floors. The parcel was previously the site of a 199-space parking structure. Of the 156 units in the City Apartments project, 16 are supposed to be affordable to those earning between 60-80% of the area median income (AMI) – a requirement of the project’s planned unit development (PUD) zoning.

Provision of “affordable” housing within a project like City Apartments is one of at least two different strategies used by the city to address the need for a diversity of affordable housing options. Another strategy is for a developer to make a payment in lieu of providing the units themselves – a payment that is deposited into the affordable housing trust fund.  The idea behind that strategy is that affordable units might be constructed more economically elsewhere, using money from the trust fund.

While downtown Ann Arbor is in some ways an ideal location for affordable housing – because it’s easier to provide supportive human services to those residents who need them – the cost of real estate in the downtown area is higher than elsewhere in Washtenaw County. That’s a secondary piece of the policy discussion that the city council will likely have about the land-sale-proceeds policy.

In a phone interview with Mary Jo Callan, head of the city/county office of community and economic development, she described how one of her first tasks since taking the position in 2007 was to find strategies for replacing the 100 units of single resident occupancy supportive housing in the former YMCA. Those units had been lost when the building – owned by the city at that time – was condemned and subsequently demolished. Since the city’s affordable housing trust fund’s inception, Callan said the fund has invested in 399 units of affordable housing.

A look back to the city council meeting on June 4, 2007 shows that local government today still deals with many of the same topics – dog parks, affordable housing, transparency. Although the origin of the land-sale-proceeds policy and its connection to affordable housing goes back even further, to 1996, we’ll begin this report with the June 2007 action.  [Full Story]

A post on the Mother’s Kitchen blog reflects on whether there’s an image that describes the essence of Ann Arbor. Deciding that there’s not, the writer lists several words and phrases that capture the city. Here’s one: “Open minded – say you want to do something a little out of the mainstream, like have a blessing ceremony for your same sex union on the vernal equinox presided over by a warlock, you can do it in Ann Arbor. It would be easy to pull together in a few hours. You want to walk down the street wearing a bishop’s mitre and a racoon skin coat and orange corduroys? Go right ahead – no one will bat an eye.” [Source]