The new sign on the door to the Ann Arbor city council chamber, installed in the summer of 2013, includes Braille.

The council’s agenda for Thursday includes a relatively uncontroversial downtown development project. It’s also dominated by several items that relate to the way people move around inside the city. Some other agenda items relate to land outside the city.

Four different items appear on the council’s agenda related to developer Tom Fitzsimmons’ Kerrytown Place project – an 18-unit townhouse development proposed for the site of the former Greek Orthodox church on North Main Street. Nestled between Main Street on the west and Fourth Avenue on the east, the project is divided into two pieces – the Main Street frontage and Fourth Avenue frontage. Each piece of the project includes a rezoning request and a site plan proposal – and each of those constitutes an agenda item unto itself. The rezoning requested is from PUD (planned unit development) to D2 (downtown interface).

Three items relate to a piece of infrastructure closely associated with people walking as a way to get around town – sidewalks. Two resolutions involve the acceptance by the city of easements for sidewalks – one as part of a mid-block cut-through for The Varsity, a residential high-rise downtown, and the other in connection with a Safe Routes to School project near Clague Middle School on the city’s northwest side. Another sidewalk on the agenda with a school-related theme is a request for the council to approve a $10,000 design budget for about 160 feet of new sidewalk near King Elementary School, which would allow for a mid-block crosswalk to be moved to a four-way stop intersection.

More people might be able to get around the downtown and University of Michigan campus area by bicycle – if the council approves the use of $150,000 from the alternative transportation fund as requested on Thursday’s agenda. The money would provide the local match on a $600,000 federal grant obtained by the Clean Energy Coalition to establish a bike-sharing program through B-Cycle.

Getting around inside the city this fall will include the annual wrinkles due to University of Michigan move-in – and those traffic control measures are included in the council’s consent agenda. New this year will be additional traffic controls around Michigan Stadium on football game days – including the closure of Main Street between Pauline and Stadium Blvd. for a period starting three hours before kickoff until the end of the game. At its Thursday meeting, the council will be asked to give approval of the football game day traffic controls.

In matters outside the city, the council will be asked to authorize the receipt of $202,370 from the Federal Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program (FRPP) to help the city purchase of development rights on land in Lodi Township, southwest of the city. That federal grant comes in connection with the city’s greenbelt program. The council will also be asked to confirm the nomination of John Ramsburgh to the greenbelt advisory commission.

Also on the council’s agenda is the extension of a contract for the city’s part-time public art administrator through the end of the year – to handle projects in the works at locations the Kingsley rain garden, East Stadium bridges, and Argo Cascades.

Added to the agenda late, on Tuesday, is a resolution that calls upon the state legislature to repeal Michigan’s version of a “stand your ground” law as well as to repeal legislation that prevents local municipalities from regulating the sale, transfer, transportation, or possession of firearms and ammunition. The agenda item comes in response to public commentary after the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case was handed down in mid-July.

Details of other meeting agenda items are available on the city’s Legistar system. Readers can also follow the live meeting proceedings on Channel 16, streamed online by Community Television Network.

The Chronicle will be filing live updates from city council chambers during the meeting, published in this article “below the fold.” The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

6:54 p.m. Pre-meeting activity. The scheduled meeting start is 7 p.m. Most evenings the actual starting time is between 7:10 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Councilmembers who’ve arrived in council chambers so far are Stephen Kunselman, Sumi Kailasapathy, Sally Petersen, and Marcia Higgins.

7:08 p.m. Pledge of allegiance, moment of silence and the roll call of council. All councilmembers are present.

7:08 p.m. Public commentary. This portion of the meeting offers 10 three-minute slots that can be reserved in advance. Preference is given to speakers who want to address the council on an agenda item. [Public commentary general time, with no sign-up required in advance, is offered at the end of the meeting.]

Six people are signed up tonight for public commentary reserved time. Of those, three are described on the agenda as speaking on the bike share agenda item – which asks the council to approve a $150,000 expenditure from the city’s alternative transportation fund in support of a bike share initiative in downtown and the University of Michigan campus area. Speakers signed up to speak on the bike share item are listed on the agenda as Lucia Heinold, Jeff Hayner, and Lefiest Galimore. Heinold and Galimore, however, will be speaking on the resolution calling for a repeal of Michigan’s “stand your ground” law. Others who are signed up to speak on the “stand your ground” item include Mozhgan Savabieasfahni and Blaine Coleman. The sixth person signed up to speak is Meghan Clark – on the topic of surveillance and privacy.

7:12 p.m. Lefiest Galimore is now holding forth. He quotes the pledge of allegiance: “And justice for all.” He asks the council to support the repeal of “stand your ground” law. His remarks get applause from the roughly two dozen people standing in support of his remarks.

7:15 p.m. Jeff Hayner is speaking in support of the bike sharing program. He describes his participation in the first attempt at a bike sharing program several years ago, where bikes were simply provided for free, which he describes as “not turning out so well.” He argues for the bike share funding support based on the amount of grant funds that it will leverage. He allows that it doesn’t serve the outlying neighborhoods, but argues that the University of Michigan is also bearing the lion’s share of the costs. He calculates the city’s cost at about $300 per bike per year.

7:21 p.m. Blaine Coleman characterizes “stand your ground” laws as hunting licenses for black people. They should not have to appear before a city council and ask: “Please don’t shoot us,” Coleman says. He calls for the council in the future to pass a resolution calling for $1 trillion of support for the city of Detroit.

Savabieasfahni offers her perspective on racism in America. She characterizes Trayvon Martin’s death as a lynching on the streets of America. The laws of this country don’t protect people of color, she says. She describes a protest during the art fairs by University of Michigan students during which they chanted, “Racism killed Trayvon,” and many white observers responded, “No, it didn’t.” She says we’d do well do look inside ourselves and see how our laws promote racism and to change those laws.

7:24 p.m. Meghan Clark describes how a sophisticated surveillance system can be constructed for about $60. Surveillance technology is here, she says. Privacy means having input into what happens to your personal information. She’s disappointed that the council rejected the video privacy ordinance. She encourages the council to pursue the suggestion that Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) had made to at least develop policy guidelines.

7:26 p.m. Lucia Heinold is now speaking in favor of the resolution on “stand your ground.” The evidence is that these laws are enforced in a disparate way, she said, with people of color convicted disproportionately.

7:27 p.m. Council communications. This is the first of three slots on the agenda for council communications. It’s a time when councilmembers can report out from boards, commissions and task forces on which they serve. They can also alert their colleagues to proposals they might be bringing forward in the near future.

7:28 p.m. Sabra Briere (Ward 1) reports on the North Main Huron River task force. The due date of July 31 won’t be met for the final report she says. She conveys an apology from the task force. She expects it will be completed by the end of August. Briere announces a meeting of the planning commission’s ordinance revisions committee next Tuesday.

7:32 p.m. Sally Petersen (Ward 2) calls attention to a survey on disabilities. Margie Teall (Ward 4) gives an update from the Ann Arbor housing commission. The weatherization at Hikone is done. The window replacements for tenants are done at Baker Commons, Teall reports. A non-smoking policy will be implemented at all the housing commission properties. Mike Anglin (Ward 5) announces an effort by a church to make the city aware of some of their concerns. City administrator Steve Powers had attended, Anglin says.

7:33 p.m. Powers reminds the public of the groundbreaking for the skatepark at noon tomorrow, at Veterans Memorial Park. Argo Cascades usage is dramatically up in July compared to July last year, Powers reports.

7:33 p.m. Public hearings. All the public hearings are grouped together during this section of the meeting. Action on the related items comes later in the meeting. Four of the five hearings tonight relate to the Kerrytown Place project being proposed by developer Tom Fitzsimmons for the location on North Main Street where the former Greek Orthodox church stood. The project is divided into two parts – the Main Street frontage and the Fourth Avenue frontage. Each part includes a request for rezoning – from PUD (planned unit development) to D2 (downtown interface) – and a separate site plan. For each rezoning request and for each site plan, a separate public hearing is held. The council gave initial approval to the requests at its July 1, 2013 meeting.

The other public hearing is on a change to the ordinance governing the employee retirement system – to reflect some recently negotiated changes to the contracts with two of the police unions.

7:34 p.m. No one speaks at the public hearing on the retirement ordinance. Thomas Partridge is not in attendance tonight.

7:35 p.m. No one speaks at any of the Kerrytown Place public hearings.

7:35 p.m. Minutes and consent agenda. This is a group of items that are deemed to be routine and are voted on “all in one go.” Contracts for less than $100,000 can be placed on the consent agenda. Tonight’s consent agenda includes five items, three of which relate to street closings:

• A purchase order not to exceed $85,000 with SEHI Computers for replacement of computers. The amount is to cover 60 desktops and 20 laptops for a proposed cost of $75,648. The $85,000 figure includes a contingency of 12% ($9,351).
• A $32,977 professional services agreement for testing of the road materials for the Packard Street resurfacing project (from Anderson to Kimberly). Construction is scheduled for fall 2013, from August through October.
• Resolution approving a street closure on South University Avenue between Washtenaw and Forest, for “Beats, Eats, and Cleats” – an event sponsored by The Landmark Building. The event is Friday, Sept. 6, 2013.
• Resolution approving changes to traffic patterns and parking in connection with University of Michigan student move-in – from Aug. 28-30. This is an annual approval.
• Resolution approving closure of South Main Street between Huron and Liberty, and Washington Street between South Ashley and the alley on East Washington toward South Fourth Avenue – for “Dancing in the Streets.” The closure lasts from noon to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2013.

7:45 p.m. Councilmembers can opt to select out any items for separate consideration. Briere asks for separate consideration of the Beats, Eats and Cleats street closures and the Dancing in the Streets items. Briere says that she’s concerned that this street closure will be taking place on the evening before a football game. Mayor John Hieftje shares her concern.

Police chief John Seto said he wasn’t aware of a general policy, saying that they’re considered on a case-by-case basis. He noted that it’s the night before the UM-Notre Dame football game. He allowed he had some concerns, after weighing the things he knows against the things that he doesn’t know. Petersen wonders if World of Beer will be serving beer. Hieftje says he doesn’t see much difference between having a beer tent and serving alcohol at a bar. He reiterates that he has some concerns.

Kunselman asks if there’d be a difference in the police presence, if the event takes place. Seto says the sponsor of the event intends to provide private security. Kunselman asks about a comparison to Mud Bowl. Seto indicates that’s a morning event and there’s historically no street closures associated with that event. Kunselman inquires about a “pep rally.” He said that he can’t support it.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) says she appreciates everyone’s comments. She asks what “inflatable boxing” is. Parks and recreation manager Colin Smith is fielding questions. He’s not certain what inflatable boxing is. Teall says she also won’t support this street closing.

7:47 p.m. Teall is continuing to argue against the street closure based on the liability it seems to introduce. Hieftje ventures that a Tuesday night would be better. Teall allows that a different time would be better.

7:47 p.m. Outcome: The street closing for Beats, Eats, and Cleats is unanimously denied by the council.

7:49 p.m. Outcome: The Dancing in the Streets street closure is approved. The consent agenda is now dispatched.

7:49 p.m. Retirement ordinance. The council is being asked to give final approval of a change to the ordinance governing the city employees retirement system to reflect changes negotiated with two of the police unions – the police service specialists and the command officers. The staff memo accompanying the ordinance change characterizes the changes as related to “new hires, rehires and transfers between City service units before, on or after July 1, 2013 as well as grammatical corrections where appropriate.” The council gave initial approval to the ordinance change at its July 15 meeting.

7:49 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted unanimously without discussion to give final approval of the changes to the ordinance on the city employee retirement system.

7:49 p.m. Kerrytown Place rezoning. Final approval for two rezoning requests in connection with Kerrytown Place appear on the council’s agenda. The council gave initial approval to the requests at its July 1, 2013 meeting. The two parts of the project – one fronting Main Street and the other Fourth Avenue – are treated separately for the purposes of the rezoning request. In both cases, the requested rezoning is from PUD (planned unit development district) to D2 (downtown interface base district). The 18-unit townhouse development that developer Tom Fitzsimmons is planning to build is much smaller than The Gallery, for which the PUD zoning had originally been approved at the request of a different owner. The city planning commission gave a unanimous recommendation of approval at its May 21, 2013 meeting.

3D rendering from site plan submitted for Kerrytown Place – the view from Main Street.

On the North Main Street side, the project would include a 16-unit townhouse building with an underground parking garage, 12 carport parking spaces and 24 surface parking spaces. On the North Fourth site – now a surface parking lot – the plan calls for constructing a duplex with a 2-car garage for each unit and a 21-space parking lot. Each unit of the duplex would face North Fourth Avenue. The corresponding site plans for each part of the project have corresponding items later on the agenda.

7:50 p.m. Briere calls it an appropriate scale for the neighborhood. She encourages support for the downzoning.

7:53 p.m. Briere reiterates that it’s considered a “downzoning.” Kunselman says he’ll support it. He asks planning manager Wendy Rampson how much it’s costing the petitioner to go through the process. She looks at Tom Fitzsimmons and ventures that it might be $20,000. She’s going to look it up for him.

7:54 p.m. Briere says it’s another opportunity to approve a site plan that’s completely supported by the people who live in the area.

7:54 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted unanimously to approve the rezoning for the Kerrytown Place project as well as the site plans.

7:55 p.m. Appointment to the greenbelt advisory commission (GAC): John Ramsburgh. This item was postponed from the council’s July 15 meeting, which is customary for appointments to GAC. It’s one of the few boards or commissions whose members are nominated by the city council not the mayor. The usual two-step process associated with appointments – nomination at one council meeting followed by confirmation at the subsequent meeting – is mirrored for GAC appointments by postponing action on a resolution appointing a representative until the following meeting.

Ramsburgh is a development officer with the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science & the Arts. He also is the son of Ellen Ramsburgh, a long-time member of the Ann Arbor historic district commission, and its former chair. He is filling a position previously held by Dan Ezekiel, who was term limited.

7:55 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted unanimously without discussion to appoint John Ramsburgh to GAC. Appointments to GAC are for three years.

7:55 p.m. Resolution on Michigan’s “stand your ground” law. This is a resolution added to the agenda on Tuesday, which calls upon the state legislature to repeal Michigan’s version of a “stand your ground” law as well to repeal legislation that prevents local municipalities from regulating sale, transfer, transportation, or possession of firearms and ammunition. [.pdf of Self Defense Act 309 of 2006] [Firearms and Ammunition Act 319 of 1990]

The resolution cites an “outpouring of local voices calling for the repeal of Michigan’s Stand Your Ground Law,” that were heard following the mid-July verdict in the Trayvon Martin case. That included public commentary at the council’s July 15, 2013 meeting as well as subsequent public demonstrations.

8:00 p.m. Sumi Kailasapathy (Ward 1) thanks Chuck Warpehoski (Ward 5) for his hard work getting the resolution ready. She references the public commentary at the previous council meeting. She says she knows what criticism people face when a national issue is brought to the city council. She reads aloud written remarks. Part of her remarks includes the statement that we don’t live in a post-racial society. She characterizes “stand your ground laws” as being used as a license to kill.

Briere thanks Kailasapathy and Warpehoski. She describes herself as someone who’s “not big on guns.” The idea that guns could be used in the way that a “stand your ground” law allows had not occurred to her.

8:06 p.m. Warpehoski thanks Kailasapathy and Briere. The more he’d looked into “stand your ground” laws, the more disturbed he was. Such laws do not reduce property crime rates, he says. He characterizes the burden on prosecutors in connection with such laws as unreasonably high.

Hieftje thanks the sponsors of the resolution for their work. He supports the second resolved clause on gun laws. Higgins says she’ll be consistent as she has been for 14 years in opposing this kind of resolution. She says it’s a much more powerful message for individuals to send the message. She doesn’t know that everyone in the city feels the same way about the resolution.

Kunselman will support it, but says that there’s a lot more going on in the world than we realize. He talks about the number of concealed weapons permits that are being processed by the county clerk’s office. He’s thought about getting a concealed weapons permit just sitting at the council table, but stresses that he has not done so.

8:10 p.m. Petersen acknowledges Higgins point of view, but says the resolved clause about gun laws moved her. She calls it a public safety issue. Teall says she appreciates everyone’s work on the resolution and says it’s the kind of issue that had prompted her to get involved in politics 13 years ago. She expresses skepticism that it would have any effect.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) appreciates Higgins’ point of view. She says the council needs to be cautious about venturing down this path – sending messages on issues that the council was not elected to address. However, she felt differently about this one. She agrees with Petersen that it speaks to the issue of public safety. She says that local control over firearms is a good thing. So she was comfortable sending this message to the state legislature.

8:11 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted to pass the resolution calling on the “stand your ground” law, with dissent from Higgins.

8:11 p.m. Acceptance of $202,370 from the Federal Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program (FRPP). The award of FRPP money is in the context of the city’s greenbelt program, supported by a 0.5 mill tax approved by voters to acquire development rights on land to preserve open space.

At its Feb. 19, 2013 meeting, the council had approved an application to the FRPP for the purchase of development rights on two properties in Lodi Township – the 78-acre Donald Drake Farm on Waters Road in Lodi Township, and for a 90-acre property owned by Carol Schumacher on Pleasant Lake Road in Lodi Township. The city of Ann Arbor was notified recently that for the two properties, a total of $202,370 in matching dollars had been approved to fund the purchase of development rights – $50,960 for the Drake property and $151,410 for the Schumacher land.

The council is being asked tonight to authorize the receipt of the federal matching funds. Here’s a map of the properties currently protected through the greenbelt program (smaller green areas) in the context of the greenbelt boundary (larger squarish region). Lodi Township covers the southwest corner of the greenbelt boundary area.

Ann Arbor greenbelt properties. Data from the city of Ann Arbor mapped by The Chronicle on Aug. 3, 2013 with geocommons.com

8:14 p.m. Lumm confirms that the issue will come back before the council when all the funding sources are identified. Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, notes that in the past, Lodi Township has contributed to the acquisition of development rights. Lumm says she looks forward to possible participation from Lodi.

8:14 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted unanimously to authorize the receipt of the federal farmland protection money.

8:14 p.m. Recess. The council is now in recess.

8:23 p.m. The council has returned from recess.

8:23 p.m. Road closures for 2013 UM football games. Unlike the university student move-in traffic changes, which the council approved as part of its consent agenda, this is the first year that the council has been asked to approve street closings around the football stadium on game days.

According to the staff memo accompanying the resolution, it’s part of an effort to increase safety by creating a vehicle-free zone around the stadium, and involves a cooperative effort with the University of Michigan, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the city of Ann Arbor police department. The traffic controls would be in place for the period starting three hours before a game until the end of the game.

Traffic controls include the following: E. Keech Street between S. Main and Greene streets would be closed. Access to Greene Street from E. Hoover to E. Keech streets would be limited to parking permit holders. The westbound lane on E. Stadium Blvd. turning right onto S. Main Street (just south of the Michigan Stadium) would be closed. And S. Main Street would be closed from Stadium Blvd. to Pauline.

UM football game day street closures with detour route (purple).

8:28 p.m. Police chief John Seto gives the background on the issue. He describes it as a request that came from the University of Michigan public safety department. Seto describes how he had requested some modifications before he was comfortable with the request. He describes a community meeting on July 24 and says that many comments and suggestions had been received. Modifications had been proposed. One modification he describes proposing was that southbound lanes of Main Street would be open until one hour before the game start.

8:32 p.m. Higgins says she hasn’t seen the modified proposal. The resolution doesn’t include the modifications. Higgins says she attended the community meeting. She says the city does a great job getting people going south, but not west. Higgins won’t support the street closing. This was brought up at the time that the university renovated the stadium, and UM had decided to build out as close to the street as possible, Higgins said. She wasn’t opposed to closing the right-turn lane on Stadium Blvd. She says she’ll respect her constituents. As an argument against the proposal, she notes that the exact game start times aren’t necessarily known months in advance. She thanks Seto for coming to the meeting. But she says that there should have been a meeting held earlier than two weeks before the council needed to vote.

8:38 p.m. Briere has questions for UM representatives. Ann Arbor is not unique in hosting football games. Do other cities do that? Ohio State University and University of Wisconsin close streets, the UM DPS officer explains. Seto gives more details on game day operations in other cities. Briere confirms that those street closures are due to security concerns.

Kailasapathy asks how closing the street helps to prevent terrorism. Seto says it’s part of what can be done as a “reasonable” approach. A Homeland Security official describes how blast modeling of a small truck laden with explosives could do considerable damage. The recommended street closures were based on that blast modeling, he explains. Kailasapathy ventures that the same truck could come at the end of the game. Why is there a higher threat before the game? she asks. DPS officer explains that just before the game is when the heaviest pedestrian traffic occurs and when the most people are inside the stadium.

8:45 p.m. Seto explains that the idea is to open things up in order to dissipate the crowd as quickly as possible. For some games, he says, the crowd starts to leave early. Petersen wonders why it’s taken three years to implement the recommendations. Higgins points out that East Stadium bridges were closed at the time. Lumm says it’s significant that few complaints were received when street closures were implemented for a nighttime Notre Dame game in 2011.

8:54 p.m. Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) ventures that the main threat that is supposed to be mitigated is a potential truck bomb. Seto indicates that that is part of the motivation. Taylor inquires about the possible one-hour/three-hour mix of lane closures. Seto explains the balance between asset protection and the interest in getting the crowd to dissipate. The representative from Homeland Security explains that this plan meets the national standards for security for major sporting events.

Anglin asks who pays for the extra measures. The DPS officer explains that the UM athletic department pays. Anglin asks how much the city contributes to the provision of security for football games.

8:57 p.m. Higgins is responding to Anglin’s question by explaining that signs and signals are now paid for by the university. Higgins asks who owns the barricades. The DPS officer explains that the university owns the barricades. They can be moved by two people.

9:07 p.m. Seto recalls how difficult it was to determine the end of the 2011 Notre Dame game, which included overtime periods. He describes the logistical tactics that were used. Higgins has more questions. She says there were many issues associated with the 2011 street closures, that perhaps Seto wasn’t aware of. She stresses that after the first three games the residents want a review of how well things are working. Seto assures Higgins that will be done.

Higgins asks what will happen if it turns out that the logistics aren’t working out. She ventures that the resolution should be modified to reflect that.

Briere asks public services area administrator Craig Hupy to come to the podium. She asks about increased traffic flow in neighborhood streets, citing the possibility of increased deterioration of streets due to added traffic. Hupy indicates that would be minimal compared to the amount of traffic volume over the entire life of the street. Hupy says that the concern is about diminished traffic, which could have a negative impact on the lawn parking that residents enjoy.

9:07 p.m. Lumm now wants to move to amend the resolution to make the closure of the SB lane on South Main restricted to just one hour before the game start.

Outcome on Lumm’s amendment: The amendment passes unanimously.

9:14 p.m. Warpehoski says he lived in Washington D.C. on 9/11. Many people had mourned the increased “locked down” status. Now, however, he weighs the question of “What if I’m wrong?”

Kunselman follows up on the issue of reimbursement by UM for the signs and signals work. Hupy says that when the city has billed the UM, they have been paid. Kunselman says as everyone knows, he works at the university. [Kunselman is a Planet Blue energy conservation liaison.] He calls it a public safety issue. He recalls being able to sneak in through a hole in the fence. It’s a changing world and we have to accommodate the change, Kunselman says. He’ll support the resolution.

9:14 p.m. Briere wants to review the procedures soon enough to take action at the Oct. 7 council meeting. Higgins says that she wants to add a resolved clause that following the first three football games, the AAPD will meet with the neighborhood and bring recommendations to the Oct. 7 meeting. Briere says she’ll support that.

9:22 p.m. Lumm asks Seto to come to the podium. Seto says what’s being asked is doable. He can hear concerns and make suggestions, he said, but there will be certain things he can’t fix. Hieftje asks Seto how easily things could be changed in the middle of the season. Seto expresses confidence that AAPD could be flexible. He gives the Ann Arbor marathon as an example of that. He describes how AAPD often modifies its logistical operations on the fly. Hieftje expressed some concern that the barriers might be taken down too soon. Seto describes the balance that is to be struck.

9:22 p.m. Petersen says that according to her at-home fact checker, three overtimes were not required in the Notre Dame game in 2011 as Seto had said. Instead, it was a play late in the fourth quarter.

The council is “running out the clock” while Higgins crafts amendment language that would require a report to the council at its Oct. 7 meeting.

Outcome: The amendment to include an Oct. 7 report is unanimously approved.

9:25 p.m. Teall says she can’t support the resolution. Petersen calls it common sense. She can think of 114,000 good reasons to support this resolution. She sees it as a public safety issue. The council has now been discussing this for an hour.

9:28 p.m. Lumm is now holding forth. She appreciates the modification of the closure of SB Main to be just one hour before the game start. Higgins responds to comments by Lumm and Petersen about meeting national standards for security. She says that UM needs to think about meeting those standards as it builds out its campus. She somewhat wistfully says that in the future that will be the rest of the council’s problem – an apparent reference to her loss in Tuesday’s primary election.

9:30 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted to approve the street closures around the Michigan football stadium on game days. Dissent came from Briere, Teall, Higgins, and Kailasapathy.

9:30 p.m. Bike share program: $150,000. The council is being asked to approve a $150,000 expenditure from the alternative transportation fund in support of an initiative spearheaded by the University of Michigan and the Clean Energy Coalition (CEC) to establish a bike share program on the university campus and in an area west of campus in downtown Ann Arbor. The selected vendor is B-Cycle.

In a bike share program, users get access to bicycles parked at a station by swiping their credit card or membership card. Users can then return the bicycle to another station location near their destination.

Potential specific and general bike share station locations in Ann Arbor. The program would include 12-14 bike share stations with an anticipated total of 120-140 bicycles. The contract to provide the service was won by B-Cycle.

The city’s $150,000 would provide the necessary local match for a $600,000 Federal Highway Administration Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) grant that the CEC has received. The CMAQ funds have to be spent on capital (bikes and stations). Operations will be supported in the first three years of the program by UM at a level of $200,000 annually for a total of $600,000.

9:34 p.m. Petersen leads off by saying that she has mixed feelings. She says she’s disappointed that there’s not a communications plan for safety in the city’s parks – she’d like more signs on mixed-use paths. She doesn’t feel like the city has the safety infrastructure to support a bike share program. Her vote, she says, will be “not yet.”

Hieftje says that the plan was never to put bike lanes on every downtown street, because the traffic moves slow enough in some places that bicycles can keep up with cars. Briere agrees with Petersen. Signage is great, but she doesn’t think that signage replaces “people paying attention.” Briere is encouraged that UM is a strong financial supporter. She says it’s not about commuting but rather about moving from State and Liberty to the corner of Huron and Main (the Washtenaw County building).

9:41 p.m. Kunselman recalls the bike share program that Jeff Hayner had described during public commentary. They were painted green and were made available, and they disappeared to the far reaches of the city, never to return to the downtown, Kunselman said. He describes the number of abandoned bikes downtown and on the campus that clutter the streets. He says that the bike share program might help to “clean up our streets.”

Kunselman talks about the carrying capacity of the environment. He’s concerned about the fact that the money is coming from the alternative transportation fund, and might be taking away from other needs. Transportation program manager Eli Cooper describes the intended use of the fund as making improvements as well as maintaining non-motorized infrastructures. Kunselman asks for examples of maintenance activities. Cooper says that if anything were to be deferred, then it would be a half-mile of bike lane including signs. That would be postponed for about a year, he said.

Kunselman clarifies that this is “seed money.” That’s right, Cooper said. It’s for capital needs. The UM is contributing operating money. CEC is working on sponsorship revenue and handling fare revenue. Cooper sketches a vision of private cooperation.

Kunselman asks about clutter on downtown sidewalks. He wants to know if the specific locations will require council approval. Cooper indicates that the right-of-way permitting program is authorized by the council, but the individual locations wouldn’t need approval.

9:48 p.m. Cooper responds to Petersen’s concern about adequate signs in the park system. Lumm reports about mishaps in the parks – pedestrians being “slammed into” by bicyclists. She feels that bicyclists are more inclined to commute by bicycle paths. She brings up bells. Hupy says he has a bell on his bike and he’s one of those people who commutes through parks.

Lumm says that obviously a lot of effort has gone into the bike share initiative. She appreciates the responses about the impact of the program on the alternative transportation program. She says it’s appropriate to Ann Arbor. But she’s now expressing skepticism, saying that the city doesn’t prioritize its transportation programs. She objects to the fact that there’s not a long-term plan for the operating expenses – saying that UM’s commitment ends after three years. Still, she says she’ll support the resolution.

9:53 p.m. Warpehoski asks Cooper about the CMAQ grant deadline. Cooper says that there’s a deadline at the end of the federal fiscal year – Sept. 30.

Briere ventures that the council will hear that some of the bicycle lanes are in bad shape. What’s being done to maintain bike lanes? Cooper says he annually does a visual inspection of the entire system. An inventory of the bike lane inspections is available online, he says – it’s part of the city’s Bicycling in A2 website. He describes the citizens request system for repairing potholes.

9:57 p.m. Petersen asks how long it will take before signs will show up in the parks. City administrator Steve Powers indicates he can provide an answer tomorrow. Petersen asks how to get a specific piece of educational literature about what every motorist should know about bike lanes. Cooper lists off various locations where it’s available and ways it’s distributed.

Higgins says she doesn’t think the city has done a good job of educating cyclists. She describes bicyclists who go through red lights. She described encountering a cyclist who was using proper hand signals and discovered that it was Chuck Warpehoski. She oftentimes sees cyclists go up on the sidewalk and use the crosswalk. She expresses concern that the city would be suddenly adding a lot of additional cyclists. “I don’t think we’re there, yet,” Higgins says. Cooper says that the bike share program is another point of contact for additional education.

10:06 p.m. Higgins says that handing someone a pamphlet doesn’t educate them about what they need to do. She thinks users of the bike share system should have to pass a test. Petersen says she’s not concerned about educating cyclists, because they know their risks. Petersen says she’s concerned about education of motorists.

Anglin says he thinks it’s a good program. Matt Sandstrom from the CEC is fielding questions. Anglin asks if helmets are required. That’s a tricky question, Sandstrom says. He points out that helmets are not the law in Michigan. Education about helmets can be placed on kiosks, he said. CEC would be pro-helmet, Sandstrom says.

Anglin asks if most of the users are anticipated to be younger. Not necessarily, Sandstrom says. Kunselman picks up the idea of education. He says that education needs to be taking place in school. He asks if anyone remembers the rule about bicycles needing to give an audible signal before overtaking a pedestrian. This isn’t about education, but rather about bike sharing, he says. It’ll be the first in the state, he says. He points out that pedestrians don’t follow the rules of the road, either.

10:09 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted to approve the $150,000 allocation over two years to support the bike sharing program. Dissent came from Petersen and Higgins.

10:09 p.m. Waldenwood sidewalk design budget: $10,000 The council is being asked to approve a design budget for a sidewalk to fill in a gap from the northeast corner of Penberton Court and Waldenwood northward to connect to the path leading the rest of the way to the King Elementary School.

In its form, the resolution is similar to other sidewalk design budgets the council has been asked to approve in recent months. [For example, the council has approved similar design budgets for a sidewalk on Barton Drive at its July 15, 2013 meeting, a sidewalk on Newport Road at its Jan. 22, 2013 meeting and for a sidewalk on Scio Church Road at its Nov. 19, 2012 meeting.]

However, the sidewalk gap near King School includes a history of advocacy by nearby resident and former Ann Arbor Public Schools board member Kathy Griswold dating back to 2009. For students crossing Waldenwood from the west to attend school, the segment of sidewalk would allow them to make the crossing at the intersection, where there is a four-way stop – instead of crossing the street using a mid-block crosswalk. According to the staff memo accompanying the resolution, “The Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) Transportation Safety Committee has agreed the use of a new crosswalk at this stop controlled location would be preferable over the existing mid-block crossing at the school entrance.”

Waldenwood sidewalk gap. Green indicates existing sidewalks. Red indicates a sidewalk gap. Blue stars indicate signers of a petition in support of the sidewalk.

From the fall of 2009 through the spring of 2010, Griswold addressed the council on at least nine occasions on the topic of the King School crosswalk and the related sidewalk gap. The construction of a sidewalk had been met with opposition by the immediately adjoining property owners. The funding of new sidewalks – as contrasted with repair of existing sidewalks – is typically achieved at least partly through a special assessment on adjoining property owners. Sidewalk repair – but not new construction – can be paid for with the city’s sidewalk repair millage. In the case of the Waldenwood sidewalk, it’s located to the rear of the residential properties – and the city does not typically special assess properties to finance sidewalks to the rear of a property.

10:17 p.m. Petersen says she’s happy to see this come to the council. It has been debated since 2009, she says. Petersen says that the AAPS safety committee minutes from that era don’t indicate clearly that the group endorsed moving the crosswalk from mid-block to the four-way stop. City traffic engineer Pat Cawley is recalling the specific meeting for Petersen.

Kailasapathy asks public services area administrator Craig Hupy to the podium. She asks if the project comes to a halt if the property owners object. Hupy says that if the council approves the resolution, then the city staff would meet with the community and then come back for the second resolution in the special assessment process. Kailasapathy confirms that it’s a council decision, not one determined by the adjoining property owners. Hupy indicates there are three chances to kill the project along the way. Kunselman confirms that the property owner can’t kill the project.

10:20 p.m. Lumm thanks staff for their work. She asks how residents will be notified for the next step. Hupy says that they’d be mailed a meeting notice. He ventures that there could be more than one meeting. Lumm noted that it would have made sense to undertake the sidewalk construction when Waldenwood was recently repaved. She indicated that she was glad that this is going through a formal process.

10:26 p.m. Briere asks for the approximate timeline for the project. Hupy says he can’t speak to exact details. It’s a relatively simple project from an engineering and design perspective. The time-consuming part for this project would be the public engagement portion of the project. He ventures that it could come back to the council in late winter or spring of 2014.

Briere ventures that the sidewalk could be constructed by the start of school in the fall of 2014. Hupy allows that might be possible. Petersen said she thought that the property owners wouldn’t be special assessed because it’s on their rear lot lines. Hupy says that Petersen has picked up on the fact that there’s likely not anything that will be assess-able in the project.

10:26 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted unanimously to approve the design budget for the Waldenwood sidewalk. It needed an eight-vote majority on the 11-member council, because the council’s action altered the city’s budget.

10:27 p.m. Public art administrator contract extension: $18,500. The council is being asked to appropriate funds to pay for public art administrator Aaron Seagraves’ contract through the end of 2013. The amendment brings his total compensation for the period from June 11, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2013 to $48,900. The specific projects mentioned in the resolution, which require administrative work, are the Kingsley rain garden, Argo Cascades, and the East Stadium Blvd. bridges.

10:29 p.m. Briere says she can imagine people asking why the city has a public art administrator, if the city doesn’t have a Percent for Art program. There’s the old business of Kingsley rain garden, Argo Cascades, and Stadium bridges. There’s also a need to address the new business of integrating the new public art program into the capital improvements program.

10:32 p.m. Public services area administrator Craig Hupy explains to Briere that the reason that the contract extension goes through the end of the year is to allow for a bridge between the old Percent for Art program and the new program.

Kailasapathy notes that an issue had come up when she and Lumm had attempted a budget amendment to refund the money for public art to the funds of origin. She says she really has a problem with the resolution, so she won’t support it.

10:35 p.m. Lumm also says she has a problem with the resolution. She says that she’s tried at every point to discontinue the public art program. Instead of returning the $800,000 in unspent funds, the council had decided to maintain a public art “slush fund,” she says. She doesn’t think that the council should continue to “throw good money after bad.” She won’t support the continued spending on Percent for Art projects.

10:42 p.m. Higgins asks why $18,500 is being appropriated for compensation, but $20,500 is the amount in the resolution. Hupy describes miscellaneous supplies as accounting for the $2,000. Hupy points out that the information was provided in answers to the council’s caucus questions.

Petersen says she’ll support the resolution – because she wants the area around the Dreiseitl sculpture to become ADA compliant. Kailasapathy asks why a public art administrator would be handling ADA compliance. City administrator Steve Powers says that hasn’t been decided yet.

Anglin calculates that the public art administrator is being paid only $20/hour. He calls that a bargain. Kunselman says he’ll support it, because it’s a small amount. But he cautions that he might not vote to support spending the money on the remaining Percent for Art projects in the pipeline. He says the pressure is on the public art commission to bring forward a high quality piece of art. He said he could say right now that he’s not going to vote to spend money on “anything that’s hanging from a light pole.” That’s a reference to the recommended project for the East Stadium bridges location, proposed by artist Catherine Widgery and recommended by a task force.

10:47 p.m. Briere asks what would happen if the council voted not to spend the money on the East Stadium bridges location. Would the money revert to the public art fund? City administrator Steve Powers says that’s for the council to decide. The council could say, “Try again,” he says. Briere points out that the council would still need to amend the city’s public art ordinance in order to return public art funds to their funds of origin.

Hieftje supports the resolution, saying that it’s necessary to have administrative support for the art program. Teall reiterates that point, that a successful art program requires an administrator. Teall says that residents do see the value of public art, and having an administrator is vital.

10:48 p.m. Taylor says that there was a common understanding, if not unanimous, that a transition would need to be funded. He calls for honoring the effort that’s gone into this.

10:48 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted to approve the contract extension for the public art administrator, Aaron Seagraves, over dissent from Lumm and Kailasapathy.

10:48 p.m. Easement: AATA water main. The council is being asked to accept an easement from the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority for a water main – related to the bus garage expansion at the AAATA’s headquarters at 2700 S. Industrial Hwy.

10:48 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted to accept the easement for the water main.

10:49 p.m. Easement: sidewalk at 2760 Nixon. The council is being asked to accept an easement from property owners Byron Bunker and Amy Bunker for construction of a sidewalk related to the Safe Routes to School initiative for Clague Middle School.

10:49 p.m. Lumm offers a brief statement of support, noting that it’s a part of the Safe Routes to School program for Clague Middle School.

10:49 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted unanimously to accept the sidewalk easement from the Bunkers.

10:50 p.m. Easement: sidewalk at 425 E. Washington (The Varsity). The council is being asked to accept a sidewalk easement on the east side of The Varsity building, which will connect Huron Street with Washington Street. It’s part of the development agreement.

10:50 p.m. Outcome: The council has voted to accept the sidewalk easement from The Varsity.

10:51 p.m. Appointments. The council was asked to confirm mayoral nominations made at the previous council meeting on July 15: Sue Perry to the Elizabeth Dean Fund committee; and Evan Nichols to the zoning board of appeals.

10:51 p.m. Nominations. Highlights from nominations for boards and commissions added on Aug. 6 include Rishi Narayan to replace Leah Gunn on the board of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. Narayan is founder and managing member of Underground Printing, which offers screenprinting of apparel in more than a dozen cities nationwide. Narayan made the Crain’s Detroit Business “Twenty in their 20s” list in 2010 as a 28-year-old.

Jack Bernard is being nominated to the board of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority. When the AAATA articles of incorporation were changed recently to add the city of Ypsilanti as a member, the board was expanded from seven to nine members. One of the two additional seats is appointed by the city of Ypsilanti. Gillian Ream was appointed to that spot. Bernard’s appointment would fill the additional slot appointed by the city of Ann Arbor. Bernard is a lecturer in the University of Michigan law school and an attorney with UM’s office of the vice president and general counsel. He is also currently chair of the university’s council for disability concerns. Given the nature of wrangling over Eric Mahler’s recent appointment to the AAATA board, Bernard’s chairship of that group could be a key qualification. Some councilmembers objected to Mahler’s appointment, arguing that someone who could represent the disability community should be appointed instead.

10:51 p.m. Originally slated on the agenda to replace Newcombe Clark on the board of the Ann Arbor DDA was Al McWilliams. However, the most-recently updated version of the agenda does not include his name. Al McWilliams is founder of Quack!Media, an ad agency located in downtown Ann Arbor. Quack!Media lists the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority on its website as one of its clients. McWilliams has written advocacy pieces for bicycling on his blog.

Originally slated for nomination to serve on the public art commission was Jeff Hayner. But the most-recently updated version of the nomination list did not include his name. He has filed petitions to run for the Ward 1 city council seat. The Ward 1 city council ballot for November will include incumbent Democrat Sabra Briere, and independents Hayner and Jaclyn Vresics.

10:51 p.m. Public Commentary. There’s no requirement to sign up in advance for this slot for public commentary.

10:52 p.m. No one speaks.

10:52 p.m. Closed session. The council has voted to go into closed session under Michigan’s Open Meetings Act to discuss pending litigation.

11:08 p.m. The council has emerged from its closed session.

11:08 p.m. Adjournment. We are now adjourned. That’s all from the hard benches.

A sign on the door to the Ann Arbor city council chambers gives instructions for post-meeting clean-up.

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From left: Greenbelt advisory commission members Tom Bloomer and Mike Garfield. (Photos by the writer.)

The properties include 32 acres in Northfield Township along US-23, 30 acres in Scio Township near Wagner and Scio Church roads, and 111 acres in Lodi Township along Pleasant Lake Road. By year’s end, the new additions brought the total of property protected by the city’s greenbelt program to 3,430 acres since its inception in 2007.

Most of Wednesday’s meeting was spent in closed session to discuss possible future land acquisitions, but the main action item involved land that’s not part of the city’s greenbelt program. Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution urging Webster Township to strictly enforce all of its conservation easements – the resolution will be forwarded to township officials as they weigh a request from the Dexter Area Historical Society to amend an easement that would loosen restrictions on parking.

The society wants permission to allow spectator parking for Civil War re-enactments on a site where the historic Gordon Hall is located. Land preservation activists are concerned that parking would damage the land, and that amending the easement would set a bad precedent, calling into question the trustworthiness of regional land preservation efforts. The resolution was brought forward by Tom Bloomer, a GAC member who also serves on Webster Township’s land preservation board.

Staff Update: December Closings

During Wednesday’s meeting, Ginny Trocchio – who serves as support staff for the greenbelt program – reported on three closings for land preservation deals in the greenbelt that occurred in December.

The city provided due diligence and stewardship costs for a conservation easement now held by the Legacy Land Conservancy, for a 32-acre property in Northfield Township. The landowner, Charles Botero, had donated the easement, she said. At its Nov. 10, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council had approved funding for up to $15,000 on the project. The land is located along the east side of US-23, north of East Northfield Church Road.

The city had also closed on a purchase of development rights (PDR) for 30 acres owned by Duane Thomas and his wife Judith Lobato in Scio Township. The city paid $140,367 for the deal, which city council approved at their Oct. 17, 2011 meeting. The owner contributed 50% of the cost for the PDR, Trocchio reported. The property is located near the northwest corner Scio Church and Wagner roads.

The final closing was for the purchase of development rights on 111 acres in Lodi Township, owned by Bill Lindemann and his sister Karen Weidmayer. The property is located along Pleasant Lake Road, about a half-mile from the former Girbach farm, which is also protected through the greenbelt program. At its July 18, 2011 meeting, the city council had authorized $699,992 for the deal, with $1,000 contributed by Lodi Township and 49% of the cost reimbursed by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program, or FRPP.

Trocchio also reported that just before the holidays, she’d received word that the deadline for applying to the next cycle of FRPP grants is on March 9. She’s been working with landowners who might be interested in applying.

Webster Township Land Preservation

On the agenda was a resolution brought forward by GAC member Tom Bloomer regarding conservation easements in Webster Township. He had initially raised the issue at GAC’s December 2011 meeting, when he reported on a situation involving the Dexter Area Historical Society.

About 10 years ago, the society had purchased land from the University of Michigan that included the historic Gordon Hall. The society later sold the development rights to Scio and Webster townships, through conservation easements to those townships. A conservation easement restricts certain types of activity from taking place on the land, and is often used to protect land from development.

Last summer, the society asked Webster Township officials for permission to hold a Civil War re-enactment on the site. The event didn’t conflict with terms of the conservation easement, but the society also wanted permission for spectator parking – and that did conflict with the easement. The township eventually agreed to a one-year exception to allow parking for several hundred vehicles, with the understanding that an exception wouldn’t be granted again.

Now, the historic society wants to amend the conservation easement so that parking for this kind of event would be allowed. The township’s farmland and open space preservation board has recommended denying that request, but the decision will ultimately be made by the Webster Township board of trustees. The preservation board has asked for support from other land preservation entities (like Ann Arbor’s GAC) before the township trustees vote.

Catherine Riseng, vice chair of the Ann Arbor greenbelt advisory commission, chaired the Jan. 5, 2012 meeting. GAC chair Dan Ezekiel was absent.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Bloomer told other commissioners that based on their discussion at the December meeting, he had crafted a resolution that he hoped expressed GAC’s concerns without encroaching on the township’s decision-making. He had aimed to make township officials aware of where the greenbelt commission stood regarding easements in general. [.pdf of resolution]

The resolution notes that Ann Arbor has contributed over $4.7 million in partnership with Webster Township to preserve over 810 acres of farmland and open space in the township. The city, through its greenbelt program, has also spent more than $4.5 million for additional land preservation in Webster Township on its own.

The resolution also referenced the national Land Trust Alliance, noting that the alliance has established generally accepted practices and rules of conduct for land preservation, and that it discourages amendments to conservation easements that compromise the agreed-upon conservation values. The resolution does not specifically reference the situation regarding the historical society’s easement.

The resolution’s only resolved clause states:

Now, Therefore Be It resolved that the Ann Arbor Greenbelt Advisory Commission urges the Township of Webster to strictly enforce all of its conservation easements, and all of the conservation values protected therein.

There was only brief discussion about the resolution. Shannon Brines said it seemed to be a reasonable statement, in that it supported Land Trust Alliance practices and discouraged amendments to conservation easements.

Bloomer noted that it would be good to let all townships within the greenbelt boundaries know about the stance expressed in this resolution. It was directed at Webster Township because there’s a controversy there, he said, but he had tried to make it generic so that it could apply to other areas as well.

Catherine Riseng responded to Bloomer by saying she thought the resolution served that purpose well, and could be adopted to other situations.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously passed the resolution regarding Webster Township’s land preservation program.

Closed Session

Commissioners spent almost an hour of their meeting in closed session to discuss possible land acquisitions. When they emerged from closed session, they voted unanimously to recommend that the city council apply for grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP) for four properties located in the greenbelt’s boundaries.

Before appearing on the city council’s agenda, details of these greenbelt acquisitions are not made public – parcels are identified only by their application number. The parcels recommended for FRPP grants are 2005-01, 2011-12, 2011-13 and 2012-01.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously approved a recommendation to apply for FRPP grants for four parcels in the greenbelt.

Present: Tom Bloomer, Mike Garfield, Catherine Riseng, Liz Rother, Laura Rubin. Also: Ginny Trocchio.

Absent: Peter Allen, Dan Ezekiel, Carsten Hohnke.

Next regular meeting: Thursday, Feb. 2 at 4:30 p.m. in the second-floor council chambers at city hall, 301 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor. [confirm date]

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The easements are necessary for the city to proceed with its plan to replace the East Stadium bridges over State Street and the Ann Arbor Railroad tracks. The city has been awarded a total of $13.9 million in TIGER II federal grant funding to pay for the project, which has an estimated total cost of $23 million. Factoring in $2.87 million in state funds, that leaves the city of Ann Arbor’s share for the bridge replacement at $6.2 million. The federal funds require that at least 20% of the funding for the project come from non-federal sources.

Easements approved by the council include: a road right-of-way easement from the University of Michigan for $563,400; two utilities easements from UM totaling $426,650; and an unrecorded water utilities easement.

The deleted provision in the easements had provided for a relocation of facilities, but only if it were allowed by law and specifically approved by the Michigan Dept. of Transportation – otherwise, relocation was prohibited. Because relocation is prohibited by law in any case, MDOT took the view that the provision should not appear in the contract; hence, the change to the wording was requested. It is an administrative change, not a substantive one.

By holding a previous special meeting on March 16, 2011 to sign necessary documents, the council was able to get $800,000 of TIGER II federal funds formally “obligated” for the first right-of-way phase of the project. The remaining $13.1 million in TIGER II funds is expected to be obligated sometime in May.

Special Meeting

The meeting began with city clerk Jackie Beaudry reading aloud the official call for the special meeting. The meeting had been  formally requested by mayor pro tem Marcia Higgins the previous Friday, April 8, in a message to city administrator Roger Fraser: “This email will serve as a written request to you per the charter, in my capacity as Mayor Pro Tem, to schedule a Special Meeting of Council at 7 p.m., April 11, 2011 to consider revised wording for the needed easements for the Stadium Bridge Project.”

The charter provision to which Higgins referred is the following:

Section 4.4 (b) Special meetings of the Council shall be held at the regular meeting place thereof and shall be called by the Clerk on written request of the Mayor or any three members of the Council. Written notice stating the time and purpose of a special meeting shall be delivered to each member of the Council or left at the member’s usual place of residence at least three hours prior to the time set for the meeting. The Clerk shall record a certificate of service of notice in the journal of such meeting. A special meeting may be held notwithstanding lack of notice if all members are present, or if a quorum is present and each absent member has filed with the Clerk a written waiver of notice. A vote taken by the Council at a prior meeting shall not be reconsidered at a special meeting, unless as many members are present as were present when the original vote was taken. Except by unanimous consent of all members of the Council, a matter shall not be acted upon at any special meeting unless it has been included in the notice of the meeting.

The council had already planned to meet for a working session on the city’s fiscal 2012 budget. That working session immediately followed the special meeting, which lasted about three minutes.

Council Deliberations

At the request of Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), assistant city attorney Mary Fales explained that the Michigan Dept. of Transportation had implemented a different administrative procedure for reviewing FHWA grants. After the April 4 meeting of the council, when the council had already given its approval to the easements, MDOT had asked for an administrative change, which meant that it needed to come back in front of the council for approval.

The change in language – across three different easements agreements – was simply to delete a section that provided for conditions under which the facilities to be constructed could be relocated. In part, the section read:

(d) All relocation shall be performed only when permitted by and in accordance with Applicable Law and the requirements of any state or federal grant through which the Permitted Facilities were constructed. The Permitted Facilities will be constructed using funds from a grant from The National Infrastructure Investments Discretionary Grant Program (TIGER II Discretionary Grants) (“Grant”), which Grant prohibits termination of the Easement or any relocation of the Permitted Facilities, unless otherwise determined by MDOT (the Michigan Department of Transportation) or FHWA (the Federal Highway Administration) or their successor entities. [.pdf of all language struck from the easements]

Fales told The Chronicle that the city’s view was consistent with MDOT’s – that applicable law would prevent relocation of any facilities. Because applicable law would prevent relocation, MDOT’s view was that the language should not appear in the contract. The prohibition against relocation is reflected in other laws, not in the easement contract.

In a follow-up phone interview with Homayoon Pirooz, the city’s head of project management, he said that the formal obligation of the $13.1 million for the project’s construction phase is expected in May.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the language change.

Bridge Construction Milestones: Road Closures Nov. 28, 2011

At a March 23 meeting held at Pioneer High School, the city’s project manager for the replacement project, Michael Nearing, gave the public an update on the construction plans. He stressed to attendees that if they remembered nothing else from the meeting, they should remember the date of Nov. 28, 2011 – that’s when the bridges will be closed for traffic. Stadium Boulevard traffic will be rerouted around the bridge for roughly a year. A schedule of key milestones:

• 2011 Oct. 3: Notice to Proceed issued to contractor
• 2011 Nov. 26: Last home football game UM v. OSU
• 2011 Nov. 28: Close Stadium Blvd. and detour traffic [.pdf of Stadium Blvd. detour route]
• 2011 Nov. 28: Close State Street and detour traffic [.pdf of State Street detour route]
• 2011 Dec. 13: Re-open State Street to 2-way traffic with construction zone
• 2012 May 3: Detour northbound State Street/ Maintain southbound State Street with construction zone
• 2012 July 11: Re-open State Street to full traffic
• 2012 Nov. 14: Re-open Stadium Boulevard to full traffic
• 2013 May 30: Project Complete.

Present: Stephen Rapundalo, Mike Anglin, Margie Teall, Sabra Briere, Tony Derezinski, Stephen Kunselman, Marcia Higgins, John Hieftje, Christopher Taylor, Carsten Hohnke.

Absent: Sandi Smith.

Next council meeting: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 301 E. Huron. [confirm date] As of April 18, the Ann Street entrance to city hall will be closed – the only entrance into the building will be off of Huron Street.

Reportedly, the purpose of this second special meeting for the bridge replacement project is to consider revised wording for at least one of the easements that the city council already approved at its April 4 meeting in connection with this project.

Easements approved by the council on that occasion were: a road right-of-way easement from the University of Michigan for $563,400; two utilities easements from UM totaling $426,650; and an unrecorded water utilities easement.

The city was able to get $800,000 in TIGER II federal funds formally “obligated” for the first right-of-way phase of the project. The city council held a previous special meeting on March 16, 2011 to sign the necessary agreement to get those funds obligated.

The approval of the easements at the April 4 meeting was supposed to allow the city to proceed with getting $13.1 million in TIGER II grant funds obligated. Those funds have already been awarded for the second phase of the bridge replacement project. A continuing federal budget resolution passed by the U.S. Congress – which would preserve the TIGER II funding – expired on April 8, threatening to shut down the entire federal government. Previous proposals by House Republicans have included cuts that would have eliminated the TIGER II funding. However, a last minute deal was struck to keep the federal government operating.

The council is acting with some urgency to get the funds obligated before the TIGER II program is eliminated – if, in fact, it were to be eliminated. One measure of that urgency was that on April 4, immediately after council approved the easements, a recess was called so that the documents could be signed and forwarded to the Michigan Dept. of Transportation.

Before the Feb. 22 council meeting, Sandi Smith (Ward 1) chatted with Dennis Hayes about the medical marijuana licensing ordinance. The council delayed taking action on the ordinance. (Photos by the writer.)

However the council chose to delay some of its business due to the absences of four members – Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5), Marcia Higgins (Ward 4), Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) and Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2). By way of explanation for the four absences, mayor John Hieftje offered the fact that it’s vacation week for the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

The delayed business included a set of proposed licensing rules for medical marijuana businesses. The council heard from advocates of medical marijuana during public commentary at the start of the meeting, but when they reached the item on their agenda, the seven councilmembers who attended the meeting decided to postpone their vote on the issue without deliberating on or amending the licensing proposal. It marks the fifth time the council has decided not to take an initial vote on the licensing, dating back to Dec. 6, 2010. The council must take two votes on any new ordinance.

Also delayed were two easements – one for pedestrian access and one for public utilities – from Glacier Hills Inc., a retirement community. Under the city charter, eight votes are required for approval of such easements. Rather than have the easements fail on a 7-0 vote, the council chose instead to postpone action.

During his communications, city administrator Roger Fraser gave the council a broad-strokes overview of potential impacts that Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed state budget could have on the city of Ann Arbor. In a roughly $80 million general fund city budget, the $2.4 million projected shortfall – on which current reduction targets are based – could increase by $0.5 million (to $2.9 million) or by $1.7 million (to $4.1 million), depending on how state revenue sharing and state fire protection grants are handled in the state budget. The state’s fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, but the city of Ann Arbor must finalize its own budget in May, for a fiscal year starting July 1.

During public commentary, the council heard a suggestion that Ann Arbor follow the example of Ypsilanti and add parking lots to its snow-clearing ordinance. And during its communications time, the council scrutinized the city’s snow removal performance in connection with a recent storm. Snow began falling the previous Sunday afternoon, accumulating to at least six inches – and more, in many areas – by early Monday morning, when the snow stopped. Highlights from city administrator Roger Fraser’s report on the snow removal effort included the fact that two of the city’s 14 large plowing vehicles were down for maintenance and the fact that forecasted amounts of snow were much lower than what actually fell.

During public commentary, the city also heard from Douglas Smith regarding a Freedom of Information Act appeal that involved redaction of police reports. Over the last several months, Smith has addressed the University of Michigan regents and the Washtenaw County board of commissioners on a range of specific cases that all relate to the general issue of civilian oversight of police power.

Medical Marijuana Licensing

Before the council again was consideration of a set of licensing requirements for medical marijuana businesses. The council has now delayed its initial vote on the licensing requirements at five meetings, dating back to Dec. 6, 2010. The most recent postponement is until March 7, 2011, the council’s next meeting.

The vote that was again postponed is the first of two votes the council must take on any new ordinance it enacts. At its meetings over the last few months, the council has heard extensive public commentary on medical marijuana, but that commentary does not constitute a formal public hearing, which will be held at the same meeting when the council votes on final approval of the licensing, provided it eventually gives initial approval to the licensing system.

At its Oct. 18, 2010 meeting, the council gave its initial approval to a set of zoning regulations for medical marijuana businesses, but it has not yet given its final approval to those regulations. The council’s strategy is to bring licensing and zoning forward at the same time for a final vote.

The context for development of zoning regulations was set at the council’s Aug. 5, 2010 meeting, when councilmembers voted to impose a moratorium on the use of property in the city for medical marijuana dispensaries or cultivation facilities, and directed the city’s planning commission to develop zoning regulations for medical marijuana businesses. Subsequently, the city attorney’s office also began working on a licensing system.

At its Jan. 3, 2011 meeting, the council heavily amended the licensing proposal. At its Jan. 18 meeting, the council was poised to undertake further amendments to the licensing proposal, including many that concerned limiting the amount of information that is required to be divulged by those associated with license applications. However, the council did not amend the proposal further at that meeting. The council undertook additional amendments to the licensing proposal at its Feb. 7, 2011 meeting.

The moratorium on additional properties in the city to be used as medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities was extended by the council at its Jan. 18 meeting to go through March 31, 2011.

Medical Marijuana: Public Commentary

Dennis Hayes, who has addressed the council on the topic of medical marijuana at several previous meetings, told councilmembers that every time he comes back to speak to them, he finds they have more and more in common. He said that as they worked through the ordinance, they are discovering that they have common interests – a common concern for patients. He told the council he’d be sharing with them a possible solution to confidentiality problems associated with labels. He asked the council to consider greater flexibility in the number of licenses granted, so they would not be assigned a false sense of economic value. He also called for protections for property owners who lease to medical marijuana businesses.

Chuck Ream – who addressed the council over a year ago on the subject of medical marijuana, and who has spoken during public commentary several times since then – thanked the council for the progress that’s been made so far on the issue. He said the current draft language on lists of suppliers is problematic: “A cultivation facility or dispensary shall keep records of the persons from whom they received marijuana in any form, and shall make the records available to the City for review upon request.” The objective, Ream said, is that the marijuana dispensed in Michigan come from the Michigan program and to make the origin of the product traceable. While those are good goals, he said, the chance of patients’ and caregivers’ names winding up on permanent lists needs to be minimized.

One approach, Ream said, would be to require that product dispensed at a dispensary come from members of the dispensary. A dispensary should be able to demonstrate compliance with that requirement, he said. Any records, however, should only be maintained for 30 days. He also called for an appeals procedure, and for the possibility of selling a businesses with an accompanying license.

Medical Marijuana: Council Deliberations

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) opened deliberations by noted that with only seven members present, and a requirement that the council have six votes to pass anything, she suggested that the ordinance be postponed until the council’s next meeting, on March 7.

Outcome: Councilmembers voted unanimously to postpone the medical marijuana licensing ordinance until its next meeting on March 7, 2011.

Glacier Hills Easements

On the council’s agenda were two easements for the Glacier Hills retirement and nursing facility. One involves pedestrian access and the other is for public utilities. By city charter, the council needs an 8-vote majority to approve the easements. With only seven members present, the council decided to postpone their vote.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to delay voting on the Glacier Hills easements.

Golf Task Force, Golf Fees

The council’s agenda included two golf-related items: (1) an increase in certain fees for the two city courses, Huron Hills and Leslie Park; and (2) the reappointment of the golf courses advisory task force.

Golf: Public Comment

Addressing the city council in support of the fee increase was Paul Bancel. He suggested bringing the decision back for review at the mid-year point. He told the council that he’d served on the city’s golf courses advisory task for the first two years of its existence. He thanked the council for adopting a 5-year plan for addressing the golf course finances, and observed that the golf courses yield more net cash than any other activity in the city’s parks and recreation program. He referenced the Jan. 31, 2011 memo written by community services area administrator Sumedh Bahl, which put the fixed overhead at Huron Hills at $269,000 per year. Against that, Bancel said, the council should consider the $350,000 of cash per year that the course brings in. Golf is the best use of the land at Huron Hills, Bancel said.

Bancel went on to suggest that the golf courses advisory task force should be a commission – that would ensure that it would have minutes, a formal chair, and include public comment. He forecast that in three years, the courses would have no debt. He suggested keeping the courses simple and profitable.

Golf: Task Force

On the council’s agenda was the renewal of the mandate of the city’s golf courses advisory task force, first appointed in 2008. Its members are: Stephen Rapundalo (city council); Julie Grand (park advisory commission); Bill Newcomb and Ed Walsh (citizens with demonstrated golf operations expertise); Thomas Allen (Ann Arbor citizen with group golf play experience); Barbara Jo Smith (Ann Arbor golf courses patron); and John Stetz (citizen and member of a neighborhood association adjoining a golf course). The task force is chaired by Rapundalo.

The council’s deliberations consisted of Mike Anglin (Ward 5) expressing his support for the work of the task force and thanking them for their work so far.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to reappoint the city’s golf courses advisory task force.

Golf: Fees

The council also considered a proposal to authorize a fee increase at the city’s golf courses.

Power golf cart rentals for 9 holes at Leslie Park and Huron Hills will increase from $7 to $8; for 18 holes, the rental fee would increase from $13 to $14. City staff estimate the increases would generate $25,000 in additional revenue per season. Weekend fees for 9 and 18 holes at Leslie Park golf course will increase by $2 and $1, respectively, and the twilight fee would increase to $16, up from $15. These increases would generate an estimated additional $12,500 in revenue per season. In addition, the council approved raising the senior citizen qualification age to 59 for the 2011 season. That’s part of a consultant’s proposal to incrementally increase the qualification age from 55 to 62 by adding one year to the minimum age annually.

The actions came to the council in advance of the regular budget, so that the rates can be in place for the opening of the courses in the spring. The new rates had previously been recommended for approval by the city’s park advisory commission at its Feb. 15 meeting.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the increased golf fees.

Avalon Housing’s 1500 Pauline Project

Before the council was the approval of the site plan for an Avalon Housing project at 1500 Pauline Blvd. that would construct 32 dwelling units and 39 surface parking spaces. The plan includes demolition of four existing apartment buildings – known as the Parkhurst Apartment complex – containing 48 units. The new construction would include six new buildings totaling 53,185 square feet. Five of the buildings would include one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and three-bedroom townhomes. The sixth building would be a community center with a playground.

Estimated cost of the project is $8 million. That cost includes an upfront developer’s fee of 15% – typical for nonprofit projects like this – as well as costs associated with relocating current residents and paying for their housing at an alternative site for up to five years, as mandated by federal law under the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act.

Avalon expects to fund the project through a combination of sources, including Low Income Housing Tax Credits, HOME program subsidy (HUD funds allocated through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and the Washtenaw Urban County), the Federal Home Loan Bank, and private loan funds.

The proposal complies with the site’s R4B zoning. The city’s planning commission approved the site plan at its Jan. 20, 2011 meeting on a 7-0 vote.

1500 Pauline: Public Hearing

Addressing the council during the public hearing on 1500 Pauline was Lily Au. Au also has spoken about the project at a public hearing on the annual plan of the Urban County, at the Urban County’s Jan. 25 meeting – the council did not have an action item on its agenda for the Urban County plan. She criticized as too high the overhead costs for nonprofit agencies as well as the costs associated with building affordable housing. She called for removing nonprofits from between funding sources and the target homeless population.

Au criticized the 1500 Pauline project for reducing the number of units from 47 to 32. She said that the $8 million project would result in a 10-15% developer’s fee. “We need to say no,” she said.

Speaking basically in support of the project was Levi Murphy, a current resident at Parkhurst. He said he’d attended all the meetings and that he supported the demolition of the buildings – they weren’t structurally sound, he said. He did, however, object to the decrease in the number of 1-bedroom units from 21 to 6.

Associate director of Avalon Housing, Michael Appel, reviewed for the council how Avalon had become involved in the property in early 2009, when they’d merged with Washtenaw Affordable Housing Corp. (WAHC) – 1500 Pauline had been a WAHC property, he said. It was clear that the property was suffering from deferred maintenance and high vacancy rates, he said. After representatives from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) had walked through the property, he said that MSHDA decided they were not willing to invest in the existing buildings. That conclusion was confirmed, Appel said, by Avalon’s own architects and engineers.

Responding to complaints about the reduction in density, Appel explained that the 32 units is the maximum allowed by current zoning. The proposal had been supported by the city’s Housing and Human Services Advisory Board, he said. To address the smaller number of 1-bedroom units, Avalon will try to make available other 1-bedroom units that it manages in the city.

Wendy Carty-Saxon, Avalon Housing’s director of housing development, described the new site plan as better than the current one, because it opens it to the surrounding neighborhood instead of turning it away physically from the community, as the current one does. The site and the units themselves would be completely accessible, she said. Some of the units would be townhomes and would integrate green design. Of the 32 units, 16 would be supported by project-based vouchers and 16 would be targeted for the 30% annual median income (AMI) level. The timeline includes demolition by the end of this year, she said, with new construction completed by the end of 2012.

Carole McCabe, Avalon Housing’s executive director, told the council that the whole process of merging with WHAC had been difficult and had taken longer than expected. For the 1500 Pauline property, they’d taken two years to look at every other option. She thanked the city’s planning staff for their help and invited councilmembers to go on a tour of Avalon properties in the city.

1500 Pauline: Council Deliberations

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) said he was aware of the current site’s problematic design and the condition of the property from his work as a volunteer with Meals on Wheels, delivering meals to people who live there. With respect to the site’s relative location in the city, Anglin said it is ideally situated, in close proximity to a variety of amenities on West Stadium Boulevard.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) asked for some clarification of the developer’s fee. He also wanted to know how long the units would remain affordable. Appel told Kunselman that the developer’s fee of 15% would be paid whether the property was rehabbed or new construction were built – it’s part of the rule set they work with. About the term of affordability, Appel said the tax credits they hope to use to fund the project would entail at least a 15-year affordability period, and the agreements with MSHDA require a 45-year period of affordability.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the 1500 Pauline site plan.

Hutton Appointed to Environmental Commission

Before the council was the confirmation of Susan Hutton’s nomination, made at the previous council meeting, to fill the vacancy on the city’s environmental commission (EC) left by Steve Bean – who chose not to continue his service on the EC. Bean had served on the EC since it was created in 2000.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5), who serves as one of two council representatives to the commission – the other is Margie Teall (Ward 4) – had announced at the council’s previous meeting that he was nominating Hutton to fill Bean’s spot. Hutton is development director at Leslie Science and Nature Center. At that meeting, Hohnke had also announced that there would be another vacancy soon on the EC and that the council was actively soliciting applicants. [Anya Dale's term on the EC ended on Feb. 20, 2011.]

Whereas most nominations to boards and commissions are made by the mayor, then confirmed by the city council, nominations for positions on the EC are made by the city council.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve Hutton’s appointment to the city’s environmental commission.

Police Cars

The council was being asked to approve the purchase of five police cars – Crown Victoria Police Interceptors – for $20,730 each, a total of $103,650. The purchase was made from the low bidder, Signature Ford in Owosso, Mich. The city of Ann Arbor selected from among the bids made under the cooperative bidding programs of the State of Michigan, Macomb County and Oakland County in an effort to leverage higher volume into lower cost. In this case, the lowest bid came through Macomb County’s program.

The city’s fleet services does not generally use the age of a vehicle as an absolute metric to determine replacement. Instead, each vehicle is evaluated based on the vehicle’s age, miles/hours of use, type of service, reliability, maintenance and repair cost, and general condition. Hours of use is considered an important metric, because much of the mileage a city vehicle sees is city driving, which causes more wear and tear on vehicles.

However, the vehicles being replaced with the purchase of the five patrol cars are not evaluated with the same process as other vehicles in the city’s fleet. Police union contracts require that vehicles used by their members not exceed 80,000 miles or 6 years, whichever comes first. The five vehicles to be replaced will exceed the contractual criteria in the next year.

At the council’s meeting, mayor John Hieftje invited city administrator Roger Fraser to comment by observing that he thought the city was getting a really good price on the vehicles. Fraser noted that the price of the vehicles does not include all the various piece of police equipment –  to outfit the new cars, the department would be recycling much of the old equipment from the vehicles to be replaced. Fraser said that these were likely the last Crown Victorias the city would be purchasing – Ford is ending production. The city might decide not to buy all five Crown Victorias, and instead purchase a new model that Chevrolet is making available in late summer or early fall, Fraser said.

Margie Teall (Ward 4) wanted to know if the Chevy model would have mileage as good or better than the Crown Victorias – she was told the Chevy would have better mileage.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to authorize purchase of five new police cars.

Communications and Comment

There are multiple slots on every agenda for city councilmembers and the city administrator to give updates or make announcements about important issues that are coming before the city council. And every meeting typically includes public commentary on subjects not necessarily on the agenda.

Comm/Comm: State Budget – Shared Revenue, Fire Grants

City administrator Roger Fraser gave the council an update on how the city might be affected by Gov. Rick Snyder’s recently proposed state budget. The main impact, he said would come from state revenue sharing.

He reminded the council of the history of state revenue sharing. Four decades ago, the state legislature had relieved local units of government of the authority to levy any taxes except for property taxes and income taxes. But they’d recognized that this hampered local governments’ ability to generate revenue. So to balance that out, they’d introduced a constitutional provision to ensure that the state shared a portion of the state sales tax revenue with local governments. This is the so-called “constitutional” part of state shared revenue.

Shortly after that, Fraser said, the state realized that they were collecting more money through the sales tax than was needed to run the state, so they enacted an additional statute that provided a mechanism to give back additional money to local units. This is the so-called “statutory” part of state shared revenue. The statutory portion of state shared revenue is discretionary, year to year, but the constitutional part depends purely on the amount of total sales taxes collected.

Fraser said that last year, the city of Ann Arbor received roughly $1.9 million in statutory state shared revenue. Its constitutional portion was roughly $7.3 million. [The city website's budget page includes a chart of the history of state shared revenue payments to Ann Arbor. The roughly $9.2 million in state shared revenue made up about 11.5% of the city's general fund budget last year.] Snyder’s budget proposal, said Fraser, reduces the statutory portion by 1/3 – replacing the roughly $300 million statutory portion allocated last year with a $200 million pool that would be distributed to local units on a competitive basis – depending on how innovative and collaborative local units have been.

Fraser said he felt that Ann Arbor is “ahead of the curve” with respect to how well the city would compete for those funds. But the city’s CFO, Tom Crawford, is now assuming a 1/3 cut, or around $600,000 less than the city had previously forecasted for the statutory state shared revenue. [Up until Snyder's announcement of his proposed budget, the city had assumed stable levels of state shared revenue.] Against that cut, Fraser said, the constitutional portion looks like it will be about 4% greater than last year – because of greater sales tax revenue statewide – which for Ann Arbor translates to an additional $300,000.

Less conspicuous than other proposed cuts by Snyder, Fraser said, was a proposal to eliminate reduce the program by which the state funds fire protection for public institutions. [Because public institutions – like the University of Michigan, for example – do not pay property taxes, yet still require fire protections from the local units where they're located, the state makes grants to those local units to cover those costs. The amount of the grant is an ongoing point of controversy for local Ann Arbor officials, because they contend that the grant does not cover the true cost of fire protection for the university.] For Ann Arbor, eliminating reducing the fire protection grant would mean a loss of an additional $165,000 per year. [Clarification: The governor's proposal is to reduce the fire protection grant program by 15%, not eliminate it, and when applied to the roughly $1.1 million received by the city annually under the program, gives Fraser's figure.]

Putting the two kinds of state revenue sharing together and adding in the fire protection grant, Fraser concluded that the net loss for Ann Arbor’s budget would be between $500,000 and $1.7 million – or 0.6% to 2.2% of the city’s general fund budget.

Comm/Comm: Snow Removal – Public Comment, Council Discussion

Jonathan Shaheen spoke to the council about snow removal, specifically in parking lots. He noted that the city has an ordinance requiring that property owners clear snow from sidewalks adjoining their property. The Ann Arbor city ordinance reads in relevant part:

All snow and ice which has accumulated prior to 6:00 a.m. on a public sidewalk adjacent to property not zoned residentially shall be removed by the owner or occupant by noon.

Shaheen noted that there is no similar rule for parking lots. He related to the council how he lives near the University of Michigan campus and pays $75 per month for a spot in a parking lot. He said the lot had been plowed three or four times this winter, but it has snowed more frequently than that. He described how his car had become stuck on Sunday evening trying to make his way to his parking spot. The city of Ypsilanti, he said, has an ordinance that applies to parking lots. In relevant part, the city of Ypsilanti’s ordinance reads:

The owner or manager of any parking lot shall remove all snow from the parking lot within 24 hours from the first accumulation of such snow.

Shaheen suggested that the city of Ann Arbor adopt a similar ordinance. Shaheen described how it’s possible to call the management company to complain, but when it comes to student housing, the tendency is for them to pass the buck. Sometimes you can get results by threatening to pro-rate rent or by calling student legal services, but that should not be the way that this kind of thing is handled, he said. He said that he and his wife, who works in Detroit, could live somewhere else, but they prefer to live in Ann Arbor. The situation with snow in parking lots, however, is a real disincentive to live in Ann Arbor, he concluded.

During communications time, Mike Anglin (Ward 5) took the occasion to acknowledge that they’d heard many complaints about the quality of the snow removal in the city. By way of background, the quality of snow removal in the city is a common topic for newspaper columnists as well as city councilmembers. At the December 2009 budget retreat, Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) broached the subject with public services area administrator Sue McCormick. The Chronicle reported the exchange this way:

Rapundalo, citing his northern Ontario roots, described snow removal in Ann Arbor as “abysmal.” McCormick countered with her own bio, growing up in the Upper Peninsula, and explained that small pickup trucks were not used to plow snow on city streets, because they would be subjected to mechanical stress they’re not designed for. She suggested that in approaching field operations staff, who manage snow removal, a useful approach for Rapundalo would be to query: “Why do I observe this?”

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Anglin noted that more snow had fallen than was forecast. Yet he’d had a guest at his bed and breakfast who’d driven in from Rochester, New York and was surprised at the poor progress of snow removal by Monday morning. The city needs to do a better job, Anglin said. He also criticized the way that city plow trucks block driveways with huge amounts of snow. He said he’d gone out and helped one resident shovel their driveway clear. He concluded that the city needed to respond better to these type of events. [Resident complaints also have included snow that gets plowed onto already cleared sidewalks.]

City administrator Roger Fraser responded to the issue by saying that he’d asked city staff to prepare a more detailed report on snow removal activity during and after the storm. He acknowledged that everybody scrutinizes the city’s snow removal performance – it’s visible to everyone. He assured the council that the city is doing the best it can with the equipment it has. The city has 14 large plowing vehicles, he said, but two of them were down for repairs. The city has additional vehicles equipped with plows, he explained, but they are used for cleanup after the heavier plow vehicles have gone through. The lighter vehicles cannot push the same volume and weight of snow as the heavier vehicles – something that was particularly relevant for the recent storm, because the snow was unusually wet and heavy.

Fraser went on to describe how pre-treatment of the streets with salt/sand mix had begun at 10 a.m. on Sunday. The city’s preparations had been based on predictions of 1-2 inches of snow followed by freezing rain, he said. In the early afternoon, the forecast changed. The snow didn’t stop until 5:22 a.m. on Monday morning. The city had completed two passes of plowing of the main streets by Monday morning, he said. When the plow trucks began heading into the residential neighborhoods, they discovered within the first five hours of plowing that the ridge left by the plows was going to trap vehicles on the street. So they extended the city’s goal of completing residential plowing within 24 hours of the snow stopping. By 5 p.m. Tuesday, he said, the plowing was complete, with the exception of the city’s cul-de-sacs.

Fraser said in the course of the plowing, city crews had helped more than 100 cars that were stuck. He characterized the city’s approach to preparations for snow in the context of the likelihood of such storms, which he put at less than 3%. Given that less than 3% of snowstorms are like the one the city just experienced, Fraser said, the city does not plan for these events – because they are rare. [By "plan for," Fraser appeared to mean budgeting and making capital investments in plowing equipment.] There are certain places around town that are trouble spots that have been recognized since the 1970s, said Fraser – Glen and Huron, for example. Fraser also noted that a water main break had hampered efforts during the recent storm.

Given that cars parked on the street hampered snow removal efforts, Sandi Smith (Ward 1) asked about declaring a snow emergency – what were the protocols? By way of background, the city’s code provides for a way to restrict parking on the street as follows:

Prohibited parking for snow removal.

(a) Whenever the City Administrator finds, on the basis of snow, sleet, freezing rain, or on the basis of a weather forecast, that weather conditions make it necessary to restrict parking to allow removal of existing or forecasted snow, the Administrator may declare a snow emergency and put in effect an odd/even parking prohibition on some or all city streets by providing notice of the prohibition in the manner prescribed by this section.

(b) When an odd/even parking prohibition is in effect, no person shall park a vehicle or permit a vehicle owned by him or her to remain parked on the following described portions of any street; provided, however, that the parking prohibition of this subsection does not apply during the hours of 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight, so that vehicles can be positioned to comply with the next day’s prohibition.

(i) On days having uneven dates, vehicles are prohibited from parking on the side of the street having even street addresses.

(ii) On days having even dates, vehicles are prohibited from parking on the side of the street having uneven street addresses.

Mayor John Hieftje, in subsequent comments, responded to Smith by saying that based on past experience, declaring a snow emergency would entail ticketing hundreds of vehicles, which doesn’t go over well, because many residents don’t have other options for places to park.

By way of background, on at least one occasion, the city council wound up waiving or reducing fines for tickets handed out during a snow emergency, due to complaints from the community. Related to the snow emergency declared on Dec. 25-26, 2002, the council voted on Jan. 6, 2003 to waive or reduce fines for tickets issued. Margie Teall (Ward 4) did not participate in the 2003 vote – apparently someone in her household had received a ticket.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Fraser observed that television and radio stations he listened to had been advising people not to go out unless they had to. Fraser responded to a suggestion from Anglin that the city engage private contractors on an as-needed basis when there’s a major storm. Fraser suggested that private contractors were typically already engaged – they were at capacity. It would be hard to get a guarantee from a private contractor for service, he cautioned.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) said she understood the limits of the equipment and the personnel. But she asked why the city of Ann Arbor snow plowing update page was not updated more frequently. Fraser responded by saying that it is a recurring problem of adequate staffing to update that page. A partial response to that issue, he reminded the council, was their authorization of funds last year for a pilot system to track snow plow vehicles with GPS units and sensors, which would provide a dynamic map of plowing activity.

Fraser said that the sensors for indicating whether a plow blade was flipped to its engaged position and for monitoring the salt/sand spreaders had not yet arrived from the supplier – but that GPS units were currently being installed on some snow plowing trucks.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) reminded everyone that the people who were out driving the plowing vehicles had worked really hard – they deserved a lot of credit, he said.

Anglin asked about cross training of staff so that more people could use the equipment. Fraser indicated that in 2004-05, the city had done an assessment of its vehicle fleet. They had equipped all vehicles capable of plowing snow with a blade and provided training for the operators of those vehicles for plowing snow. At the time, that had resulted in a doubling of the number of vehicles that are able to plow, Fraser said. The city has kept the same strategy.

The basic message Fraser delivered to councilmembers was that the city staff was maximizing their use of resources based on the policy direction the council had set historically. That policy is essentially that the city will not pursue acquisition of snow removal equipment that might well be more effective than the current fleet, but that could also wind up never rolling out of the garage for an entire winter. The council could choose to revisit that policy, he said.

Comm/Comm: City Hall “Water Event”

City administrator Roger Fraser reported on a “water event” in city hall, which is getting some renovations in connection with the adjoining new municipal center. He described how the heat had been shut off in the east end of a property storage room, on the side closest to Huron Street. The lack of heat had resulted in a water valve freezing, which was attached to a 4-inch pipe. Much of the water simply drained across the garage floor to a proper drain. But there was also a 6-inch open pipe in the floor that led to the basement, where it was also open on the other end. That had led to water flowing into the basement below. It was the “worst of serendipity,” said Fraser. He did not repeat the quip he’d made towards the conclusion of the council’s last budget work session, comparing the city hall renovations to the movie “The Money Pit.”

As far as damage from the water, Fraser said that some flooring had been laid with glue that had not yet set, so that would need to be replaced. There are a number of new walls that have been constructed, which appear to be okay, he said. The delay would put them about a month behind. The contractor’s insurance will pay for the additional costs, he said.

Comm/Comm: Civilian Oversight of Police Power

Douglas Smith addressed the council on the topic of two cases involving alleged sexual assault by University of Michigan athletes. By way of background, in the last several months, Smith has addressed the UM regents and the Washtenaw County board of commissioners about a range of specific cases. Before the council meeting, Smith explained to The Chronicle that the common theme tying these cases together is the importance of civilian oversight of police power.

Smith told the council that he was appealing the denial of a Freedom of Information Act request he’d made concerning allegations of sexual assault against two University of Michigan athletes: Brendan Gibbons, a football player, and Jordan Dumars, a basketball player. Smith noted that the police reports produced in response to the FOIA request were heavily redacted. All names of suspects and witnesses were redacted, he said, which made it difficult to assess which witness was saying something about what suspect. Extensive redaction also obscured the elements of the alleged crimes.

One page of a redacted police report provided to Douglas Smith in response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Smith continued by saying that he was interested in how the university and the prosecutor handled the investigations. Smith said the report showed that Dumars was asked how he learned he was under investigation, and Dumars explained that a university official had told him. Smith said that if the university official had informed Dumars based on communication between police departments, then a revelation to the suspect that he was being investigated may well have been improper.

Smith added that in the Gibbons case, the victim was pressured not to press charges – a university department of public safety report includes a description of a different football player saying, “if she does [press charges], I am going to rape her, because he didn’t.”

The name of the football player who made the threat is redacted from the report, Smith said. He wondered why the city attorney’s office would protect the identity of someone who would threaten to rape someone. Smith said that an unredacted version of the Gibbons report was released to AnnArbor.com about a year ago, which Smith contended shows that the city attorney’s redactions are “arbitrary and capricious.”

Present: Mike Anglin, Margie Teall, Sabra Briere, Sandi Smith, Tony Derezinski, Stephen Kunselman, John Hieftje.

Absent: Stephen Rapundalo, Christopher Taylor, Carsten Hohnke, Marcia Higgins.

Next council meeting: Monday, March 7, 2011 at 7 p.m. in the Washtenaw County administration building, 220 N. Main St. [confirm date]