The history of parking in that section of town – near the massive UM medical campus – was laid out in a cover memo provided to regents. A similar project had been previously approved by regents in September 2008 to address parking needs in that area. It had been opposed by residents, who attended public meetings held by UM to argue against the location. [See Chronicle coverage from December 2008: "Neighbors Weigh In Again on Wall Street Project."]

Subsequently, the project was cancelled in mid-2009 and the university entered into a partnership with the city of Ann Arbor to build the Fuller Road Station, a controversial project proposed on city-owned land in Fuller Park that had been used for nearly two decades as a surface parking lot. In addition to parking, the project was intended to include a bus depot and eventually a train station. It was approved by regents in January 2010. However, UM pulled out of the project earlier this year, in February. [See Chronicle coverage: "UM, Ann Arbor Halt Fuller Road Project."]

Demand for staff and faculty parking is expected to increase According to the staff memo from UM chief financial officer Tim Slottow, about 300 prime UM employee parking spaces were reallocated to patients after the opening late last year of the new C. S. Mott Children’s and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital. The memo states: “More employees are parking remotely and traveling by bus to work. On a typical day, we estimate that 2,500 employees are parking in remote lots and taking a bus or shuttle to the medical center. Additionally, there are about 1,500 employees utilizing alternative means of transportation, including riding the bus from home, ridesharing, or van pooling.”

Slottow told regents that staff would be moving very quickly on construction, but would update various studies that had been originally conducted in 2008 – including traffic and environmental studies. The university also plans to hold public forums about the project and work to give the design a neighborhood feel through open space and architectural details, he said.

The action by regents on April 19 included selecting Walker Parking Consultants and the Stecker Labau Arneill McManus (S/L/A/M) Collaborative architectural firm to design the project.

This brief was filed from the Michigan Union’s Rogel ballroom, where the board held its April meeting.

Ann Arbor city councilmembers Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) and Jane Lumm (Ward 2). (Photos by the writer.)

Neither of the other two resolutions involving direction to staff got much support on the council. Failing on a 3-7 vote was a resolution that would have directed the city attorney to provide a written opinion on the transfer of funds from the city’s street millage fund to the public art fund. The resolution got support only from its sponsors, Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) and Sabra Briere (Ward 1), who were joined by Mike Anglin (Ward 5). The council postponed a separate item that would have authorized $150,000 for a piece of art that the public art commission has recommended for the lobby of the new Justice Center.

Failing on a 4-6 vote was a resolution related to the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. It directed city staff to “to review, analyze, and report on the compliance of the DDA provided TIF calculation and capture amount” – an issue that relates to excess capture of taxes identified last year. The three who supported the resolution requesting an opinion on public art were joined by Jane Lumm (Ward 2) in supporting the TIF resolution. Only 10 councilmembers attended the meeting – Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) was absent. But even if Higgins had voted for the two resolutions, they still would have failed.

Generating some controversy were two items involving automobiles. The council gave final approval to changes in parking regulations that include a provision allowing the developer of a downtown project to meet minimum parking requirements without building parking spaces on site. The alternative is to make a payment in lieu of building parking spaces, or to sign a long-term contract to purchase monthly parking permits in the public parking system. Anglin voted against the ordinance change as well as the specific policy governing the payments in lieu of parking.

On another automobile-related item, Anglin was joined by Lumm in opposing a resolution that made a formal request to the Michigan Dept. of Transportation to convert a segment of Jackson Road between Maple Road and South Revena from four traffic lanes to three. That request will move forward. In another road-related item, the council unanimously approved a $3,647,344 construction contract for the first set of streets to be repaired in the 2012 program. That will be followed at the council’s next meeting, on April 16, by a second contract for an additional set of streets.

The council also gave approval to three different site plans – for Arbor Hills Crossing on Washtenaw Avenue, Les Voyageurs near Argo Pond, and Noodles & Co. on West Stadium Boulevard.

Public commentary at the end of the meeting featured several speakers who called the council’s attention to April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Public Art Legal Opinion

In front of the council for its consideration was a resolution that would have directed the city attorney to provide a written legal opinion on the transfer of funds from the dedicated street millage fund for use in the city’s public art program. In a separate item, the council voted to approve the first part of the 2012 street resurfacing program, which is funded out of the street millage fund.

Public Art Legal Opinion: Background

The city’s Percent for Art ordinance stipulates that 1% of all capital project budgets be allocated for public art, up to a limit of $250,000 per capital project. The legal basis for the program, which relies on taking monies from dedicated millages and fees to serve the purpose of public art, has been sharply questioned.

Since being hired as city attorney, Stephen Postema has bypassed the Ann Arbor city charter requirement that written legal opinions be filed with the city clerk (thus making them public) by contending that his written opinions are “advice memos” and thus not technically opinions. The city responds to requests under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act for the content of such advice memos by asserting attorney-client privilege.

By Ann Arbor city charter, the city attorney is under the direct supervision of the city council. So the resolution considered by the council would have forced Postema to produce a written opinion. The resolution was brought forward by Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) and co-sponsored by Sabra Briere (Ward 1). [For additional background, see: “Council Preview: Marijuana, Art, TIF.”]

Public Art Legal Opinion: Deliberations

In his remarks introducing the resolution, Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) proceeded to read it aloud in its entirety. Sabra Briere (Ward 1) wondered if that were necessary, but mayor John Hieftje indicated that if Kunselman wanted to use his time-limited speaking turn to read it aloud, he could do that. Kunselman asked Briere playfully, “Do you mind?” and indicated that he knew he just had five minutes. He then read the rest of the resolution.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) questioned whether the amount of time allotted to the city attorney was adequate to produce the opinion – the resolution specified delivering the opinion by April 16. Kunselman responded to Lumm by saying he felt that the attorney already had the material prepared.

Lumm said her concerns with the public art program were not so much legal concerns but rather a matter of steering capital dollars away from the projects they are supposed to be funding. She noted she wasn’t on the city council when the ordinance was approved [in 2007], but she believed that the city attorney was consulted and provided advice on the ordinance at the time.

Briere observed that for at least two years, the council has regularly heard concerns about whether the funding mechanism for the public art program is legal. The city attorney has said he can only provide a written opinion if the council requests one, she noted. So she was co-sponsoring the resolution – in order to put the issue to rest. “Let’s either ask him to give us a written opinion, or we vote this down,” she said.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) said that he’d vote against the resolution. An opinion does not mean “the thoughts of an attorney.” In this context, he said, it’s intended for third-party reliance. In his view, the council had received advice from the city attorney on the topic, and he said he was satisfied with it. He felt there is no reason for having a formal opinion for third-party reliance. The notion of “jumping the gun” on something like this is not appropriate for the context, he said.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) supported Taylor’s contention that the opinion was not necessary. He then went on to describe how there have been opinions before with respect to components of the ordinance. He said he was not on the city council when the ordinance was approved, but didn’t feel it was necessary to ask for “yet another opinion.” So he was going to oppose the resolution.

City attorney Stephen Postema was quick to jump in to disagree with Derezinski’s statement, saying that he hadn’t provided any opinions, but rather advice. [It's critical for the city attorney not to call his written advice an "opinion" because the Ann Arbor city charter requires that written "opinions" be filed with the city clerk's office, thereby making them public.]

Margie Teall (Ward 4) said she was satisfied with the material she’d received and the information she already had.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) said that as councilmembers they were involved with these issues, they understood the issues. But he said he’d wanted some backup for his support of the Percent for Art program. By voting for an opinion to be written, it was allowing the voters and taxpayers of the city to understand the Percent for Art program better. He felt that would be something the council should want to do.

In support of what Anglin said, Briere observed that often the public asks the council: Why did you make that decision? The reason for asking that an opinion be written is not that councilmembers are doing it for themselves – it’s for the public. Some things are more contentious than others, she said, and the public art funding mechanism has been contentious. Asking for a written opinion is not for the council, but rather for the public. A decision about whether to ask for an opinion should be based on two things, she said: (1) Does the council think it benefits our role as members of council? and (2) Do we think it benefits the public?

Kunselman said he wanted to make clear he didn’t recall ever receiving an advice memo on the transfer from a dedicated millage account to the public art fund. So for councilmembers who are saying they’re satisfied, he said, Tuscola County had publicized a document as part of a voter information program in advance of a millage stating that it wasn’t possible to transfer money out of a dedicated millage fund to any other account. Kunselman ventured it might be possible to pay for art out of the street millage fund, but you just can’t transfer it to another fund. He felt there are some fine details in there that should be clarified. The question of whether it’s legal or not to transfer money out of a dedicated millage account is a simple question, he said, and the public deserves an answer.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) said the council had received clear input from the city attorney on issues surrounding public art and he said he was satisfied with that. The purpose of an opinion is nothing more than to give third parties a formal understanding of how they might be impacted by the city’s orientation to particular legal issues. Even if the issue were about reassuring the public, he said, “that ship has sailed.” That would have been an appropriate conversation to have when the council was considering implementing the Percent for Art program [in 2007]. He said that as he talked with people, he’s gotten a lot of reassurance from people when he’s told them that the council has received very clear advice on the public art.

Lumm said she’d come to this late, but that to a latecomer it was clear that the city attorney had been consulted. She felt that if it were considered illegal then the council would not have approved the ordinance. She felt like the issue had been addressed.

Outcome: The resolution failed on a 3-7 vote, with support from Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) and Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

Justice Center Art

The council was asked to vote on the use of $150,000 for a public art project in the lobby of the new municipal building called the Justice Center, located on the northeast corner of Huron Street and Fifth Avenue in downtown Ann Arbor. The Justice Center, located next to city hall, houses the 15th District Court and the Ann Arbor police department.

A rendering of Ed Carpenter's proposed "Radius" sculpture in the southwest corner of Ann Arbor's Justice Center lobby. This image was revised from earlier drawings by the artist to include more glass, at the request of a selection task force. (Links to larger image)

Because it houses the district court, the building features airport-style security measures at the entrance, and visitors must surrender electronic devices like cameras and cellphones to be locked in cubicles during their visit to the building.

Concern about accessibility by the public to the public art was the subject of councilmember deliberations. The visibility of the proposed sculpture from outside the building was also a point of discussion.

At its Jan. 25, 2012 meeting, the Ann Arbor public art commission had unanimously recommended selecting Ed Carpenter of Portland, Oregon for the $150,000 project in the Justice Center’s lobby. A task force had recommended the selection of Carpenter’s proposal from three finalists. It’s a sculpture called “Radius.”

Carpenter plans to create a hanging sculpture of dichroic glass, aluminum, stainless steel and lighting, including LED spot and flood lighting. Among the reasons for recommending Radius, the task force cited the sculpture’s metaphor: That the activities in the Justice Center have a “rippling” effect throughout the community, which echoes the water sculpture by Herbert Dreiseitl that’s located in the plaza outside the building.

At the council’s April 2 meeting, public art administrator Aaron Seagraves described the piece of art.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) called the design “cool,” but she had concerns about the area not being accessible to the public. She wanted to know if the idea had been considered to move the security gates back into the building so more people can access the lobby.

City administrator Steve Powers indicated that the ability to move the security gates is tied to the overall building project budget. There’ll be a report soon to the council’s building committee on the project budget, he said, and at that point there could be a more informed decision about moving the security systems. There are budgetary impacts to that. Craig Hupy, interim public services area administrator, described the financing information as close to being wrapped up and almost ready for discussion.

Smith said she didn’t feel really strongly about tying approval of the art to the moving of the security gates, but wondered if there were any harm in postponing until that discussion is held? Hupy said he didn’t think so. The art was anticipated to be completed by the end of December. At some point the artist’s proposal would have to be reviewed for changes due to inflation. If it’s a matter of 30-60 days, he didn’t think it would have an impact. Because Smith felt the discussion was fairly imminent, she was inclined to delay for a month. Seagraves didn’t have a problem with that.

Mayor John Hieftje agreed with taking the time to think about it some more. He’d looked at the location with Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and while he felt that the public art commission had done a good job in designing something that would be visible from outside the building, it would be nicer if the lobby could be opened up to the public. That should be investigated, he said. The issue of the placement of security should be revisited, he concluded.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) also supported the postponement. She felt that going forward, public art decisions should include the idea of access to the public.

Briere said she supported the postponement but really supported the opportunity to review the security checkpoint. She reminded the council that people who’d selected the art believe that it’s to be viewed from outside the building, rather than from within the building. It’s a beautiful open space that should be used for meetings, weddings, parties, and receptions – the things that civic spaces should be used for. But because of measures that are there to protect the community, the public had lost access to the space.

Hieftje said it did muddy the issue of the art, which was being delayed while the council took a look at the security issue, but he stressed that the public art commission and the task force for the piece of art had done a good job.

Margie Teall (Ward 4) indicated support for the postponement, but said she’d had very complete discussions with the building’s architect about what the security would entail. She felt it was already decided that there wasn’t a lot that could be done. She was on the committee to select the art and the placement. The committee felt that the corner of the building needed to be enlivened from the outside. She said that if people want to see the art, they can go through security and view it, or stand outside and look at it. She didn’t want people to get their hopes up about moving the security checkpoint or tying that to the art.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) clarified that it’s possible to get buzzed into the lobby by the police after hours, and ventured that once they let you in, it’s “unsecured.” Hupy said he didn’t know if people were tracked once they came in. Teall supposed that at night the best place to see it would be from outside.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), who also serves on the public art commission, said he felt there was a consensus about the validity of the art project. He felt that it’s important to convey that message back to the public art commission, and he’d support the postponement because it wouldn’t hurt the project. He felt the artwork would add beauty to the building.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) said he’d also support the postponement. But he responded to the talk about how the sculpture will be viewed from outside by wondering if the artist could show the etched glass on the window as part of the nighttime rendering. He didn’t feel it would be visible with the clarity that was being portrayed, and that it would be obscured.

Lumm said she’d support postponement, but said she was not comfortable with siting it in the Justice Center building, even with adjustment of the security checkpoint. She described the spending on the building as extravagant. She was troubled that “we’re spending it on ourselves.” She wondered if this is the best use of public dollars. She wanted some clarification about how much of the artwork’s budget was going to fabrication and whether the fabrication would be done locally, given that the selected artist is from Portland.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to postpone the vote on the $150,000 Justice Center artwork. The postponement will be until May 7.

DDA TIF Capture

The council was asked to consider a resolution that would have directed city staff to verify the compliance of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority with the city’s ordinance that governs how the DDA’s tax capture works.

DDA TIF Capture: Background

When city financial staff pointed out the implications of the city ordinance in May 2011, the result was a computation of excess TIF (tax increment finance) capture of over $1 million. The city of Ann Arbor waived its share, which amounted to $712,000, but the other taxing authorities in the district (Ann Arbor District Library, Washtenaw Community College and Washtenaw County) received a total of $473,000 in reimbursement for last year and previous years.

The DDA board’s current legal position, subsequently adopted, is that it had not been necessary to return the money to the other taxing authorities in its district, but the board has not pressed for return of that money to the DDA.

For this year and into the future, the interpretation of the ordinance and the method of calculation will have an impact of several hundred thousand dollars a year in the amount of taxes the DDA could rightfully capture from other taxing authorities in its district. [See “Column: Tax Capture Is a Varsity Sport”]

In relevant part, the ordinance passage from Chapter 7 reads [emphasis added]:

If the captured assessed valuation derived from new construction, and increase in value of property newly constructed or existing property improved subsequent thereto, grows at a rate faster than that anticipated in the tax increment plan, at least 50% of such additional amounts shall be divided among the taxing units in relation to their proportion of the current tax levies. If the captured assessed valuation derived from new construction grows at a rate of over twice that anticipated in the plan, all of such excess amounts over twice that anticipated shall be divided among the taxing units. Only after approval of the governmental units may these restrictions be removed. [.pdf of Ann Arbor city ordinance establishing the DDA]

By way of general background, a tax increment finance (TIF) district is a mechanism for “capturing” certain property taxes to be used in a specific geographic area – taxes that would otherwise be received by the entity with the authority to levy the taxes. So in the DDA’s TIF district, the DDA doesn’t levy taxes directly. Rather, a portion of the property taxes that would otherwise be collected by taxing units (like the library, community college and the county) is instead used by the Ann Arbor DDA for improvements within its boundaries, covering about 66 city blocks downtown.

For additional background specific to the current situation, see “Council Preview: Marijuana, Art, TIF.”

DDA TIF Capture: Deliberations

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) summarized the background on the DDA TIF capture issue. After describing the situation, he then ventured that having the DDA verify its own compliance was like having the fox guard the henhouse.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) said that sometimes she and Kunselman did agree on things, and in this case it looked to her like this was a matter of “Show your math.” She felt that it would not make a difference to the DDA, and given that she didn’t think it would make a difference to the DDA, it will be a reassurance that nothing has been forgotten this year. She said she was okay with asking that the math be shown.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1), who also serves on the DDA board, said it seemed to her like the council was doing a lot of directing of staff through resolutions when staff can do it through a request by email. She said she was just confused about the “litany of demands” that the staff perform something when they hadn’t simply been asked whether or not they’d do it. She looked at it as a time-waster and wondered if there weren’t something else that the council should be doing instead – she introduced the possibility of changing the relevant ordinance [Chapter 7]. That would be legitimate, Smith said. She found that if a simple request [not through a resolution] were made of staff, they’d be good at providing the information to the council.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) said she’d support the resolution, but distanced herself from Kunselman’s general view of the DDA’s role in the city.

Outcome: On a 4-6 vote, the resolution failed with support only from Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Jane Lumm (Ward 2), Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), and Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

Street Resurfacing Program

A resolution on the April 2 agenda asked the council to award a $3,647,344 construction contract for its 2012 street resurfacing program to Barrett Paving Materials Inc. The engineer’s estimate for the project was $3,850,835. Barrett’s was the lowest of three bids. Ajax Paving Industries Inc. had bid $3,757,748 and Cadillac Asphalt LLC had bid $4,029,089. The money for the project comes primarily from the city’s street resurfacing millage. This is the first of two contracts that the council will be asked to approve – the next one with additional streets will be presented to the council at the April 16 meeting.

Ann Arbor 2012 street resurfacing program. Image links to Google Map.

The 2012 resurfacing program includes the following major streets: Huron Parkway (Hubbard Street to Glazier Way); Fifth Avenue (Huron Street to Liberty Street); Liberty Street (Seventh Street to First Street); Glen Street (Huron Street to bridge over railroad tracks); and Geddes Avenue (Awixa Road to Apple Way).

The 2012 resurfacing program also includes the following local streets: Pineview Court (Riverview Drive to the end of Pineview); Canal Street (end to end); William Street (Fourth Street to Ashley Street); N. Fifth Avenue (Depot Street to Beakes Street); Fourth Street (William Street to Liberty Street); Third Street (William Street to Liberty Street); David Court (Traver Boulevard to end); and Hatcher Crescent (Miller Ave to Hatcher Street).

Street Resurfacing: Council Deliberations

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) led off the deliberations by asking Homayoon Pirooz, head of project management for the city, how the streets were selected for inclusion in the program. Pirooz described a rating system used by the field services department – from 1-100 – but he said no street was ever at the very bottom of the scale. Any street less than 70 was put on a list and around October of each year, the streets rated less than 70 are driven to confirm that they need to be included. Around this time of year, in the spring, the staff might recognize that a street rated 71 or 72 might also need to be added to the list. After publication of the list this year, he said, they’d heard from members of the public and added some streets to the list on that basis.

Jones Drive was one that wasn’t on the list initially, but had been added. There was a plan to replace the water main and after contacting the water utilities department, they’d learned that plan had changed, so it could be resurfaced. He’d also had a request to look at Forest, Pirooz said. That street also seems to need the work, and a decision will be made in the next few days. The contract they’d vote on that night was Group A. In two weeks, there’d be another 20 streets in Group B.

Lumm asked if the city was biting off a big chunk of those that are rated less than 70. Pirooz said that by 2013, after this current cycle, there would be additional streets that are rated less than 70. Overall, he said, over the last eight or nine years, the city is gradually improving the condition of its streets. But right now, he said, the city is not resurfacing many of its streets that are rated more than 70.

Margie Teall (Ward 4) asked for confirmation from Pirooz that the money being spent on resurfacing this year would have been spent on the East Stadium bridges project, if the federal money had not come through. Pirooz explained that for the last two or three years, the city had been very careful about expending money from the street millage, just in case the city had to undertake the Stadium bridges repair by itself, with no federal aid. That turned out not to be the case. The city had received $13 million in federal aid, so the city was able to accelerate its street repair project.

Lumm responded to the political point Teall was making by recalling her prior service on the council, when the city had set aside money to repair the two Broadway bridges and did work on the Huron Parkway bridges plus a lot of streets. She said that the city was able to do that with federal money, state money and local street millage dollars – because that’s the way it’s typically done. What’s being done with Stadium bridges is not unique – it’s a matter of making it a priority, she contended. All along the city could have done both, she said.

Pirooz responded to Lumm by saying there was a lot less transportation available now than five or ten years ago. When the Broadway bridges were in the planning stage, he said, he thought the city had received close to $19.5 million through the state’s local bridge program. For the Stadium bridges, the city had receive only around $2 million. There’s been a substantial change in the amount of money the state had available. Lumm allowed it was a point well taken.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) complimented city staff on their responsiveness on the Jones Drive issue. On the Stadium bridges issue, Briere said she remembered reading how some people felt the city should go ahead and take on the reconstruction using local dollars, but the city had instead pursued federal dollars. The city was ultimately successful but it took time – time during which the public became impatient. It was desirable, she said, for the staff to conserve the street millage dollars for the last few years as a contingency for the possibility that federal dollars didn’t materialize.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) said he vaguely remembered the city missing out on the first round of TIGER grants because the city did not have a shovel-ready project for which it could apply. Pirooz said that wasn’t entirely true. The city did have a shovel-ready project, but the federal government had other priorities, he said. Kunselman expressed interest in adding to the list some streets in “my neck of the woods.” Pirooz said that the city likely had the money, but perhaps not the time. Kunselman told Pirooz he was referring to the Springbrook subdivision.

Mayor John Hieftje then reviewed the same historical material on the Broadway and Stadium bridges that Lumm, Briere and Pirooz had already reviewed.

Related to that, Pirooz reported that the Stadium bridges project is about a month ahead of schedule.

Outcome: The Group A contract for the 2012 street repair program was unanimously approved.

Jackson Road: From Four to Three Lanes

The council considered making a request to the Michigan Dept. of Transportation to convert the segment of Jackson Road between Maple Road and South Revena from four traffic lanes to three.

Jackson Road: Background

The request to MDOT will be shared with the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). If the FHWA were to approve the proposed lane conversion, it would be implemented by MDOT, when the length of Jackson Road is resurfaced by MDOT from the I-94 interchange to Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. That project is scheduled for 2013 or 2014.

Segment of Jackson Road recommended for 4-to-3 lane conversion. Image links to Google Map.

Benefits of the lane conversion cited in a staff memo accompanying the resolution include: (1) safe deceleration in the middle lane for left turns; (2) elimination of lane weaving; (3) uniform speeds and the resultant traffic-calming effect; (4) reduction in number and severity of crashes in a number of categories; (5) potential extra width for bicycle lanes; and (6) potential creation of additional marked pedestrian crossings.

The memo mentions several successful 4-to-3 lane conversions in Ann Arbor: South Main (Ann-Arbor Saline to Eisenhower); Platt (Packard to Ellsworth); Packard (Stadium to Jewett); Huron Parkway (Nixon to Plymouth); West Stadium Boulevard (Seventh to Pauline); and Green (Plymouth to Glazier Way). All of those segments have an average daily traffic (ADT) flow of less than 15,000.

Roadway segments with greater than 15,000 ADT, like Jackson Road with 15,500, require a greater level of analysis and public involvement. And to that end MDOT held a public meeting at Slauson Middle School on Feb. 2, 2012.

Jackson Road: Deliberations

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) noted that the project would not be done until 2013 or 2014. He said it had been described to him as simply changing the painted lines on the street. He contended that public input was limited. He said that Liberty had been reworked and reduced in size but characterized it as “not a major carrier.” Once you exceed the 15,000 ADT threshold, a 4-to-3 lane reduction requires more analysis, he noted, and the section of Jackson in question is right on the limit – with 15,500 ADT. He pointed out that there would be buses on the street.

Anglin noted that Dexter Avenue was being redone this year with bicycle lanes and that Miller Road was scheduled to be done with bicycle lanes next year, so he felt there will be enough entrances and exits into the city for bicyclists within two blocks. He described Jackson as an extremely dangerous road due to the number of vehicles. He allowed that he was initially in favor of the lane change, but as he thought more about it, he was afraid it would result in putting people into situations that aren’t as safe as he’d like. It would be asking drivers to be acting quickly to reduce lanes. He contended that the more challenging a road layout is, the more difficult it is for drivers to maneuver and to watch for cyclists.

He floated the idea of postponing the motion. The road won’t be wider, he said. He criticized what he called not enough public input on the project.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) asked Homayoon Pirooz of the city’s project management unit to come to the podium. She asked why it was advisable to reduce from four lanes to three on a “trunkline.” Pirooz explained that it’s not a matter of whether it’s a trunkline, but rather it’s the number of cars that determines how many lanes are needed. He described how four-lane roads were very common 30-40 years ago. Traffic engineers have found that’s not the best configuration. He described the reduction of conflict points that results from a reduction from four to three lines.

As an example, he pointed to Platt Road, which was reduced to three lanes. Residents, he said, had a lot of concerns about that, before it was implemented, thinking they wouldn’t be able to get onto the road from sidestreets. Looking at the data for accidents, he said, the number of accidents per year was 20-30 per year. But in the last two years it’s down to 6-7. The number of cars on that stretch is 14,000. That compares with 15,500 along the stretch of Jackson Road under discussion.

The city asked MDOT to do the traffic analysis and modeling, and that was presented to the public. Based on MDOT’s own analysis, it’d be relatively easily to do a 4-to-3 lane conversion, Pirooz said. He explained that the reason the city had asked MDOT to do the analysis was that the existing lanes on that stretch are very narrow – they’re 10 feet wide. MDOT won’t build roads with lanes that narrow any more – the minimum is 11 feet and the preference is 12.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) said he lived near the area and could confirm the narrowness of lanes, and said that narrowness is a concern for a lot of people. Hohnke noted that the four-to-three lane reduction would even out the traffic flow, allow for deceleration, and possibly add bike lanes – that sounds too good to be true, he said. He said he understood that the staff feels the benefits outweigh the costs, but he wanted to know what the costs were – congestion, air quality?

Pirooz allowed there are no guarantees for anything. He said staff is 95% confident that this will work. It’s planned for resurfacing for 2013 or possibly 2014. Once the street is paved, that’s the time to do lane markings. With all projects, he said, staff goes back one year later, and if ever a project like that doesn’t work, it’s as easy to change as grinding off the old paint and putting new paint down.

Hohnke drew out the fact that there could be some additional queuing time, but not that much.

Lumm came back to the issue of the traffic load of the segment of Jackson Road. She noted that in response to a question she’d asked before the meeting, the ADT was projected to be 18,500 in 18 years. She wondered if the city would be looking back then, wondering why this change was made. Pirooz noted that the current level is 15,000 ADT, which is closer to 15 than 20 – and the 18,500 projected in 18 years is still less than 20,000. By then, Pirooz said, the city would be looking at another resurfacing at that time. If you have to change it after 15 years, he said, that’s the nature of traffic engineering.

Mayor John Hieftje and Briere both mentioned the fact that the lane changes are reversible. In an apparent bid to wrap up discussion, Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) noted that he himself is not a traffic professional, but the city’s traffic professionals say that there are safety benefits, it’ll be reviewed in a year, and it’s fully reversible – so he’d be supporting the resolution.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) wondered if the impact on the Platt Road change had been to cause motorists to find alternative routes – he felt like traffic on Platt was lighter since the 4-to-3 conversion. Pirooz told him there hadn’t been a decrease.

Anglin asked about accidents along the stretch. He also pointed out that the decision would affect a lot of people who don’t live in Ann Arbor, who are using the road to come into town.

Outcome: The 4-to-3 lane reduction resolution was approved over the opposition of Mike Anglin (Ward 5) and Jane Lumm (Ward 2).

Immediately after the vote Thomas Partridge, called out from his seat in the audience, saying the vote was “unbelievable,” which prompted Hieftje to tell him to be quiet.

Parking Ordinance

At its April 2 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council gave final approval to changes to the city’s off-street parking code.

Parking Ordinance: Background

The first change reduces the exceptions allowed for front open-space parking for sites that have more than one front lot line. Currently, a site with three frontages can have a parking area for two of the frontages – between the building face and the public right of way. The code revision would limit parking areas to a single frontage.

The second change requires that any new driveways serving drive-up windows in the front open space of a site be no wider than 12 feet and provide a raised sidewalk with bollards where the sidewalk crosses a drive-up lane. The change is meant to improve pedestrian safety.

The third change relates to minimum off-street parking requirements in the downtown districts, zoned D1 and D2. Developers currently have the option of making a payment in lieu of providing the required parking. The revision to the ordinance would add the option of signing a contract for parking permits in the city’s public parking system.

During the public hearing, Thomas Partridge called the amendments unclear and confusing. He contended that they deny property owners the ability to use the area in front of their property for parking.

Parking Ordinance: Deliberations

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) led off deliberations by asking for the projected impact on existing and prospective construction. Planning manager Wendy Rampson described the proposed changes in the context of the relatively new area, height and placement revisions (AHP) in the zoning code. In the context of reduced setback requirements for AHP, the proposed amendments were a way to preserve the remaining green space and to prevent it from becoming all driveway. Most existing drive-throughs are not an issue, she said. It’s really just the new proposals – like the like Tim Hortons site plan that would come before the council in a couple of weeks.

City administrator Steve Powers (left) and councilmember Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) said he had a lot of concern about the arrangement by which a developer could contract for spaces in the public parking system. He alluded to a proposed development at 618 S. Main, for which the developer is proposing to build two floors of parking – twice the amount required. He felt the city shouldn’t allow the use of public parking spaces to satisfy the minimum requirement. This is not a good thing as far as he was concerned. He contended that it was tantamount to public bonding.

Rampson explained that when the A2D2 zoning changes were adopted, there were options provided to meet the minimum parking requirements through an easement, or through a formula. Contracting for parking permits is one option that a developer can take that may or may not make sense, she said. In the case of the proposed 618 S. Main project, it doesn’t make sense to the developer, so he’s opted to provide parking on site. One of the benefits to contracting for monthly permits is that it assures a revenue stream for the parking structures, Rampson said. The policy that the council would be considering later in the meeting, as a separate agenda item, allows for the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to determine whether parking is available within the public system. It’s not mandatory that the DDA grant the permits, if not enough spaces are available.

Anglin asked Rampson to give an example of a building that has provided its own parking and is successful. Rampson offered Zaragon Place, located on East University. Susan Pollay, executive director of the DDA, described the special parking permits that are available to downtown residents – the permits cost $30 a month, which allows residents to use the system in an “off-peak way.” She described how some of the users of the $30 permits are restaurant workers.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) worried that a contract could be just one year and that it wouldn’t meet the intent of the ordinance. He was curious about how it’s expected to play out. Rampson noted that the proposed policy the council would be considering cited a contract term of 15 years. Kunselman wondered why that wouldn’t be written into the ordinance instead of considered as a separate policy. Rampson explained that if the council wanted to change the policy it would be easier to change it if it’s a policy as opposed to going through the process of an ordinance change. [An ordinance change requires two readings before the council and a public hearing. ]

Kunselman then asked why the city didn’t make the all development in the downtown area exempt from parking requirements. Rampson explained that the issue was well-debated for two years, as part of the A2D2 rezoning process. She noted that there is only a parking requirement for bonus square-footage. Whatever can be built “by right” is parking exempt.

Kunselman said he was not comfortable contracting out the requirement using the public parking system. He contended that makes it into a quasi-private system.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) asked Pollay to describe contracts with existing developments for parking space – Village Green City Apartments, Cornerhouse Lofts, McKinley Towne Center and others. Briere concluded that what was being proposed was not novel. Pollay concurred that it’s going on now. Mayor John Hieftje added that it’s a use of the parking system as an economic development tool. Jane Lumm (Ward 2) said the proposal made sense to her – it addresses the basic objective of providing for the parking needs of projects and it provides flexibility.

Outcome: The council gave final approval to the parking regulation change, over dissent from Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

Payment in Lieu of Parking

Also in front of the council for its consideration was the policy by which the minimum required parking component of developments in the downtown D1 and D2 zoning districts can be satisfied off-site from the development. The city is using the acronym CIL for “contribution in lieu” to describe the option. The idea could be familiar to some readers as PILOP, or “payment in lieu of parking.”

If not provided on-site, the policy allows some of the minimum required parking spaces to be provided with one of two basic strategies: (1) commit to a 15-year contract with the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to purchase monthly permits in the public parking system at a rate 20% greater than the ordinary price; or (2) pay $55,000 up front before a certificate of occupancy is issued. [.pdf of parking payment in lieu policy]

The Ann Arbor DDA board had approved its recommendation of a PILOP policy over a year and half ago, at its July 7, 2010 board meeting. The DDA’s involvement in the policy formation stems from its role as operator of the city’s public parking system, under contract with the city of Ann Arbor. Part of the methodology in the CIL policy entails that the DDA will research the availability of spaces in the public parking system, when a developer applies for permits under the CIL option.

Outcome: Without deliberating explicitly on the item, which the council did not reach until nearly the end of the meeting, the council approved the policy over the dissent of Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

Arbor Hills Crossing Revisions

The council was asked to consider revisions to the building plans for Arbor Hills Crossing, a proposed retail and office complex at Platt and Washtenaw.

The project involves tearing down three vacant commercial structures and putting up four one- and two-story buildings throughout the 7.45-acre site – a total of 90,700-square-feet of space for retail stores and offices. Three of the buildings would face Washtenaw Avenue, across the street from the retail complex where Whole Foods grocery is located. The site would include 310 parking spaces.

According to the planning staff memo accompanying the resolution, the buildings are proposed to remain in the same configuration that the city council approved at its Nov. 21, 2011 meeting. But now, more brick and masonry surfaces and less steel is being proposed. In the city planning staff’s view, the changes – which also include some changes to windows and vertical elements – could not be made as administrative amendments, and needed the city council’s approval.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) confirmed that some of the new material included full brick, with some split-faced block. He asked for some additional clarification about decisions to use certain materials in certain locations.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) noted that with more brick and masonry, it appears to be a nice improvement. Given that there were no staff comments on it, she wanted to know what planning manager Wendy Rampson’s thoughts were. Rampson said there weren’t standards for these changes – but she characterized the new materials as “less edgy.”

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the Arbor Hills Crossing changes.

Noodles & Co. Site Plan

On the April 2 agenda was a site plan for a new Noodles & Co. restaurant at 2161 W. Stadium Blvd. – site of the former Sze-Chuan West, a building adjacent to Bell’s Diner and Stadium Hardware.

The proposal calls for demolishing the existing 4,300-square-foot restaurant and building a new 2,679-square-foot one-story restaurant with a 615-square-foot enclosed patio at the front of the building. The 1.15-acre site is located on the west side of West Stadium, south of Liberty. The project would also reconfigure the existing parking lot and provide additional landscaping.

The planning commission had given a unanimous recommendation for approval at its March 6, 2012 meeting.

During the project’s public hearing, Thomas Partridge said the city should require businesses to contribute to public transportation for seniors and handicapped people.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) asked if the future use of the parcel would be as a restaurant, something that planning manager Wendy Rampson confirmed. He asked her if she thought 27 parking spaces was adequate for a restaurant. She confirmed that 27 spaces would meet the minimum requirement.

Anglin asked what zoning would be applied to the parcel once is was divided, as proposed in the site plan. Rampson explained that the zoning wouldn’t change. The division of the parcel would be between the carwash and the restaurant site. The zoning wouldn’t change – it would reconfigure the ownership of the parcel.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the Noodles & Co. site plan.

Les Voyageurs Site Plan

Another site plan was on the agenda – for a renovation to the Habe Mills Pine Lodge, owned by the Society of Les Voyageurs.

The site had also required a rezoning, which the city council had approved at its March 19, 2012 meeting.

The property owned by the society, at 411 Long Shore Drive near Argo Pond, had been previously zoned public land, even though it’s owned by a private entity. The council approved the rezoning as a planned unit development (PUD), which would allow the group to build a 220-square-foot, one-story addition to the rear of the existing lodge, on its east side. The site plan for that addition was the subject of the council’s April 2 action.

The nonprofit society is a University of Michigan student and alumni club, focused on nature and the outdoors. Named for French-Canadian voyageurs of the Great Lakes fur trade, it was founded in 1907 and is one of the university’s oldest fraternal student groups. The lodge was built in 1925 – about the same time as the city’s first zoning ordinance and zoning map. Five student members live at the lodge, and society alumni gather there for potluck Sunday dinners from September to April.

During the public hearing, Thomas Partridge criticized Les Voyageurs, contending that it didn’t live up to its public responsibilities. He called it a semi-secret society. At a previous meeting, he’d criticized the group based on its French name.

Partridge’s comments led mayor John Hieftje to share his memory of paddling in a canoe on Lake Superior during a historical reenactment. Sabra Briere (Ward 1) made a quip about the society being “elitist” – a reference to Partridge’s remarks.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the Les Voyageurs site plan.

Police Detective Vehicles

The council considered the authorization of the purchase of a total of four vehicles for police detectives for a total of $97,383. One of the vehicles was sourced from Red Holman Buick/GMC – a 2012 GMC Acadia for $28,620. The other three were purchased from Signature Ford – a 2013 Ford Explorer for $26,951, a 2013 Ford Taurus for $24,098 and a 2012 Ford Fusion for $17,714.

The city’s contract with the police unions requires that vehicles used by union members will not be driven more than 80,000 miles or six years, whichever comes first. And in the case of the four vehicles being acquired, they’ll replace vehicles that will reach the six-year age limit in the next year. The vehicles that are being retired will be sold at the next city vehicle auction.

Outcome: Without discussion, the council approved the purchase of the detective vehicles on two separate votes.

Fire, Police Retirement/Health

In front of the council for its consideration was initial approval to changes to the employee retirement system to accommodate recent changes in the collective bargaining agreement with the city’s police command officers union and firefighters union. The council also considered initial approval to changes to the retirement health care benefits to reflect changes to those collectively bargained agreements.

Changes to the retirement system include: (1) increasing the pension contribution of command officer members to 6% from 5%; (2) implementing a pick-up feature as permitted by the Internal Revenue Code for the pension contributions of firefighters and command officers, converting their 6% pre-tax contribution to a 6% post-tax contribution; (3) increasing the vesting and final average compensation requirements for firefighters hired after July 1, 2012; and (4) implementing a federal provision that allows eligible retired public safety officers to pay qualified health insurance premiums directly from their pensions.

The change to the retiree health care system will stipulate that new hires after July 1, 2012 will be eligible for an access-only health care plan at the time of their retirement, instead of a city-paid retiree health care plan.

As changes to the city’s ordinances, the resolutions passed by the council on April 2 will require a second and final approval after a public hearing at a subsequent meeting.

Outcome: The council gave initial approval to both employment issues without discussion.

0.17 BAC as Separate Crime

The council considered initial approval to a change in its traffic ordinance to adopt a provision of the Michigan Vehicle Code that establishes driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of more than 0.17 as a separate offense from operating under the influence.

Ann Arbor operating under influence by month (Image links to higher resolution file.)

The Michigan legislature had previously changed the MVC, which Ann Arbor has adopted, to include the separate charge for the very high BAC of 0.17. However, the legislature did not at that time change the Home Rule Cities Act to allow cities to impose the greater penalty of 180 days in jail and/or $700 fine that comes with the BAC 0.17 charge. But in February 2012, the legislature made the change to the Home Rule Cities Act that allows for that penalty. Ann Arbor is making the change to its local ordinance in order to be able to charge drivers with the 0.17 offense.

Records from January 2010 through February 2012 provided to The Chronicle by CLEMIS (Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System) show three instances of 0.17 offenses – which could not be charged as a separate offense. The CLEMIS records for the same time period also show three reports for the moderately higher BAC level of .08, which could already be charged separately from operating under the influence.

Ordinance changes must receive an initial approval by the Ann Arbor city council, followed by a public hearing and a second and final approval at a subsequent meeting.

Outcome: The council gave initial approval to the BAC ordinance change without discussion.

Communications and Comment

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

Comm/Comm: Litigation, Praise for City Attorney

During communications time, Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) mentioned that the city had received very good news, having won some recent rounds of litigation. That included an appeal of a lawsuit originally filed against the city on Oct. 12, 2009 by HDC – the entity whose proposal had been selected in response to a request for proposals for development of the Fifth & William site of the old YMCA building (which has since demolished). The original purchase option agreement for the land was approved on Sept. 6, 2005. The YMCA building formerly offered 100 units of single resident occupancy (SRO) units. When the city council had previously made the decision to purchase the property from the YMCA, many councilmembers expressed a commitment to preserving those 100 units of affordable housing. Subsequently, the building became uninhabitable and the residents had to be relocated. Affordable housing units were part of HDC’s William Street Station proposal.

After encountering various difficulties and attempting to modify its project, HDC and the city agreed to a new purchase option agreement that included specific milestones. That new agreement was signed on Oct. 12, 2007. It included the milestone of obtaining a demolition permit from the city by Oct. 15, 2007. When HDC filed its application for the permit, it contends it was informed by city staff that only the owner of a property could be granted a demolition permit – so HDC could not obtain the permit because it was not the owner. The city still owned the property. HDC complained that the condition was one that was impossible to meet.

A resolution considered by the city council on Nov. 5, 2007 to modify the purchase option agreement by extending it failed on a 5-6 vote. On the side of extending were councilmembers Joan Lowenstein, Leigh Greden, Margie Teall, and Wendy Woods. Against extending the agreement were John Hieftje, Bob Johnson, Ron Suarez, Stephen Rapundalo, Stephen Kunselman, and Christopher Easthope. The failure to extend was the basis of one of the counts alleged in the lawsuit filed in 2009 – that the city failed to act in good faith and deal fairly. In broad strokes, the court said that HDC, as a sophisticated developer, should have known better than to sign an agreement with an impossible condition, and that the city had not breached its contract.

When asked to summarize the case, which the city also won on appeal, city attorney Stephen Postema did not mention the issues involving good faith, but focused on another aspect of HDC’s allegations, which involved a claim that the city was motivated to terminate HDC’s purchase option, in order to prevent handicapped people from living at the site. The court found that the set of facts that HDC had pled did not warrant further discovery. Postema called it a “complete exoneration of the council.”

As a part of his communications, Derezinski asked his colleagues to give Postema a round of applause – for prevailing in the lawsuit as well as for an award he’d received from the Michigan Municipal League.

Comm/Comm: Connecting William Street

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) gave an update on the Connecting William Street project. She indicated that the survey was closed, and while the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority had expected to get around 1,000 responses, they’re received almost double that. They’d heard from around 200 organizations, as well as individuals. The process would continue in an information-gathering phase, she said, before going into a scenario-building phase. The project status is described in detail on the Ann Arbor DDA website.

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Alan Haber told the council that he was distressed by the characterization that Smith had given about the survey responses and contended that what people had actually called for was more open space, more green space and more space for people to gather.

Comm/Comm: Fuller Road Station

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) revisited a topic he’s brought up recently during communications time – Fuller Road Station. He complained that while there’s been no official vote on the overall project, taxpayer money is still being spent on the project. He pointed to an Oct. 9, 2009 Fuller Road Station Concept Plan report prepared by the consultant JJR, which identifies two utility systems as needing relocation. [The council voted on the sewer project on June 20, 2011 and reconsidered it at Anglin's request on July 5, 2011. The first vote was unanimous in support, while Anglin dissented on the second vote.] He criticized the failure to identify on the agenda the relationship between the sewer relocation project to the Fuller Road Station project. And he contended that the sewer work was motivated by the Fuller Road Station project.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) responded to the remarks Anglin made by saying that the answer the council had received from city staff was that the work – replacing the sewer lines – needed to be done. Staff had acknowledged that they had moved the timing up a year or two. Many of the councilmembers had supported the work, she said, because it needed to be done.

Comm/Comm: Taxicab Board

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) noted that the taxicab board had met the previous Thursday. It had only three members – they’re looking for two more. He made a plea to the public to step up and serve.

Comm/Comm: Affordable Services

Thomas Partridge introduced himself as a Washtenaw County and city of Ann Arbor Democrat, an advocate for the most vulnerable in the city and the state. He called attention to a lack of affordable housing, transportation and health care. He also lamented the lack of enforcement against illegal drugs. What would Jesus advocate on the eve of Easter? he asked. Under the first African American president of the United States, we need to press for the building of a Great Society with access for all to public transportation, free or low cost health care services, and low cost housing, he said.

Comm/Comm: Women’s Rights, Sexual Assault Prevention

Esperanza Orozco began by saying that the subject matter of her remarks was very sensitive. She introduced herself as a survivor of sexual assault. She told the council that her assailant had been locked up for a few days but he’d then been let back out on the streets of Ann Arbor. She said that the man had violated a personal protection order (PPO) several times. She reported that she and some friends of hers had posted flyers with a picture of the man with the intention of alerting the public to the fact that he’s a rapist and a batterer.

But the police showed up and threatened them with charges, Orozco contended, and posed a question: What if the man put up flyers saying she was a prostitute? Orozco said that neither of her friends had been sex workers. In any case, she objected to the comparison of a batterer and to a sex worker. She asked if the city was okay saying, “Shut up, woman!” and silencing victims of rape. She asked if were okay that “the city won’t do shit and if we do something, then we’re vigilantes.” She answered her own question by saying, “If ya’ll don’t do something, I guess we should.” She concluded by saying, “Rape needs to be dealt with. Cut it out or cut it off.”

Orian Zakai spoke in support of Orozco, describing Orozco’s brave decision to leave her partner. The man is still out there and has violated his PPO. When the police report was filed, Zakai said she was perplexed about the way things progressed. Orozco had to tell a difficult story in a public space, with officers coming and going and officers chatting with each other. The front desk officer told her a detective would call a day or two later. Four days later, he had forwarded the prosecutor the file, without making any further inquiry. No charges were filed. She was told to file a report if he violated the PPO, which he did twice. And on the third time AAPD were able to arrest him, but Orozco and her friends were told he would probably be let out in a day or two. They felt frustrated and scared. They were promised a detective would call, when the man was let out. They learned he was out again when they saw him and he waved and smiled.

Alexandra Hoffman alerted the council to the Thursday, April 5 Take Back the Night march. She then read a list of tips for preventing sexual assault that are “guaranteed to work”:

1. Don’t put drugs in people’s drinks in order to control their behavior.
2. If you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone.
3. If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them.
4. Never open an unlocked door or window uninvited.
5. If you’re in an elevator and someone else gets in, don’t assault them.
6. Remember, people go to the laundry to do their laundry. Don’t attempt to molest someone who’s alone in a laundryroom.
7. Use the buddy system – if you’re not able to stop yourself from assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you’re in public.
8. Always be honest with people. Don’t pretend to be a caring friend in order to gain the trust of someone you plan to assault.
9. Don’t forget you can’t have sex with sometime unless they’re awake.
10. Carry a whistle. If you’re worried that you might assault someone by accident, you can hand it to a friend so they can blow it for you.

Hoffman noted that the satirical list is meant to show that advice is often directed at victims instead of assailants. No violence is private and there are no innocent bystanders, she said.

Occupy Patriarchy T-shirt worn by Alexandra Hoffman.

Mary Kate Bachler introduced herself as a University of Michigan architecture student and Ann Arbor resident. She reported to the council her experience on March 8, International Women’s Day, participating in a public action in front of city hall. The public demonstration was to raise awareness of International Women’s Day, and issues involving sexual assault.

The demonstrators asked people to hang paper flowers on the “phallic statue” [a reference to the Herbert Dreiseitl sculpture] which seasonally is also used as a fountain. The text on the paper flowers asked: What would you do with $750,000 (the cost of the sculpture). The group of 10 attempted to hang the paper flowers around the sculpture. They were met by the chief of police and the mayor, she said, and were told that they had to remove the flowers from the sculpture and a nearby tree, because the sculpture was public art and the tree was public property. Bachler interpreted “public” in that context to mean “off limits to the public.” She ventured that while women walk in fear of being assaulted due to a lack of effective police patrol, the most important players in the city were busy thwarting peaceful protests.

Later, mayor John Hieftje responded to the description that had been given of the International Women’s Day Demonstration. He said that he and then-chief Barnett Jones had told the demonstrators in the nicest way possible that things couldn’t be hung on the artwork. He said he’d reminded people that none of the dollars for that art, as far as he knew, could be spent on a general fund expense. He expressed puzzlement that people would protest against art, and indicated he was still trying to understand that. [Some of the demonstrators carried signs indicating that the city should have spent money on organizations like SafeHouse Center rather than on the Dreiseitl sculpture.]

Thomas Partridge led off his commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, which ended at midnight, by quipping that he felt that way earlier in the meeting it would have been advisable to have a recess to give a few minutes of access to the NCAAA basketball championship game. But there have been some serious issues on the agenda, he said. On the eve of Easter, he said, he was again calling on Ann Arbor to be a friendlier and more respectful society. The story told by the young ladies during their attempt to gain attention on International Women’s Day was shocking, he said. He called for an apology from the mayor and police chief. He called for an effective investigation and prosecution. The disrespectful and insulting treatment of young ladies and the failure to protect the interests of all the young ladies of the city is not something to be glossed over, he said. He called on the council to pass a resolution at its next meeting condemning their treatment.

Odile Hugenot Haber told the council that when she met Orozco, she was shocked to know that when she called SafeHouse, there was no space for her there. [SafeHouse is a shelter for victims of domestic violence.] She talked about the fact that the country was fighting wars that cost so much money, and mentioned her concern that Camp Take Notice, a homeless enclave, might be shut down. As more women are abused and assaulted, she said, there’s no place for them to go. Spending a million dollars on art shows misplaced priorities, she said.

Alan Haber said he was there to support his “sisters.” When a month is set aside to raise awareness of sexual assault, he said, it really does need attention; our vision should be a culture of peace and nonviolence. The need for a demonstration shows that we’re a long way away from that, he said. He attributed the problem to a male patriarchal vision.

Comm/Comm: Speaking Rules

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) made a general request that councilmembers remain aware of the speaking rules and said that she felt the rules were being stretched.

By way of background, those rules include a limit of two speaking turns on any question, with a time limit of five minutes and three minutes for the first and second turns, respectively. As chair of the meeting, it’s the mayor’s responsibility to enforce the rules. However, under Robert’s Rules, which guide the council’s meeting conduct, unless there’s an explicit council rule addressing an issue, any councilmember could interrupt with a “point of order” to force the chair to enforce a rule. Later in the week, Smith showed The Chronicle a stopwatch app that she’d downloaded for her smartphone.

Comm/Comm: Lack of Prosecution

Henry Herskovitz told the council that on Feb. 4, 2012 his group was conducting its weekly vigil (demonstrating against support for Israel outside the Beth Israel synagogue) when he’d noticed someone removing a sign from a windshield of one of his group’s cars and then placing it in his own car. As the man was getting in the driver’s seat, Herskovitz asked him to return the sign. Herskovitz told the council that the man had told him he wasn’t going to get his sign back. So Herskovitz’s group called the Ann Arbor police department dispatch and reported the license plate and car description.

Officer Kevin Kleitsch came out and made a report, Herskovitz said. The case was referred to the detective bureau, assigned to Craig Lee. A month later, Herskovitz said, he looked at a photo lineup and correctly identified the man who’d taken the sign. In spite of the correct identification of the man, and the fact that the license plate was registered to the man that he’d identified, his group had been notified that the city attorney had decided not to prosecute.

Herskovitz described his group as peaceful protestors who’d been in this position before. He then gave other examples, in one case going back to 2006, where offenses were committed against members of his group, and arrests were made, but did not result in prosecution. Without enforcement of such offenses, Herskovitz said that their First Amendment rights are weakened. His group looked to the council to affirm its pledge to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

Present: Jane Lumm, Mike Anglin, Margie Teall, Sabra Briere, Sandi Smith, Tony Derezinski, Stephen Kunselman, John Hieftje, Christopher Taylor, Carsten Hohnke.

Absent: Marcia Higgins.

Next council meeting: April 16, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 301 E. Huron. [confirm date]

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From left: Ann Arbor city councilmembers Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), Jane Lumm (Ward 2) and Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) as they arrive to the March 19 meeting. Lumm was clearly feeling ill and was encouraged by her colleagues to head home, advice she heeded. (Photos by the writer.)

The council postponed for a second time (without deliberation) a resolution that would direct Ann Arbor’s city attorney to delay enforcement activities against medical marijuana dispensaries, except in limited circumstances. The only reason offered for postponing was to allow the absent councilmembers to participate in that vote. The same resolution had been postponed previously, at the council’s March 5 meeting. On that occasion, other deliberations had pushed the council’s meeting past midnight, and councilmembers had wanted to deal with the issue while they were fully awake.

And the council found itself unable to muster a six-vote majority for any intermediate action on a proposed change to the landscape and screening ordinance – and thus wound up simply defeating it. The changes would have restricted additional landscaping requirements just to those site plans requiring planning commission or city council approval, and would have exempted R4C (multi-family residential) districts from certain buffering requirements. Attempts to amend, postpone and table the resolution all failed on 5-3 votes, one vote short of the majority needed.

Several agenda items highlighted the Ann Arbor police department in some fashion. The council authorized the purchase of four new police vehicles, along with a street sweeper. And a new contract with the command officers union was one of two labor contracts ratified by the council at its meeting – the other was with the firefighters union. Deputy chief John Seto, who’ll be interim police chief when Barnett Jones retires at the end of the month, briefed the council on police activity on St. Patrick’s Day as well as during a severe storm the week before. Seto also was criticized during public commentary for a traffic stop he’s alleged to have made as a patrol officer in the mid-1990s.

The police department was also a key actor in the city council’s action to recommend to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission that the liquor license not be renewed for Dream Nite Club, located on Fourth Avenue in downtown Ann Arbor. At an administrative hearing earlier in the day on that issue, much of the evidence presented by the city was based on police reports or police officer testimony.

In other business, the council approved an upgrade to control room equipment for Community Television Network. The city also added a total of around 160 acres to its greenbelt program, while selling a tiny wedge of property on Summit Street that had a murky history. Also related to land and its use, the city gave final approval to a rezoning request for the Les Voyageurs Society property located near Argo Dam.

The council passed a resolution expressing opposition to pending state legislation, which has already won approval from the Michigan house of representatives, that would allow grass clippings to be dumped in landfills under certain conditions.

The topic of Fuller Road Station emerged during public commentary as well as during remarks at the council table.

And councilmember Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) alerted his council colleagues that he’d be pressing two issues in the near future: (1) getting a written, public legal opinion from the city attorney regarding the city’s Percent for Art program; and (2) getting a calculation by the city treasurer of the tax capture to which the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority is entitled.

Direction on Medical Marijuana

The council considered for a second time a resolution that would direct the city attorney, Stephen Postema, to “delay all enforcement activities against medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities except for claims that they violate Section 5:50.1(3) of the City Code [zoning regulations], until the Council amends or rejects amendments to the zoning and licensing ordinances for medical marijuana.”

The part of the city code called out for continued enforcement in the resolution, Section 5:50.1(3), specifies the zones in the city where medical marijuana businesses may be located. From the code: “Medical marijuana dispensaries shall only be located in a district classified pursuant to this chapter as D, C, or M, or in PUD districts where retail is permitted in the supplemental regulations. Medical marijuana cultivation facilities shall only be located in a district classified pursuant to this chapter as C, M, RE, or ORL.” [.pdf of Section 5:50.1(3)]

The attempted resolution reflects an ongoing tension between the city’s medical marijuana licensing board and the city attorney’s office.

That tension between the medical marijuana licensing board and the city attorney’s office is highlighted in a statement sent by members of the board to city councilmembers on March 2, which reads in part: “[The city attorney's office] has been aggressively trying to shut [dispensaries] down while we actively try to license them.” The statement goes on to point out that a representative from the city attorney’s office had been present at all of the board’s meetings and that the board’s recommendations had been reported to the city council. But after that, the city attorney’s office had sent out new letters to all dispensaries requesting them to provide information about how their business operates. [.pdf of entire statement from Ann Arbor's medical marijuana licensing board to the Ann Arbor city council]

The attempted council resolution stemmed from a meeting of the city’s medical marijuana licensing board on Feb. 28 that was convened in response to concerns by several dispensary owners, who had received letters dated Feb. 24 from the city attorney’s office. The letters make specific inquiries into several aspects of the business model of dispensaries – in order to assess whether they are in compliance with Michigan’s Medical Marijuana Act. Compliance with the MMMA is a requirement for issuance of a medical marijuana license, and recipients of the letters have license applications pending with the city. Although the legal position of the city attorney appears to be that it’s possible for a dispensary to operate in compliance with the MMMA, no explication of what that model would entail has been set forth publicly.

Among the questions being posed to all dispensaries in the letters is the following: “Does any person or entity deliver marijuana to [Dispensary Name]? If so, does [Dispensary Name] ever pay, donate, or in any way give money to the person or entity who delivers the marijuana or to anyone else? If so, to whom is the money paid, donated, or given and how much?” [.pdf of set of letters]

The city council resolution was sponsored by Sabra Briere (Ward 1), who is the council’s representative to the medical marijuana licensing board. After its Jan. 31, 2012 meeting, the board submitted a required report to the council with recommendations on the issuance of the first dispensary licenses and revisions to the city’s medical marijuana ordinance. The report recommends to the council that 10 dispensaries be issued licenses.

The city council enacted zoning and licensing regulations for medical marijuana businesses at its June 20, 2011 meeting.

The resolution requested that the council decide on recommendations for amendments to the city’s medical marijuana ordinance before June 18, 2012.

Direction on Medical Marijuana: Public Comment

Chuck Ream told the council that he helps operate a medical marijuana dispensary in town that helps a lot of people. He offered councilmembers a pile of medical benefit report forms that they could read and see how medical marijuana can help people. Ream said he’d sent councilmembers an email about the science of medical marijuana, which he described as incontrovertible and conclusive. Right now they can get the medicine to the people, he said.

Ream told the council that the attempt at marijuana prohibition has nothing to do with marijuana, it’s about social control, he said. He told the council, “You guys have done the right thing in the past, even though it’s difficult.” He said he was confident they would do the right thing in the future. He reviewed the voter support for medical marijuana locally – 74% voted in favor of a charter amendment in 2004, he said. The voter-initiated state law in 2008 had enjoyed support of 79% of Ann Arbor voters, he noted. He said he didn’t think apple pie could bring in that kind of numbers.

What’s needed is a legal basis for dispensaries to exist and to be regulated in a reasonable and consistent manner, Ream said. Ann Arbor has demonstrated how that can be done [through its licensing ordinance]. He told councilmembers that they should be proud of themselves. He called the medical marijuana licensing board almost as smart as the council.

Local attorney Dennis Hayes, who represents some of the dispensaries in Ann Arbor, said he thought it would be a long time before he and Thomas Partridge agreed on everything, but he agreed with everything Partridge had said that night. [Partridge spoke about a right to affordable transportation, health care, education and housing. In the past, Partridge has also spoken against the city's initiative to license medical marijuana dispensaries.]

Hayes described the background of the resolution that the council was considering. The issue arose after a letter was sent to dispensaries asking for additional information. And the medical marijuana licensing board had proposed the resolution that was before the council that night. All the questions posed in the letter, Hayes said, were items in the original licensing ordinance drafted back in October 2010.

Those items were removed from the ordinance because it was clear that city couldn’t prevent that information from being disclosed, Hayes said. The licensing ordinance was discussed over a period of time, he said, and it was recognized in the course of that discussion that the city would wind up with information that it couldn’t protect, if the information were collected that’s asked for in the recent letter. Yet the questions have come back, he noted. He stated that it’s inappropriate for the city attorney to ask dispensaries for information that the city can’t protect against disclosure.

Direction on Medical Marijuana: Council Deliberations

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) immediately asked for a postponement of the measure. Mayor John Hieftje said he had no problem with a postponement. Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) asked on what basis Briere wanted to postpone. Briere indicated that some of the absent three members had expressed a desire to participate in the vote on the issue. To give them an opportunity to vote would be “good manners,” she said.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to postpone the resolution giving the city attorney direction on enforcement of the city’s medical marijuana ordinance.

Liquor Licenses: Dream Nite Club, Rush Street

The council considered resolutions with recommendations concerning the renewal of annual liquor licenses for two downtown bars – Rush Street and Dream Nite Club.

For Rush Street the recommendation was for the Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) to renew the license, because the bar had finally paid nearly $10,000 in back taxes.

Assistant city attorney Bob West at the liquor license hearing on March 19, 2012.

But for Dream Nite Club, the recommendation approved by the city council was to object to the renewal of that bar’s license. The recommendation was consistent with the finding of hearing officer Tony Derezinski, a city councilmember representing Ward 2 who presided over a hearing earlier in the day on March 19. The hearing was scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., and lasted until the early afternoon.

The March 19 hearing had been set at the council’s March 5 meeting, when councilmembers had passed a resolution with an initial recommendation that liquor licenses for both businesses – Dream Nite Club and Rush Street – not be renewed this year. That initial vote was based on the recommendation of the city council’s liquor license review committee, which met on Feb. 23, 2012 to conclude its annual review of licenses in the city.

Initially, no one appeared on behalf of Rush Street at the March 19 hearing, but later, a representative did appear. Derezinski re-heard the matter and based on the report that back taxes had been paid, which was verified by city treasurer Matt Horning, Derezinski made the recommendation that the council recommend renewal of Rush Street’s license to the MLCC.

[.jpg file of map showing liquor license locations in Washtenaw County] [link to dynamic map showing liquor license locations in Washtenaw County] Note: Maps include all liquor licensees, not just those with on-premise consumption.

Liquor Licenses: Council Deliberations

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) summarized what had happened at the hearings earlier in the day.

He characterized the rationale for the recommendation against renewing the liquor license for Dream Nite Club as based on numerous complaints and conduct on the premises and violation of state liquor laws. He told his colleagues that the hearing earlier in the day had included testimony from police officers, and a number of police reports had been provided as evidence. He noted that there were two court reporters taking notes – one for the city and one for Dream Nite Club.

Liquor Licenses: Hearings

During the portion of the Monday morning hearing observed by The Chronicle, at least a dozen different Ann Arbor police officers offered testimony, elicited by assistant city attorney Bob West, in support of the city’s contention that Dream Nite Club constitutes a nuisance. Legal counsel for Dream Nite Club – Roger Farinha and Brent Leder – sharply questioned the officers about their reports and the conclusions they drew from what they’d witnessed.

Roger Farinha, attorney for Dream Nite Club, at the March 19 liquor license review hearing.

Objections by Dream Nite Club’s counsel, contending hearsay evidence or a lack of foundation, became routine during the hearing – to the point that on several occasions, a “standing objection” was made to subsequent testimony and introduction of evidence. At one point Leder rose to object that the police officer who was providing testimony was doing so on behalf of another officer who could not attend the hearing, and that the absent officer’s testimony was itself hearsay – which made the testimony double hearsay.

Derezinski’s response to the objections was simply to advise that they were noted; however, he allowed the testimony and the admission of the evidence. During the hearing, assistant city attorney Bob West argued for admission of the evidence and the testimony, saying that the rules of evidence for administrative hearings are different from that for courts of law. From Michigan’s Administrative Procedures Act 306 of 1969 [emphasis added]:

24.275 Evidence; admissibility, objections, submission in written form.
Sec. 75. In a contested case the rules of evidence as applied in a nonjury civil case in circuit court shall be followed as far as practicable, but an agency may admit and give probative effect to evidence of a type commonly relied upon by reasonably prudent men in the conduct of their affairs. Irrelevant, immaterial or unduly repetitious evidence may be excluded. Effect shall be given to the rules of privilege recognized by law. Objections to offers of evidence may be made and shall be noted in the record. …

The general direction of much of the cross examination by Dream Nite Club’s legal counsel mirrored the themes in a federal lawsuit that the owners of the club have filed against the city of Ann Arbor, which is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Southern Division).

Tony Derezinski presided over the liquor license hearing on March 19, 2012.

The lawsuit, filed on Jan. 17, 2012, names the city of Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor’s police department, chief of police Barnett Jones, city administrator Steve Powers and former city administrator Roger Fraser. [.pdf of the complaint in V.R. Entertainment v. city of Ann Arbor]

The city of Ann Arbor answered the complaint, filing a motion to dismiss the claim. [.pdf of city of Ann Arbor's motion to dismiss] In responding to the city’s motion, V.R. Entertainment (Dream Nite Club) re-asserted its claim. [.pdf of response to motion to dismiss] A motion hearing is scheduled before judge Paul Borman on May 30, 2012.

The lawsuit contends violations of Section 1983 and 1985 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 as well as violations of the U.S. Constitution – Fourth Amendment (prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure), Fourteenth Amendment (guarantee of due process), and Eighth Amendment (prohibition of unusual punishment). The lawsuit also claims infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy.

The set of facts alleged in the lawsuit includes the following:

10 On or about May 29, 2011, the City of Ann Arbor brought a nuisance action against the Plaintiffs for an alleged altercation and shooting that occurred in the vicinity of the Plaintiffs night club.

11 The fight and shooting in fact occurred on federal government property after the club was closed specifically the United States Postal Service Parking Lot, a property that does not belong to the club and is overseen by federal authorities.

12 The Defendants unjustly sought and obtained without a full hearing and without consideration to the facts a Temporary Restraining Order shutting the Plaintiffs club for several weeks; thereafter, a ‘security receiver’ was appointed to oversee the security at the club.

13 The report that was submitted by the ‘security receiver’ Mr. John Phillips indicated that the problems in the area came allegedly from the parking garage immediately next to the club, not from the club itself, albeit without evidence.

14 Throughout the State Court case, Case No. GCW-11-597-CH and up to the filing of this action, the Defendant Police Department has focused extraordinary police attention on the club without justification, routinely targeting surveillance on the club as evidenced by parked Police vehicles directly in front of the Plaintiffs club.

During the liquor license hearing, AAPD officers were asked under cross examination to comment on the assignment of patrol officers to the general vicinity of the Dream Nite Club. They were also asked to assess the demographic makeup of the crowd at the club.

Liquor License: Outcomes

Derezinski’s conclusion as hearing officer was based on the police reports as well as violations of the Michigan Liquor Control Code. His conclusion was that the city of Ann Arbor had a basis to object to the renewal of Dream Nite Club’s liquor license. For Rush Street, he concluded that the city should have no objection to the renewal. The council handled those issues on separate votes.

Outcome: On separate votes, the council’s unanimously recommended to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission that Rush Street’s license be renewed, but that Dream Nite Club’s license not be renewed. The license renewal will be decided by the MLCC.

Policing in Ann Arbor

Like the Dream Nite Club liquor license renewal, a number of other items at the March 19 council meeting touched on Ann Arbor police department activity. Blair Shelton led things off during public commentary at the start of the meeting – he’d attended the Dream Nite Club liquor license hearing earlier in the day as well.

Shelton had filed a lawsuit in 1995 against the city of Ann Arbor, after he’d been targeted in an investigation and eventually provided blood evidence for DNA testing. He sued for the return of his blood evidence and was successful. The complaint in the lawsuit alleged a set of facts that essentially amounts to racially profiling of Shelton, which is parallel to allegations in the current Dream Nite Club lawsuit. [.pdf of Shelton v. city of Ann Arbor police department]

Policing: Public Commentary

Blair Shelton told the council he was there to talk about the new police chief. By way of background, current chief Barnett Jones will be retiring at the end of the month. Deputy chief John Seto has been appointed interim chief.

Blair Shelton at the liquor license hearing for Dream Nite Club on March 19.

Shelton told the council that before he’d filed a lawsuit against the city in 1995, he’d been pulled over by Seto on Geddes near Forest Hill Cemetery in a brand new Camero. It was around 7 a.m., Shelton said. Seto didn’t say why he’d pulled Shelton over, he said.

Shelton told the council that when he looked at Seto, he thought, “Oh, great, an Asian police officer, I don’t have to worry about any, you know, typical Ann Arbor police.” Shelton then described how Seto had verified that Shelton had a driver’s license, had insurance and was the owner of the vehicle and had no police record. When Shelton asked Seto why he’d pulled him over, Shelton contended that Seto had replied, “You’re a smart guy, you can figure it out.”

Shelton told the council that he had figured it out. He concluded that there is no way Seto should be police chief. He said he’d spoken to many African Americans about trouble they’ve had with the police department, and that Seto’s name came up quite a bit.

Shelton wondered why Barnett Jones was being “pushed out.” He ventured that it was because Jones did not agree with DNA testing of everyone in the city. He said he’d spoken with Jones and liked him. He’d warned Jones that the city will turn on you and make you a scapegoat the first chance they get, he said. He contended that Jones had replied: I’m beginning to see that. Shelton stressed the importance of vetting the new police chief.

Former police chief Carl Ent wasn’t vetted, Shelton said, and it was discovered that he was having sex in the back of a patrol car. Dan Oates was also not vetted properly, he said, and alluded to an occasion when Oates had used his lights and siren in order to catch a plane. Shelton then concluded with an intended reference to city attorney Stephen Postema, saying that if adopting an African American child meant Postema couldn’t be labeled a racist, then he could still be labeled a “slave owner.”

Responding later in the meeting to Shelton’s remarks about chief Barnett Jones, mayor John Hieftje described Jones as his friend and stated that Jones’ decision to retire was entirely personal. The city would get Jones to stay on as chief, if that were possible. Jones’ decision came as a surprise, Hieftje said. He ventured that the deputy chiefs would be glad to have Jones stay on as chief. Jones deserves his time off, Hieftje said.

Policing: Fire, Police Labor Contracts

The council considered a resolution approving new contracts with its firefighters as well as with its police command officers.

The contract with Local 693 of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is retroactive to July 1, 2010 and runs through June 30, 2014. Ann Arbor’s firefighters have been working without a new contract since the previous agreement expired on June 30, 2010. Features of the new contract include the restoration of pay to the 2008 level – the union had previously accepted a wage decrease of 3% in order temporarily to preserve jobs. The restoration to previous wage levels will take place over the course of two years, at 1.5% each year.

The contract reduces the food allowance for firefighters, who work 24-hour shifts. The contract also includes a change in the firefighters’ schedule to increase the average number of hours worked from 50.4 to 54. Health care provided under the contract meets the new state mandated hard caps on health care contributions by public employers.

The new contract with the Command Officers Association of Michigan runs retroactively from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2013. The command officers have been operating without a contract since the expiration of the previous one.

The health care plan in the contract is similar to the health care offered to non-union city staff, with the state of Michigan’s mandated hard cap on the amount that a public employer can contribute to employees’ health care.

The council considered the two contracts on separate votes – they were listed as different items on the agenda. Up first was the contract for the firefighters. Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) said she was pleased to bring the firefighters resolution forward for the council’s labor committee, which has worked hard on it. [In addition to Higgins, others on the labor committee are Sandi Smith (Ward 1), Jane Lumm (Ward 2), Margie Teall (Ward 4), and mayor John Hieftje.] Higgins praised the firefighters union for working to resolve the contract outside the framework of arbitration. She called the agreement a “win-win,” and said she thinks it’s a good contract. She urged other councilmembers to support it.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) said he wanted to thank the labor committee for its work – as someone who does not serve on that committee. He also thanked the union for working with the city outside the arbitration process. Mayor John Hieftje complimented the labor committee and the members of the firefighters union. He remarked that this would be the first time in a long time that the city has all of its labor contracts settled. Higgins quickly interjected that this would be true as soon as the command officers contract was approved. When that contract came up as the next item on the agenda, Higgins said she hope this meant there would be labor peace for at least some period of time.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved both labor contracts on separate votes.

Policing: Police Cars

The council considered separate resolutions that authorized the purchase of a total of four police cars from three different vendors: two from Gorno Ford for $49,420; one from Signature Ford for $27,067; and one from Shaheen Chevrolet for $26,081.

The acquisition of the vehicles comes in the context of the city’s planned evaluation of pursuit-rated vehicles from all three major manufacturers in the wake of the retirement of the Crown Victoria, a model that was retired by Ford last year.

Outcome: The council voted without comment to approve the purchase of the vehicles.

Policing: Graffiti

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) said she’d heard a lot about graffiti and that there’s been a lot of dialogue about it. There’d been a commercial building completely cleaned and hit from top-to-bottom within 72 hours of it being cleaned. The issue is “creeping,” She thought it would be a good time to have an update from the police about what the public can do. People are getting very frustrated, she said.

Mayor John Hieftje (left) and deputy chief of police John Seto, who'll serve as interim chief when Barnett Jones retires at the end of March.

When deputy chief John Seto was at the podium to report on St. Patrick’s Day policing issues, mayor John Hieftje asked Seto about the graffiti. As he typically does, Hieftje mentioned the fact that he attends a weekly Wednesday meeting with the city administrator and the police department about crime in the city. Hieftje said he knew that the police department is “engaged on this issue,” saying that graffiti has risen to a higher priority than he’d ever seen. Hieftje said it’s not just an Ann Arbor problem – there’s a surge of graffiti among communities nationwide, he said. And one of the theories for that is that it’s been glorified on the Internet, Hieftje said.

Seto said the police had heard the frustration from citizens and the community. He said there’s a detective assigned to graffiti cases, and the department is trying to combat the problem. There’s a lot of awareness of the issue within the police department, but also in the community, he said. And the department continues to explore all its options.

Smith asked Seto for recommendations for homeowners or business owners. She’s told people to call community standards. Seto allowed that calling community standards is a good option for correcting the situation once the graffiti is there. But it’s also important to be alert so that the police can be notified when perpetrators are doing the graffiti – in the act or soon afterwards, he said.

Policing: Tornado

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) reminded the public that the neighborhood of the broader community had suffered from a tornado. [On March 15, a tornado touched down in the Dexter area, west of Ann Arbor.] She said that who are able should be doing what they can to help rebuild houses, schools, businesses and lives.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) reported that on Thursday night [March 15] she’d called city administrator Steve Powers to see how Ann Arbor was faring as a city after the storm. The southwest side (which includes Ward 4, represented by Higgins) got hit really hard. As she was driving home, lightning hit a transformer, and there was a live wire dancing around the street. She’d also watched a garage get hit and a resulting fire. She said that city staff had responded well.

Several “lakes” had formed and were named for the streets where they were located, Higgins said. It was good to see people helping each other, Higgins said, getting cars out of the deep water. There were two firefighters injured, she said, and she hoped the city would get a report that they’re doing better. The staff did a good job and it was quite a display, she said.

During his report to the council, Powers noted that by the luck of nature, the storm on Thursday was less damaging than it could have been. Two firefighters were injured by the live wire Higgins had described earlier. One firefighter had been off-duty until the previous day.

Six roads were barricaded in connection with the storm, Powers said. High-priority roads were chosen for those barricades. There’d been six reports of basements flooding and two property owners had accepted the city’s offer of assistance for catastrophic cleanup. Compared to surrounding communities, Ann Arbor was very fortunate, he said.

Deputy police chief John Seto told the council that between 6-9 p.m. the police department received 64 calls for service, the majority of which were to assist motorists who’d been trapped in the rising water. The police department also assisted the fire department in responding to a structure fire as well as to some smaller fires created by downed wires.

Craig Hupy, interim public services area administrator, also stepped to the podium to respond to councilmember questions about the city’s response to the storm. Briere said that after the storm she’d driven through several low-lying areas. She’d spoken with a crew that was staffing a truck dealing with cleanup efforts, and one of the crew members said next time the city repaves Depot Street, the stormwater pipes should be enlarged. Briere said she had no way to assess whether that was a good idea or a bad idea. But she wanted to know when Depot Street is up for repaving.

Hupy said he didn’t know off the top of his head when Depot Street would be repaved. Generally, he said, stormwater on Depot Street flows to the west. He described a project that had been put in to give some relief in Depot Street and take the water directly to the Huron River. The challenge there is that you have to cross the MichCon site, and the cost of constructing across a contaminated site is so high that the project never went to its full scale. Hupy and Briere agreed that the basic problem is that the area is in the floodplain.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) asked for information on the amount of rainfall. Hupy gave a report out from the city’s rain gauges, but noted there was a possibility that accuracy had been affected due to the hail.

Policing: St. Patrick’s Day

City administrator Steve Powers described the St. Patrick’s day events as also somewhat weather-related, but ventured that the outcome was determined not by luck but by decisions made by police officers on Saturday evening.

Deputy police chief John Seto noted that this year, St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Saturday and came in conjunction with unseasonably warm weather. From the 24 hours from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m., the police department had received 308 calls for service, Seto told the council. By way of comparison to a similar timeframe for the previous week, he said, that’s twice as many. Five arrests were made in which someone was taken into custody, three of which were for fighting.

There was a period of time when the crowd grew to a point where South University Avenue needed to be closed off for the safety of the public, Seto said. Working with the University of Michigan department of public safety, he said, officers were able to clear the street of people in 90 minutes without any major incidents.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) told Seto she’d begun receiving complaints about debris left from Saturday. She wondered what the role of community standards officers would be in addressing that debris. Briere had alluded to football Saturdays in her question, and Seto described how that’s addressed through the day on a Saturday and on that evening. Seto indicated that community standards officers had gone out to address the St. Patrick’s Day litter on Monday morning.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) asked what kind of people took part in the St. Patrick’s Day revelry – were they students, or did they come into the city from out of town? Seto said the police don’t keep track of whether someone is a student, but said that they were not all students. A lot of visitors came from outside the city, Seto said.

Landscaping Buffer Change

The council considered a resolution that would have made changes in landscaping and land use buffer requirements in the city code. The council had previously postponed the vote from its March 5, 2012 meeting.

The first change would have restricted some requirements that have been added recently just to those plans that require city planning commission or city council approval: (1) providing landscaped islands for every 15 parking spaces; and (2) providing bioretention areas in 50% of the interior landscaping areas. Administrative amendments to existing plans would not trigger the requirements.

The second change would have involved existing requirements to provide buffers between parcels with conflicting land uses. Recent amendments to the code had added requirements that properties in R3 (townhouse dwelling) and R4 (multiple-family dwelling) districts include a buffer along the side and rear property lines if the parcel is immediately adjacent to a property that is principally used or zoned as residential.

The change considered by the council on March 19 would have removed the R4C zoning district from the recently-added land use buffer requirement. The rationale for exempting the R4C sites from the requirement was characterized in the staff memo as due to the fact that the R4C sites “are typically located on small lots in older neighborhoods near downtown. Most R4C lots are too small to accommodate a 15-foot wide conflicting land use buffer along the entire side and rear property lines.”

City councilmembers’ discussion included their interest in first receiving the report of a study committee, which has been looking at possible revisions to the R4C and R2A zoning code. The committee has looked at the issue of establishing maximum lot sizes in R4C districts, to prevent the accumulation of multiple parcels for a single project.

The change had been recommended 6-2 by the planning commission.

Landscape Buffer: Council Deliberations

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) led off deliberations by noting that she’d raised the point at the council’s previous meeting that the focus of the proposed ordinance change is on property zoned R4C. Because the R4C/R2A study committee is still going through its process and has not yet issued its report, Briere was interested in making sure the council did not modify the zoning code to eliminate protections for R4C properties. Briere noted the staff memo had described R4C parcels as generally small, so it would be difficult to apply the code and include a buffer.

However, Briere continued, it’s possible to combine R4C parcels to make a larger site for building. So Briere proposed to include R4C back into the list of zoning classifications that require a buffer. In terms of the actual wording of the proposed change, that meant eliminating the listing of R4 types, of which R4C is one. If all R4 types required a buffer, then R4C would as well.

City councilmembers Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and Tony Derezinski (Ward 2).

It’s worth pointing out that the “amendment” considered by the council with respect to R4C would essentially have taken the proposed revision to the city code and restored it to the status quo.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) inquired of Briere when the issue of R4C property might be taken up – after the study committee’s report comes out? Briere allowed that the council might see that report and decide not to revise the buffer requirement at all.

Higgins wanted to postpone consideration until the council sees the study committee report. She felt it would be “cleaner” to handle all the ordinance revisions that were going to be undertaken all in one go, instead of piecemeal. Briere wanted to know if Higgins was making a formal motion to that effect. Higgins said she would move for postponement, but that Briere would need to withdraw the effort to amend the proposal. Her amendment, explained Briere, was a effort to respect the planning staff recommendation to move ahead on the other aspects of the proposed revision – which related to the kinds of projects that trigger the landscaping requirements.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) described how a final draft of the R4C study committee is currently being circulated. He agreed with Higgins that it’s better to handle everything together. His own view was that postponing the resolution would be better, and it could then be folded into the broader ordinance revision.

Higgins asked city planner Alexis DiLeo if it would be burdensome to the staff if council postponed the proposed revision. DiLeo indicated that postponing all of the revisions might be burdensome – there’s a somewhat pressing need for some of them, she said. However, with respect to Briere’s proposed amendment, it would not have a very large impact. For the part Briere wanted to amend out, it’s workable to deal with a postponement of a few months, DiLeo said.

Higgins observed that over the years, when the council has done things piecemeal, it’s created some of its own problems. She was less inclined to approve just part of the proposed revision. She said it sounded like, based on Derezinski’s remarks, that the study committee report is coming soon, so she’d support postponing. At that, Briere withdrew her proposed amendment.

Derezinski then moved to postpone the issue until the second meeting in April.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) asked if the R4C/R2A study committee would include recommended ordinance changes. Derezinski indicated that it would not include explicit proposed ordinance changes. Rather, it would include the relevant concepts – setbacks, bundling of parcels and the like. That report would go first to the planning commission for drafting of ordinance language.

Based on Derezinski’s description of what would be included in the study committee’s report, Taylor said he would not support postponement. The work of the committee has been hard and difficult, but it’s taken longer than expected, he observed. Clean language is not going to be brought forward in the report. And the city planning staff says some of the revisions being proposed now would be useful now. So let’s get it done, Taylor suggested.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) indicated he was in favor of postponement and alluded to the hard work of the citizen study committee.

Mayor John Hieftje wanted to know why R4C was not included in the R4 classifications that would require a buffer. DiLeo reviewed how about nine months ago, the ordinance was revised to require the buffer – for R4C as well. Subsequently, the planning staff felt it would be good to remove the R4C area, so that R4C areas could be treated comprehensively. Based on DiLeo’s remarks, Hieftje said he would not support postponement, but would like to go back to consider Briere’s previous amendment.

City councilmember Marcia Higgins (Ward 4).

Higgins expressed her disappointment at the view of Hieftje and Taylor, noting that the council had tasked the committee to do the work, and now a report was a month away from being produced. She felt if the council were not going to see the report for another six to eight months, she’d be less amenable to postponing.

Higgins cited Derezinski’s status as the city councilmember representative to the planning commission, saying that if the city council’s planning commission liaison says it makes sense to postpone, she felt she was willing to support postponement, and she encouraged her colleagues to support postponement as well.

Hieftje pointed out to Higgins that Derezinski had said the report would not contain specific ordinance language. Derezinski, however, followed up by saying that Higgins was “right on the money on this one.” Derezinski recalled how the study committee was first formed with one citizen representative per ward. That was then doubled to two citizens per ward. That doubled the amount of input, Derezinski said. Additional extended meetings were held so that other groups in the community could be included, he said. The council’s resolution didn’t ask for ordinance language from the study committee, he said. Derezinski said no one likes to kick the can down the road – but it’s a short road and a small can, he contended.

Taylor again pointed out the difference between two portions of the proposed revision under the council’s consideration – the portion that refers to R4C and portion that refers to site plan review, which the planning staff indicated would be useful to have in place now.

Anglin mentioned that small R4C parcels near downtown are not the only properties zoned R4C. Briere agreed with Anglin and noted that R4C areas near downtown could be at risk of a consolidation of lots, yielding a large lot where no buffer would be required. She felt it’s premature to go ahead with that portion of the revision that deals with R4C areas, but indicated agreement with Taylor’s point of view, saying that her bias is to go forward with the things that can be done today. Even with the study committee report in hand, she said, it could take a long time before an ordinance revision was drafted.

Outcome on postponement: The vote for postponement failed on a 5-3 vote. Voting for it were Anglin, Smith, Derezinski, Kunselman and Higgins. Voting against it were Briere, Taylor and Hieftje.

The council then returned to Briere’s amendment, which she re-introduced. It would have restored R4C as a zoning classification that required a buffer. Briere said she felt she was not causing conflict by essentially removing a staff-proposed revision to the ordinance. If it needed to be revised in the future, she said, the council could do that.

Derezinski indicated that rather than bounce back and forth, he felt the best way would be to consider the issue in the context of the study committee report, and he asked his colleagues to join him in voting against the amendment.

Taylor said he understood the vote for Briere’s amendment as a vote for the status quo. It does no violence to the ordinance and the consistency principle is maintained, Taylor said. He’d support the amendment. Hieftje said the amendment would continue to protect R4C areas.

Higgins characterized the amendment as yet another example of making changes at the council table when extensive work on a complex project had been done. She said she would not support the amendment or main motion.

Outcome on amendment: The amendment failed on a 5-3 vote. Voting for it were Hieftje, Smith, Briere, Taylor and Kunselman. Voting against it were Anglin, Derezinski and Higgins.

With the main motion back before the council, Briere said she’d take Higgins’ advice and vote no.

Kunselman said he’d also lean toward a no vote. He sought confirmation from the city attorney that all the council’s options would be preserved, even if the council voted down the proposed revisions.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) indicated that instead of voting it down, she would prefer to table the resolution. [Tabling is functionally similar to postponing, but does not include a specific time at which the council needs to consider the action again. After six months, if a tabled agenda item has not been taken back up, it automatically dies.] So Smith put forward a motion to table the issue.

Higgins pointed out that a tabled item needs to be brought back in six months. She felt that would allow enough time for the planning commission to put together an entire package of recommended revisions based on the R4C/R2A study committee recommendations. Derezinski indicated that he totally agreed with Higgins.

A Community Television Network technician swapped out mayor John Hieftje's microphone during the March 19 meeting.

Briere pointed out that if the revision were simply defeated, they could be brought back to the council in whatever form it’s deemed appropriate. But with a motion to table, the resolution would need to be taken up off the table with exactly the same language that is currently in front of the council. So tabling would be the best outcome only if the council wants to see the same language again in the future.

Kunselman wondered if that night’s agenda could simply be re-opened – with the idea that the council could simply solve its dilemma by taking the item off the agenda. Hieftje, who presides over the meetings, indicated no enthusiasm for getting Smith to withdraw her motion to table, so that Kunselman’s suggestion could be pursued. So he simply told Kunselman there was a motion on the floor to table. Hieftje observed that the council did not seem to be accomplishing very much.

Taylor briefly reiterated his view that there’s part of the proposed revision that has current usefulness, indicating his disinclination to support tabling.

Outcome on tabling: The motion to table failed on a 5-3 vote. Voting for tabling were Anglin, Smith, Derezinski, Kunselman, and Higgins. Voting against it were Briere, Hieftje and Taylor.

On the question of the (unamended) ordinance revision, Hieftje said he wouldn’t support it, because the amendment had not been approved.

Outcome on the main question: The council rejected the ordinance revision on a 1-7 vote. The sole supporting vote was from Taylor.

Les Voyageurs Rezoning

The council considered a resolution to give final approval to a rezoning request and a site plan for an addition to the Habe Mills Pine Lodge – owned by the Society of Les Voyageurs. The rezoning was unanimously recommended for approval by the Ann Arbor planning commission at its Jan. 19, 2012 meeting. It also received initial approval from the city council at its Feb. 21, 2012 meeting.

The property owned by the society, at 411 Long Shore Drive near Argo Pond, is zoned public land, even though it’s owned by a private entity. The society is asking that the land be rezoned as a planned unit development (PUD), which would allow the group to build a 220-square-foot, one-story addition to the rear of the existing lodge, on its east side.

The nonprofit society is a University of Michigan student and alumni club, focused on nature and the outdoors. Named for French-Canadian voyageurs of the Great Lakes fur trade, it was founded in 1907 and is one of the university’s oldest fraternal student groups. The lodge was built in 1925 – about the same time as the city’s first zoning ordinance and zoning map. Five student members live at the lodge, and society alumni gather there for potluck Sunday dinners from September to April.

Les Voyageurs: Public Hearing

Thomas Partridge stated that he felt the French name of the society illustrated that what was being requested was a decision based on privilege, and claimed that it was related to the society’s connection with the University of Michigan. He called for every rezoning request to be tied to a requirement of paying into a fund to establish adequate and radically expanded affordable housing within the city of Ann Arbor.

Les Voyageurs: Council Deliberations

Responding to Partridge’s comments immediately following his turn at the microphone, mayor John Hieftje described the society’s house as an old house down by the river – not fancy. Hieftje ventured that it was hard to see how it could be criticized.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) noted that he believed there was a regular Sunday night dinner that would provide an opportunity for Partridge to visit and mingle with members of the society. Kunselman also ventured that the society had a backyard chicken permit so they’re doing what they can to maintain the property in a sustainable fashion. It’s a benefit to the society and the whole community to provide the proper zoning, Kunselman said.

Outcome: The council gave unanimous final approval to the Les Voyageurs rezoning.

Greenbelt Acquisitions

The council considered a resolution authorizing the purchase of development rights for two additional properties under its greenbelt program – the Van Natter Farm in Webster Township (about 25 acres for $126,867) and the Boike Farm in Northfield Township (about 136 acres for $502,307). Both owners agreed to make a donation of 20% of the fair market value of the property as part of the deals.

Greenbelt: Related Public Commentary, Council Communication

Kermit Schlansker addressed the council by saying that the government is breaking the Golden Rule – by not planning for the future. By not making material sacrifices that would help our children, we’re not treating our progeny in the way that we’d like to be treated, if we were them. We face a sure prospect of eternal poverty for our grandchildren and grandchildren, he said. As the price of oil grows so high that poor people can’t buy the gasoline they need to go to work, great hardships will follow, he warned. Urban sprawl is not just deplorable, it will become a killer if we don’t start to deal with it.

The only way to reduce energy use to sustainable levels is to use compact housing that reduces energy use by having reduced heating and transportation needs, Schlansker said. Common sense says we should put as much biomass back into the soil as possible, to make it more fertile, yet we ignore these basic concepts of sustainability, he said. He told councilmembers that when they are his age, they might be desperate because of the increased costs for everything. Schlansker reported that he’d attended a recent city forum on sustainability and based on that compared the city’s efforts to using a toothpick to shovel out from a snowstorm.

Schlansker called for a ring of farms around the city that could help feed the city. The starting point should be a series of colloquia, not lectures, he said. He called for an expansion of the city’s energy commission, in order to start implementing that.

Mayor John Hieftje responded to Schlansker’s comments by saying he was glad that Schlansker had mentioned the series of sustainability forums. He contended that the city was, as Schlansker had recommended, planning for local agriculture and doing more in that area than any other city Hieftje was aware of. He alluded to the building of hoop houses on greenbelt properties.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) followed up later in the meeting on the issue of sustainability, by mentioning that the city is looking at updating its solid waste plan. At some point, she said, that plan will come before the city council. There will be public engagement meetings in May 2012, she said. She ventured that it’s well past time to rewrite the solid waste plan.

During the brief council deliberations about the greenbelt acquisitions, Briere connected the acquisition of the land to Schlansker’s remarks during public commentary. Hieftje observed that the size of the Van Natter property was small, but good for growing food that could be sold at the farmers market.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) asked for a future update on the finances of the greenbelt program, including the endowment and what the endowment is being used for. [A detailed financial update for the past fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2011, was given at the greenbelt advisory commission's September 2011 meeting.]

Outcome: On separate votes, the council approved both greenbelt acquisitions.

Grass in Landfills

The council considered a resolution supporting the continued maintenance and enforcement of a 1990 statewide ban on adding yard waste, like lawn grass clippings, to landfills.

The city council’s resolution came in opposition to two bills, HB 4265 and HB 4266, passed by the Michigan state house of representatives on March 15 on a 67-40 and 66-41 vote, respectively. Together the bills would allow for yard waste to be added to landfills under certain conditions – when the landfill has a gas collection system and that gas is used in the production of electricity. Ann Arbor’s now-closed landfill uses such a gas collection system, which has produced around 3,000 MWh (mega-watt hour) of electricity a year. [.pdf of analysis of HB 4265 and HB 4266]

The council’s resolution was accompanied by a staff memo contending that methane gas-fueled generation is a less effective way to manage wastes, citing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s municipal solid waste assessment: “Combustion or gasification with energy recovery, or waste-to-energy (WTE), is the environmentally preferable route for mixed solid wastes that are neither recyclable nor compostable.” The council’s resolution cites in situ composting as a more beneficial policy than adding yard waste to landfills in order to create and collect methane gas for electricity generation.

The council’s resolution also criticizes the pending state legislation for creating an “unfair competitive environment for yardwaste resources, impacting current tipfees and pricepoints.” Ann Arbor’s current costs for disposing of waste in a landfill is $24.83/ton, while its composting costs are $19/ton.

Mayor John Hieftje said that the legislation was being pushed by landfill owners. Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) said that in his past he’d worked as an intern with the city and delivered yard waste. He said the politics of landfills and solid waste are well known.

Outcome: The resolution against putting yard waste into landfills was passed on a unanimous vote of the eight councilmembers present.

Sale of Land Wedge

The council was asked to consider the sale of 877 square feet of city land on Summit Street for $7,500.

The wedge-shaped parcel of land on Summit Street that is being sold by the city.

The parcel apparently had a murky history and was a part of the right-of-way for Wildt Street. Sale of the land to the owner of the immediately adjacent property will allow the new owner to construct a duplex after demolishing a dilapidated nuisance property.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the land sale.

New Street Sweeper

The council considered a resolution authorizing the purchase of an Elgin street sweeper from Bell Equipment Co. for $175,175. It’s a replacement of a 10-year old sweeper that has required frequent repair over the last two years. The staff memo accompanying the resolution indicates that over the last two years, the old sweeper required maintenance and repairs 82 times with a total cost of more than $104,300.

The old sweeper will be cannibalized for high-value parts to be used by other sweepers in the city’s fleet, all of which are Elgin sweepers. The remaining vehicle shell will be sold as scrap metal.

Outcome: The council voted without comment to approve the purchase of a street sweeper.

Television Upgrades

The council considered a resolution approving a purchase order for $118,620 with VTP Inc. for an upgrade to the Community Television Networkstudio and control room equipment. The equipment will give CTN high-definition video capture capabilities to create television productions and internet content.

Outcome: The council approved the CTN equipment upgrade without deliberation.

Communications and Comment

Every city council agenda contains multiple slots 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: Public Art – Attorney Opinion

Toward the end of the meeting, during time reserved for councilmembers to communicate to the public and to their colleagues on upcoming issues, Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) told his colleagues he’d be bringing forward a resolution that would provide the necessary direction to get a written opinion from the city attorney regarding the legal basis of the city’s public art ordinance. Kunselman contends, along with many others in the community, that the use of dedicated millage funds or fees by the public art program does not conform with Michigan law.

It’s an issue Kunselman has talked about for over two years, but he has never gone as far as to bring a resolution to the council table.

Comm/Comm: DDA TIF Capture

Kunselman also alerted his colleagues to the fact that he’d be bringing forward a resolution related to the computation of the taxes that can be captured by the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority in its tax increment finance (TIF) district.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) wrangles his computer power cord at the start of the March 19 meeting.

By way of background, in May 2011 the city pointed out a provision in the DDA ordinance that indicates a limit on the amount of taxes that can be captured, based on the rate of increased taxable value in the DDA TIF district. It resulted in a return of taxes by the DDA to other taxing authorities. It’s an open question as to whether the amount of returned money was correct.

Subsequently, the DDA took a completely different position, saying that the ordinance does not limit TIF capture, and that it had not needed to return the money it had already paid.

One of the other taxing authorities, which has some of its taxes captured under the DDA TIF, is the Ann Arbor District Library. At the library board’s most recent meeting, AADL director Josie Parker indicated that the library’s position has not changed with respect to the interpretation of the ordinance. It’s up to the DDA as to whether they want to have a conversation, she said.

In a phone interview after the library board meeting, Kunselman told The Chronicle that he had not had any communication with Parker about the TIF capture issue.

[For background, see Chronicle coverage: "Library Weighs DDA Excess Tax Decision" and "Column: Tax Capture Is a Varsity Sport"]

Comm/Comm: Fuller Road Station

During public commentary, Rita Mitchell reviewed how the University of Michigan pulled out of a university-city partnership to build a parking structure at the Fuller Road location. [See Chronicle coverage: "UM, Ann Arbor Halt Fuller Road Project"] She felt it’s a good time to reassess where the city is going with the project, and it’s time to have open discussion about it. That discussion, she said, had started the previous Friday in the form of a walkaround on the property across from the current Amtrak station, organized by Sabra Briere (Ward 1). It was great to have members of the city staff there to have a give-and-take discussion about the kinds of things that can happen for rail service to Ann Arbor, she said.

During a walkaround on Friday, March 16, 2012, an Amtrak train pulled into the station as the group of residents and staff were talking.

Mitchell felt that everyone supports non-motorized transportation into town and out of town with less use of cars. But she said the discussion needs to be careful and open – more open than she felt it’s been so far. She then ticked through some questions that she said should be answered: (1) How would a station be funded? (2) Should Ann Arbor own and operate a train station? Does Ann Arbor have the resources to do that? (3) What’s a good design, and what’s the appropriate location? (4) How can the alternative locations be assessed impartially?

Mitchell then indicated some attributes she felt the location of a train station should have: It should support the downtown and the Lowertown area, and provide easy non-motorized access to its location. She suggested a continuation of the dialogue.

Following public commentary, when Mitchell had made her remarks on the location of a new train station, Mike Anglin (Ward 5) took the occasion of the council communications time to address the Fuller Road Station project and Fuller Park – he said he liked to refer to it as Fuller Park because it is a park. He said he wanted to review the four resolutions the council had considered in connection with the project. The very first one, he said, he’d voted for. In November 2009, Anglin said, there’d been additional money appropriated. The specific council votes to which Anglin referred to were these:

• 2009-Aug-17: Ann Arbor city council approves $213,984 of city funds for an environmental study and site assessment. Of that amount, $104,742 was appropriated from the economic development fund.
• 2009-Nov-05: Ann Arbor city council approves memorandum of understanding with UM on Fuller Road Station.
• 2009-Nov-05: Ann Arbor city council authorizes additional $111,228 for environmental study and site assessment.

A subsequent action that Anglin contends is connected to the Fuller Road Station project was taken by the council on June 20, 2011. That was the award of a $1,216,100 construction contract to Hoffman Brothers Inc. The project involves relocating a sanitary sewer south of Fuller Road, and east of the Maiden Lane and East Medical Center Drive intersection.

Standing is councilmember Mike Anglin (Ward 5) as he talks with city administrator Steve Powers before the start of the meeting.

The project includes moving and replacing an 825-foot, 30-year-old section of 60-inch sanitary sewer pipe. It also includes construction of 525 feet of 24-inch stormwater pipe, as well as construction of 925 feet of a new 12-inch water main for service to Fuller Pool. The water main portion of the project will be completed in two phases, the second of which is planned for 2013.

Anglin voted for that contract award at the June 20 meeting, but then brought it back for reconsideration on July 5, 2011 and voted against it. His was the only dissenting vote.

At the council’s March 19, 2012 meeting, Anglin said he felt the city was starting to wade into the water of the project without the council’s approval. He said he was glad that the walkaround had taken place on Friday. But he said that as a council, they are tiptoeing into the water and it’s getting deeper and deeper. He wanted to re-evaluate the whole item so the city doesn’t keep spending staff time on it.

During his own communications, mayor John Hieftje responded to Anglin’s remarks by saying the Fuller Road Station process is ongoing, and there would be council action requested in the next little while. With respect to Anglin’s review of the action to date, Hieftje said, he believed that those expenditures will help secure the $2.8 million federal grant that is part of the federal funding for the a train station.

If you go back and read the record, Hieftje said, the $1.3 million utilities relocation work was a “free-standing effort” that benefited the Fuller Pool area and the UM hospital – and something like 30,000 people in Ward 1. It had been part of the program of utility work for some time, he said. It could have been done this year or next year, Hieftje said, but it was something that the council had decided was a free-standing effort.

Comm/Comm: Warming Center

Alexandra Hoffman made some remarks in support of medical marijuana dispensaries, but told the council she was there to talk about the Imagine Community. She reminded the council that representatives of the community have been coming to council meetings since the fall of 2011, and they’d been talking about the possibility of using the city-owned building at 721 N. Main since December. It would be a simple space, she said, that the city would still own, for the people of Ann Arbor to work on and congregate in. Liability has been an often-voiced concern, she noted, so one of their community, Alan Haber, has suggested that a lease could be signed and the liability could be transferred to her organization. She then showed the council a lease drawn up on poster board to illustrate what elements such a lease might contain.

Hoffman allowed that the winter is over, but the community will continue to work to prepare for next year, she said. There will be a fundraising benefit held on April 1, 2012, after the FestiFools parade, she said. [The April 1 event will be held at Hathaway's Hideaway from 5:30-7:30 p.m.] Every Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. the group has been holding a vigil in front of the old Borders store on East Liberty. She reported that last week a police officer had asked the group to take their banner down: “Let the people in.” Their banner would continue to say that and she hoped that they would not allow Ann Arbor to be turned into a city that silences protest.

Comm/Comm: Access to Knight’s

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) thanked staff for ensuring that businesses along Dexter Avenue will remain accessible during the construction work along that road, including Knight’s restaurant. Knight’s will remain open, he said.

Comm/Comm: Argo Cascades

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) gave a brief update from the park advisory commission, on which he serves as one of two councilmember representatives. The newly-constructed bypass around the Argo Dam – which has been named the Argo Cascades – is quickly becoming a favorite, he reported. A new bridge is being installed at the entrance. It’ll be poured the following week, he said, so it’s expected to be open again by the middle of April, but is currently closed in connection with the bridge construction. The Border-to-Border Trail segment in that area is also due to be paved by the end of April or the beginning of May, Taylor said.

Comm/Comm: Basic Rights

During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Thomas Partridge said he was there to call attention of the public to the ongoing onslaught against civil rights of Americans, perpetrated by Republican candidates for president. There’s an attempt to deny the basic civil right to affordable transportation, housing, education, and health care, Partridge said, and the denial of those rights is being given the deceptive heading of “budget reductions.”

At the end of the meeting, Partridge called for radical improvement in support of the full range of services that make life worthwhile, including for the poorest members of the community.

Present: Mike Anglin, Sabra Briere, Sandi Smith, Tony Derezinski, Stephen Kunselman, Marcia Higgins, John Hieftje, Christopher Taylor

Absent: Jane Lumm, Carsten Hohnke, Margie Teall

Next council meeting: April 2, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 301 E. Huron. [confirm date]

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In that context, it’s still expected that the city of Ann Arbor will continue to pursue the possibility of a transportation facility at the Fuller Park location – a proposal that would include moving the existing Amtrak station from its current spot on Depot Street, just north of (and below) the Broadway bridges.

An appropriate site for the Amtrak station has been studied before – 30 years ago. At the request of Sabra Briere, a city councilmember who represents Ward 1, the city of Ann Arbor has unearthed one study, done by Pollack Design Associates in 1979. [.pdf of "The Ann Arbor Depot: A First Phase Investigation of Location Alternatives for Rail Passenger Facilities" from Nov. 15, 1979]

Among those mentioned in the 1979 study report as a meeting participant is Clark Charnetski. He addressed a recent forum on sustainability (held on Feb. 9, 2012 by the city of Ann Arbor) on the topic of a choice of two locations for a train station – the current location on Depot Street, and the proposed location of Fuller Road Station, between Fuller Road and East Medical Center Drive, adjacent to the UM medical campus. He also addressed the city council at its transportation public hearing on Jan. 23, 2012, telling councilmembers he’s tired of waiting for a better transportation system.

The context of the 1979 study was one that pre-dates the existing Amtrak station, which was built in 1983. The ticket office and waiting area for Amtrak trains was situated in the same building complex as the Michigan Central Depot, renovated for use as the Gandy Dancer Restaurant. The smaller building to the west, out of which Amtrak operated, was described in the 1979 report this way: “This small building contains about 450 square feet, and includes waiting room for about one dozen people, ticket sales area, baggage storage, and express parcel storage. There can be up to four employees in the office at any one time.”

The 1979 report weighs the merits of five general areas as possibly locations for better train station facilities: (1) North Main Street; (2) Depot Street; (3) UM medical campus; (4) Dixboro Road; and (5) St. Joseph Hospital.

The study compares the locations based on size, number of owners, the existing zoning of the land, natural and cultural amenities, parcel shape and configuration, engineering complexity and cost factors, and access characteristics for pedestrians, bicycles, automobiles, intracity buses, and intercity buses.

Alternative (3) corresponds to the general location of the now-contemplated Fuller Road Station. The study does not make a specific recommendation. But the eventual construction of the station was at location (2).

Possibly to appear on the city council’s March 19 agenda is an item related to the Federal Rail Administration’s $2.8 million award (in May 2011) to the city of Ann Arbor related to site study and environmental analysis of a rail station. The item will deal with acceptance and expenditure of that grant. At a March 2, 2012 drop-in information session hosted by the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, AATA board member and city of Ann Arbor transportation program manger Eli Cooper clarified that the site study and environmental analysis funded by the FRA is not confined to a single site.

A more recent planning document than the 1979 study dates from three years ago in the form of the “City of Ann Arbor Transportation Plan Update,” which was adopted by the Ann Arbor city council at its May 4, 2009 meeting. A map depicting commuter rail station facilities includes the Fuller Road Station site. [.pdf of map extracted from 2009 Ann Arbor Transportation Plan Update showing commuter rail facilities]

The AATA’s information session on March 2 was held in the context of the subsequent city council vote on a four-party countywide transit agreement, which won approval from the Ann Arbor city council three days later on March 5, 2012.

Councilmember Briere is hosting a walk around the area of the current Amtrak station on March 16 at 2 p.m., which will start from the current station. She’s invited members of the public who are interested in alternative sites for a train station to join her as she tours the area with relevant city staff.

The Ann Arbor city council gave initial approval to new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps at its Feb. 21 meeting. The council briefly touched on the topic of the current location of the Amtrak train station, which is in the floodplain (green area). The dark red is a building (Gandy Dancer) that was previously not analyzed as within the floodplain, but now is analyzed as such – similarly for parcels colored bright red. (Image links to higher resolution file with legend.)

The council denied a rezoning request from the owners of Biercamp Artisan Sausage and Jerky, located on South State Street near the Produce Station, that would have allowed them to use the property for a retail operation larger than what currently exists. But the council did give initial approval to a rezoning request from the Society of Les Voyageurs that will allow the group to make an addition to their house, which is located near the Argo Dam.

At the other end of the spectrum from development, the council also took action that will allow the city to move quickly to demolish buildings that are derelict, posing a safety risk to the community. The council authorized the allocation of $250,000 from the general fund to pay upfront costs for the demolition of such structures. The city expects to be able to replenish the money out of a lawsuit settlement it won previously against the owner of the former Michigan Inn. The city will also eventually be able to recover its costs from property owners whose buildings require demolition.

Also related to possible future construction on land throughout the city, as well as the insurance for existing buildings, was the council’s initial approval of new federal flood maps. The most recent maps date from 1992. The new maps being considered for approval by the city were created out of a process begun by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Throughout the city, 452 structures are no longer analyzed as lying within a floodplain, while 88 buildings are newly analyzed as in a floodplain, according to the new maps.

Floods are one of the natural disasters that the city’s new emergency management director, Rick Norman, will be responsible for preparing the city to handle. The council formally authorized Norman’s appointment at their meeting.

In resolutions that required expenditures of funds, the council authorized additional outside accounting and legal expenses, as well as the painting and repair of equipment at the city’s water treatment plant.

In other business, the council passed a resolution in support of a clean air campaign, and authorized the closing of city streets for eight different upcoming events.

Two significant appointments were discussed at the meeting. The first was a mayoral nomination on which the council will be asked to take action at its next meeting – appointing Sue Gott, planner for the University of Michigan, to the board of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. The other was an appointment that has already been made by Gov. Rick Snyder – Joe Burke as judge to the 15th District Court. Burke was on hand to be introduced to the council.

Biercamp Rezoning

The council considered a request from the owners of Biercamp to rezone the South State parcel where the artisan sausage store is located – from TWP (township district) to C3 (fringe commercial district).

Biercamp Rezoning: Background

At its Sept. 8, 2011 meeting, the city planning commission had unanimously recommended denial of the rezoning request.

The property is located at 1643 and 1645 S. State St., south of Stimson and next to the Produce Station. The parcels currently house a relatively new business – Biercamp Artisan Sausage and Jerky – as well as an auto repair shop and furniture manufacturer. Biercamp owners Walt Hansen and Hannah Cheadle wanted to rezone the property to C3 (fringe commercial district), so their business could sell a wider variety of merchandise, including products not made on site. The annexation of the property, from Ann Arbor Township, was approved by the council at its Oct. 17, 2011 meeting.

At the council’s Oct. 3, 2011 meeting, councilmembers had finally voted on a rezoning request in the same vicinity, from Treecity Health Collective. The medical marijuana dispensary was denied its rezoning request, which it had sought in order to qualify for a medical marijuana license issued by the city. The council had postponed their Treecity vote from their Sept. 19, 2011 meeting. Councilmembers had wanted the extra time to ensure that they would be handling Biercamp and Treecity in a parallel fashion.

At that time councilmembers also cited the study of the South State Street corridor, which is now in progress, as possibly affecting changes in zoning in the area in a more comprehensive way.

Biercamp Rezoning: Council Deliberations

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) led off deliberations by saying she was willing to move the rezoning request forward to a second reading before the council. [Zoning requests are ordinance changes, which require two approvals by the council at separate meetings, and must include a public hearing.] But she cautioned that the council needs to keep in mind the context of the broader corridor study. Previously, the council was advised it was premature to rezone a single parcel, because it would be “spot zoning.” She concluded that she’d be willing to give the request an initial approval, though she was not certain how she’d vote at the second reading.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), who serves as the city council’s representative to the planning commission, said the planning commission had unanimously recommended a denial. It would be nice to rezone the parcel, but the fact is, he said, that you’d be destroying the idea of predictability in the city’s decision-making on zoning issues. That would risk a lawsuit, he said.

Derezinski said the corridor study is moving along. He noted that South State Street will get very busy when the new Costco store opens [at Ellsworth and State, in Pittsfield Township] and “pumps” thousands of people onto that road. His own sense was that given the unanimous denial by the planning commission, the council should not move it to a second reading so that the council doesn’t “clutter up our docket.”

Margie Teall (Ward 4) asked Wendy Rampson, head of city planning, what the future of the owners would be if the council denies the rezoning request. Rampson explained that Biercamp had made sure they got the blessing of the township for the store’s current use. If the city continues with the process of establishing a staff-initiated zoning of M1, Biercamp could continue as a “non-conforming use,” but couldn’t expand their retail operations. Currently, Rampson said, the business is subject to the zoning it inherited from the township. Teall said she saw Biercamp as becoming a much beloved business, if it was not already. She said she’d like very much not to infringe on their business.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) noted that the proposed zoning by the owners was denied, because it’s not consistent with the city’s master plan. He asked about “conditional zoning” – is that an opportunity for Biercamp? Rampson explained that when the city planning staff were approached by Biercamp, they went through a number of options, and one of them was conditional zoning. The owners had opted not to pursue that.

Kunselman confirmed that Biercamp would get to operate their existing business. Based on Rampson’s assurance that they could continue to operate their existing business, Kunselman said he would support denial of the rezoning request and he saw no reason to take it to a second reading. It was a case where the council needs to follow the planning staff’s recommendation, he concluded.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) asked when the corridor study would be complete. Rampson described how planning staff is currently doing interviews with property owners. Meetings have been held with a half dozen property owners on the northern end of the corridor. Rampson indicated she was not sure what the public engagement process would be like – the area has very few residents, and mostly businesses are located there. Lumm clarified that the corridor that’s the subject of the study goes from Produce Station near Stimson all the way south to Ellsworth.

Currently, Rampson said, they’re looking at the corridor as composed of three to four different subsections with distinct character, including the Briarwood Mall area. The city has had some discussions with Pittsfield Township, Rampson said. Lumm said that her sense was – based on the planning commission minutes – that everybody felt sorry for the petitioner, but felt it’s not a good thing to approve zoning inconsistent with the master plan. She said she was comfortable with denying the request for rezoning.

Derezinski agreed with Teall that Biercamp is a good business and they have expansion plans, which he said is always healthy. He described the planning staff as having bent over backwards. Eventually, he felt, it’ll be worked out – it’s a matter of waiting. He said he had patronized the business a half dozen times. It’s the kind of business the city wants, he said, but things have to be done in an orderly fashion. So he would ask for a denial at this point.

Briere said she was also inclined to deny the rezoning request, but was inclined to allow a public hearing to proceed, which would result if the council gave it initial approval. You never know what we’ll learn from a public hearing, she ventured.

Teall asked when Costco’s construction would be completed. Rampson reported it’s under construction, but she did not know when it would be completed – within the current year, she thought. Teall said she was looking forward to having the issue come back, but would support the denial.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) and Jane Lumm (Ward 2) before the Feb. 21 city council meeting started.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) noted that the Costco site is in Pittsfield Township and the township will have full authority to determine zoning in the township. So she asked Rampson how that was being handled for the portion of State Street south of I-94 – the western side of State Street that’s in Pittsfield Township. Rampson characterized that as a conversation that’s a year away. Pittsfield officials are talking about making that area more active and mixing in residential uses. The exchange between Higgins and Rampson clarified that the city of Ann Arbor has jurisdiction over the full width of State Street.

At mayor John Hieftje’s request, Rampson explained the next steps for the Biercamp owners if they wanted to expand. Rampson said that if the council did not approve the rezoning, she’d ask council to direct the planning staff to initiate the process of putting appropriate zoning in place. If two years pass after the annexation from the township and no zoning is applied by the city, the parcel becomes “unzoned” and anything could happen, Rampson said.

So the staff would want to put an M1 placeholder zoning on the parcel. In the meantime, the State Street corridor discussion would be going on, Rampson said, and clearly Biercamp is a stakeholder in the corridor now and would be able to advocate for itself in the context of that discussion. At the conclusion of the corridor study, the staff would likely come up with a “package” that Rampson felt would probably include a rezoning of that parcel, among other recommendations.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) noted that immediately to the north is a property zoned C3, where the Produce Station is located. Rampson explained that the property was originally zoned M1 – it was a warehouse. The entire area was developed on an industrial-type footprint, she said. Smith ventured that context might eliminate the possibility that rezoning the Biercamp parcel would constitute a “spot zoning.”

Rampson indicated that the objection to the rezoning is not that it would amount to spot zoning. Instead, the objection is based on the fact that the city’s master plan talks about putting a boundary on the commercial district. The Produce Station is the edge, she said. Without having a further understanding of how retail would work beyond that boundary, the planning staff weren’t comfortable letting it go farther south.

Outcome: The council unanimously denied the Biercamp rezoning request.

Les Voyageurs Addition

The council considered an initial approval to a rezoning request and a site plan for an addition to the Habe Mills Pine Lodge – owned by the Society of Les Voyageurs. The rezoning was unanimously recommended for approval by the Ann Arbor planning commission at its Jan. 19, 2012 meeting. The property owned by the society, at 411 Long Shore Drive near Argo Pond, is zoned public land, even though it’s owned by a private entity. The society is asking that the land be rezoned as a planned unit development (PUD), which would allow the group to build a 220-square-foot, one-story addition to the rear of the existing lodge, on its east side.

Rezoning changes the city’s ordinances, thus requires an initial approval by city council (first reading) followed by a final vote at a subsequent meeting.

The nonprofit society is a University of Michigan student and alumni club, focused on nature and the outdoors. Named for French-Canadian voyageurs of the Great Lakes fur trade, it was founded in 1907 and is one of the university’s oldest fraternal student groups. The lodge was built in 1925 – about the same time as the city’s first zoning ordinance and zoning map. Five student members live at the lodge, and society alumni gather there for potluck Sunday dinners from September to April.

Mark Doman, an alum of the society, attended the city council meeting. Responding to an invitation from mayor John Hieftje, he gave a history of the organization. He described the mission of the society so much in keeping with the setting is that it’s zoned as public land.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) ventured that it’s zoned public land (PL), because it belongs to UM. Doman clarified that the land is not owned by UM, but rather by the society. Briere noted that in any case, the resulting public land designation is an effort to not have the parcel zoned residential. Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) praised the work of planning staff to find the least intrusive way to accomplish the task, saying it was an agreeable process. The request, he said, was a “no-brainer.”

Outcome: The council gave unanimous initial approval to the PUD rezoning of the Les Voyageurs property.

Fund to Demolish Unsafe Buildings

The council considered a $250,000 allocation for the demolition of buildings that the city deems dangerous under Chapter 101 of the city code. The city would like to target buildings that are diminishing the quality of neighborhoods, dragging down property values and attracting nuisances. The appropriation is from the city’s general fund, changing the budget, and thus required an 8-vote majority. The city expects to be able to reimburse the general fund from the proceeds of a lawsuit settlement related to the old Michigan Inn property on Jackson Avenue.

Councilmembers Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3).

Mayor John Hieftje described the possibility of establishing such a fund at the city council’s Dec. 19, 2011 meeting. He portrayed the idea as arising out of a conversation he’d had with Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3).

During the council’s deliberations on Feb. 21, Hieftje noted that Kunselman as well as Sandi Smith (Ward 1) and Sabra Briere (Ward 1) have been looking into the issue. The proposal before the council is a plan to pre-fund the demolition work. Hieftje said there’s a surprising number of buildings in town that need to come down.

The city’s chief development official, Ralph Welton, was asked to explain the mechanics of how condemnation and demolition would work. Welton told the council that the city has an ordinance in the code for specifically for this kind of situation. [.pdf of Chapter 101] Welton described how first a property owner would be notified, and if there’s no compliance, the property owner would be invited to a show-cause hearing at the city’s building board of appeals. There’s a 20-day period to appeal a vote of the building board of appeals to the district court, he said. After that, the city would tear down the building. Welton said that the fund would perpetuate and possibly grow.

Hieftje got clarification from Welton that the city would pay the initial cost of demolition, but that the property owner would be invoiced and assessed. Welton explained that it’s not a lien that would be placed on the property, but rather a direct assessment.

Hieftje explained that conversations with the city attorney and with Ward 1 residents had led to a likely initial focus on properties on North Main Street, including the houses on the site of the future Near North affordable housing development.

Briere asked if it’s possible to get a list of properties that would be considered for demolition. Welton noted there’s criteria for condemning properties, so those lists will be fluid.

Kunselman said he’s really excited about this – he’d worked previously in a community where such a program had worked well. He noted that most property owners don’t know how to deal with their own property when it reaches this condition, so the program solves that problem. However, he questioned the initial targeting of the Near North properties – weren’t neighborhood stabilization monies appropriated for that? [Kunselman was correctly recalling the council's May 16, 2011 vote.] What would happen to those neighborhood stabilization funds? asked Kunselman. Hieftje indicated that the attorneys will take a look at that. The city wants to put the Near North project property owner on notice that the houses need to come down, whether the project goes forward or not. Kunselman wanted to make sure that out-buildings like garages are also included for consideration under the program.

In terms of properties where development is ongoing but delayed – like Near North – Margie Teall (Ward 4) asked at what point the city should “pull the trigger.” Teall indicated she was thinking about the Georgetown Mall site on Packard.

Smith asked what the typical cost is for bringing down a building – like one of the Near North houses. Welton estimated that for one of the houses, it would cost $15,000-$25,000. Responding to a question from Marcia Higgins (Ward 4), Welton indicated that with older houses there could be issues of lead and asbestos abatement.

Outcome: The council unanimously voted to allocate $250,000 for the demolition of dangerous buildings.

Flood Maps

The city council was asked to give initial approval to an ordinance change that will adopt a new Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM).

From left: Jerry Hancock, the city's stormwater and floodplain programs coordinator, and Eli Cooper, the city's transportation program manager.

By way of background on those maps, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) makes flood insurance available for properties in participating communities – Ann Arbor is a participant. If a building has a federally-backed mortgage and it’s located within the “1% annual change floodplain” (previously called the “100-year floodplain”), then flood insurance is required.

Ann Arbor’s most recent FIRM dates from Jan. 2, 1992. In 2004, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) began a map revision process for Washtenaw County. Various drains in the city were re-analyzed, using updated data, and on July 27, 2007, FEMA issued preliminary maps. After required public review, appeal and revisions, on Oct. 3, 2011, FEMA issued a letter with a final determination, indicating that the new maps would become effective on April 3, 2012. [.pdf of Oct. 3, 2011 letter] [.pdf of Dec. 20, 2011 reminder letter]

Compared to the previous 1992 maps, 321 parcels are no longer analyzed as lying within a floodplain. However, 116 parcels that were previously not analyzed as in a floodplain are now in a floodplain, according to the new maps. Building-wise, 452 structures are no longer analyzed as lying within a floodplain, while 88 buildings are now in a floodplain, according to the new maps. [See also Chronicle coverage: "Column: Digital Information Flood"]

As an ordinance change, the council will need to give the approval of the maps a second and final approval at a subsequent meeting.

During the relatively short deliberations on the map, Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) asked the city’s stormwater and floodplain programs coordinator, Jerry Hancock, to explain the program.

Hancock explained that it was a FEMA project, not a city project, which began in 2004. Consultants were hired by FEMA and the state of Michigan. Some of the floodplains were completely re-studied while others were simply re-mapped, he explained. There was a preliminary report drafted in 2007, and from that point, input was received all over the county, he said. It took until six months ago to finalize the map, and now FEMA has put the final maps out. He said the city and county staff had put together an online map. Properties that have changed status are all color-coded, so hopefully people can get a sense of how these changes will affect their properties, Hancock said. He also reported that letters had been sent to affected property owners.

Kunselman asked if the recipient of such a letter would be able to take that letter to the bank without an additional letter of map amendment in order to justify changes to their insurance requirements. Hancock explained that yes, the city’s letter should satisfy the requirements of their lending agency.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) offered an “atta-boy,” saying the letters sent to property owners are well crafted with good instructions. Lumm said the good news is that the number of parcels formerly in the floodplain decreased significantly.

Watershed-by-watershed, here’s the breakdown:

Parcels Into Floodplain        Parcels Out of Floodplain                     

Allen Creek      45            Allen Creek      199
Huron River       5            Huron River        9
Mallets Creek    24            Mallets Creek     10
Millers Creek    16            Millers Creek      0
Swift Run        11            Swift Run         84
Traver Creek     15            Traver Creek      19
Total           116            Total            321

Buildings Into Floodplain      Buildings Out of Floodplain      

Allen Creek      46            Allen Creek      204
Huron River       5            Huron River        6
Mallets Creek    23            Mallets Creek     48
Millers Creek     3            Millers Creek      0
Swift Run         2            Swift Run        171
Traver Creek      9            Traver Creek      23
Total            88            Total            452

-

Outcome: The council gave unanimous initial approval to the new flood maps.

Transportation

Transportation arose as a topic at the council’s Feb. 21 meeting in at least three ways: (1) a request for additional required information from the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority; (2) the nomination of Sue Gott to the AATA board; and (3) the location of a possible new transit station.

Transportation: AATA Info Request

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) used a council communications time slot to press for additional information about the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority in the context of the current proposal pending before the council to sign an agreement that would set a framework for the transition of the AATA’s governance structure from an Act 55 authority to an Act 196 Authority.

Kunselman told mayor John Hieftje that he had some comments about “your proposal” to dissolve the Act 55 authority. [By way of background, as a political tactic, Kunselman has consistently labeled the proposal to transition to an Act 196 authority as "the mayor's proposal." Hieftje has responded to this tactic the same way he did at the council's Feb. 21 meeting – by insisting that he cannot accept credit for the plan.]

Kunselman said that the council keeps being told the AATA needs a new governance framework, even though the existing framework will work, he contended. He said that in doing his homework on the issue, he’d come across an agreement between AATA and the city. [.pdf of Sept. 30, 1974 agreement] By way of background, the agreement was signed in the context of litigation that was pending at the time between the city and the AATA. It was a lawsuit over the handling of $221,000 in funds dating from 1970. The AATA contended it was entitled to the money, while the city of Ann Arbor administration had claimed the money had been loaned to the AATA and needed to be repaid. So the city had subtracted that sum from the millage money collected by Ann Arbor for the AATA before the money was passed through to the AATA.

Kunselman quoted from the agreement:

11. REPORTING To ensure that council is kept apprised of the AATA’s activities, the AATA will submit to Council at least quarterly a written report indicating its activities to include such key elements as levels of ridership, budget variances and other service level information.

Kunselman noted that the council had not received the specified quarterly reports. According to the agreement, Kunselman said, the council is also supposed to receive the AATA’s proposed budget for review by April each year. ["The proposed budget should be submitted to the City council by April 1 each year unless a change in dates is necessitated by federal or state requirements."]

Kunselman also said that the last audit he was able to find posted on the AATA website dated from 2009. Kunselman said he was particularly interested in ridership information on the express buses from Canton and Chelsea. He wondered how many Ann Arbor residents ride those buses from Ann Arbor out to Canton and Chelsea – even though $100,000 of millage money is used to support the service. He noted there’s no purchase of service agreement (POSA) with Canton or Chelsea. He wondered if the AATA is running empty buses out to bring back commuters? Kunselman asked that city administrator Steve Powers contact the AATA and get the required information.

Transportation: AATA Board Appointment – Gott

Added to the agenda on the afternoon of the Feb. 21 meeting was a nomination of Sue Gott to replace Rich Robben on the board of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. Gott has served as the University of Michigan’s university planner since September 2002. She has also served as an adjunct professor with UM’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. In the private sector, she was a senior planner at the consulting firm JJR Inc.

Gott is described in her standard bio as a “third generation Ann Arborite.” She is a 1982 graduate of UM.

Robben, whom Gott would replace if her nomination by mayor John Hieftje is confirmed by the Ann Arbor city council, is also a high-level UM administrator, serving the university as executive director of plant operations. Robben resigned from the AATA board late last year, a bit less than a year into his second term, but served on the board through last month’s Jan. 19, 2012 board meeting.

Robben’s departure from the board was the second in two months – the city’s former public services area administrator, Sue McCormick, attended her last AATA board meeting on Dec. 15, 2011. Her replacement on the board is Eli Cooper, the city of Ann Arbor transportation program manager. Cooper’s replacement was controversial for some city councilmembers, because he is an employee of the city of Ann Arbor, as was McCormick.

Kunselman asked for clarification regarding the dates for Gott’s term. He felt that Gott should be serving out the remainder of Robben’s term, not starting a new term. AATA board terms are stipulated in the AATA articles of incorporation as five years, with resignations replaced with an appointment to fill out the remainder of a term. The end of Gott’s term, accordingly, should be May 2, 2016.

Transportation: Train Station Location

During council communications, Mike Anglin (Ward 5) noted that a group of councilmembers received an email from a resident reacting to the changes in status for the proposed Fuller Road Station. Given that the MichCon site (on the west bank of the Huron River, across from the new dam bypass that the city has constructed alongside Argo Dam) is about to be cleaned up, Anglin said that the existing train station location should be examined more attentively. The existing station location, he said, could be offered as an alternate location to the proposed Fuller Road Station site.

Anglin said there’s an opportunity for more discussion, and that as a member of the city’s park advisory commission he would bring this up. If the MichCon site were used, there would be no parkland involved – as there was with the Fuller Road Station site, which was proposed on land that’s part of Fuller Park.

Councilmembers Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) and Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

Mayor John Hieftje indicated that the council would have another conversation about the Fuller Road Station as they accept the $2.8 million in federal grant funding to undertake a study related to the project. The Wolfpack has been working on the cleanup, Hieftje said. [The Wolfpack is a conservancy group associated with the National Wildlife Federation, co-founded by local attorney and former Clinton advisor Paul Dimond and retired Ford executive Ray Pittman.]

The MichCon property being cleaned up is right next to the river, Hieftje said. It’ll be a new park and will have a view of the new whitewater feature. One of the problems is that the current Amtrak station site is in the floodplain, and is not considered a good place to make an investment. As far as using that location for commuter rail, Hieftje said, the current location is not the final destination for anyone.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) invited Anglin to join her on a walkthrough of the general area of the train station and MichCon site. There would need to be infrastructure improvements in order for the site to be serviceable as a commuter rail center. She allowed that the landscape is not terrifically hospitable, but pleasant enough if you pick a decent way.

In her most recent update to constituents, Briere has solicited feedback on the location of a train station and has suggested the following constraints:

• The land should already belong to the City. Land acquisition is expensive, and I’d prefer to talk about alternatives that are feasible.
• The land ought to be really close to the railroad tracks, and in order for the train to stop at the station, the tracks should be straight and not curved at your preferred location. The rule of thumb is 800 feet of straight tracks.
• The site should allow for sufficient on-site parking as well as the construction of a building.
• The surrounding infrastructure should be able to bear additional traffic, including bus traffic. The existing train station sits on the flood plain; Depot Street gets as much as a foot of water across it during heavy rains. Flood issues, traffic patterns, stop lights, and surrounding (close) residential areas should also affect your choices.
• The cost of construction should require (in your mind) an acceptable investment.

Introduction of New Judge: Joe Burke

On Feb. 15, 2012 Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Joe Burke to fill the judgeship on Ann Arbor’s 15th District Court, filling the vacancy left by Julie Creal, who resigned last year for health reasons.

Joe Burke, newly appointed judge on Ann Arbor's 15th District Court.

In Michigan, district courts handle civil cases where the disputed amount is $25,000 or less, small claims cases where the disputed amount is $3,000 or less, landlord/tenant disputes, criminal and traffic misdemeanors punishable by less than a year in jail, issuance of arrest or search warrants, Ann Arbor city ordinance violations, traffic and state civil infractions, and University of Michigan regents violations. The 15th District Court also handles the preliminary examinations for the 22nd Circuit Court.

At the city council’s Feb. 21 meeting, Burke was introduced to the council by chief judge of the court, Libby Hines. She told the council that judge Chris Easthope, a former councilmember, was unable to attend the meeting to make the introduction.

Hines told the council that she’s known Burke for many years. He’s practiced law in Ann Arbor for 30 years, she said, first in the county prosecutor’s office, then in civil practice for six years, then back to the prosecutor’s office when Washtenaw County prosecutor Brian Mackie invited him to serve as his chief assistant. Hines said she knew that Burke was already very honorable, but would officially gain that title at his investiture on March 16.

Joe Burke (third from front or back) at a rehearsal for the Ypsilanti Community Band in November 2008.

In his brief remarks to councilmembers, Burke told them that he was really excited about serving as judge. He said that during the interview process, when he was asked why he wants to be a judge, he’d answered that he did not just want to be a judge – he wanted to be a 15th District Court judge. He said that Hines, Creal and Easthope have together put together a wonderful set of programs – the street outreach program, the sobriety court, the designated domestic violence docket – things that other courts aren’t doing. Those programs make it a nationally recognized court, he said.

Burke told the council it’s like being traded to the Yankees – unless you’re a Red Sox fan, in which case it’s like being traded to the Red Sox. He said he was very humbled and honored to be able to serve the city that he loves, where he’s lived – in Ward 5 – for the last 23 years.

Chronicle readers may also be familiar with Burke as a trumpet player in the Ypsilanti community band – now known as the Washtenaw community concert band. At the April 20, 2011 meeting of the Washtenaw County board of commissioners, Burke delivered remarks to the board when the long-time conductor of that group, Jerry Robbins, was honored.

Emergency Management Director

The council was asked to consider the appointment of Rick Norman as the city’s emergency management director and to approve the line of succession to that position. Norman has previously held positions with the American Red Cross and with Ionia County in a similar capacity. [To be clear, this is a position with responsibilities for developing plans and implementing contingencies for manmade and natural disasters; it's not an emergency financial manager position.]

Rick Norman, Ann Arbor's new emergency management director.

The line of succession to the position is: Sgt. Edward Dreslinski, Mary Joan Fales (assistant city attorney), Lt. Myron Blackwell, Matthew Schroeder (Ann Arbor firefighter), Andrew Box (Ann Arbor firefighter) and Matt Naud (environmental coordinator).

Fales introduced Norman to the council, mentioning that in addition to his experience, he’s attained certification as a licensed instructor. He’ll be working on the city’s new emergency preparedness plan. Norman described himself in the “assimilation phase” – he’s meeting people and starting to attend meetings.

From what he’s seen so far, he said, the city has a good solid emergency preparedness program. The people he’d met so far are well-trained and well-equipped, he said, and also dedicated to what they’re doing.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the appointment of Rick Norman as emergency management director.

Ann Arbor OKs Accounting Help

The council considered an amendment to an existing employee contract for extra help in the financial services area as the city heads into peak season for preparations to finalize the fiscal year 2013 budget. FY 2013 begins on July 1, 2012.

The existing contract with Diane Koski started May 2, 2011 for $23,400. The amendment extends the contract for an additional $15,600 for a total of $39,000. She is paid for actual hours worked at a rate of $15 per hour. The staff memo accompanying the resolution indicates that the financial services unit needs the extra assistance due to a resignation in accounting services.

Outcome: Without discussion, the council unanimously approved the amendment to the contract with Diane Koski.

Legal Services Contract

The council considered a $50,000 contract for legal services with Stevenson Keppelman Associates, an Ann Arbor firm. The contract will cover work related to pension and retiree health care issues. It will be paid out of the city’s risk fund.

During the brief deliberations, Jane Lumm (Ward 2) said that Stevenson Keppelman specializes in these services and it’s being paid from the risk fund, which is an appropriate source. She wondered why this was not included in the original budget request for the city attorney’s office.

City attorney Stephen Postema replied that it was not a part of the attorney’s budget, but that chief financial officer Tom Crawford could explain. Crawford explained that the city has legal expenses through the attorney’s office but also associated with the risk fund. Money was budgeted for the work, but the scope has evolved to include changes that the city is making to its retiree and health care ordinances, he said.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the legal services contract with Stevenson Keppelman.

Water Treatment Equipment

The council considered a $139,000 amendment to an existing contract with E & L Construction Group Inc. to repair and paint key facilities at the city’s water treatment plant. The specific items needing their structural steel components repainted are clarifiers. A clarifier settles particles out of fluid.

During the brief deliberations, Jane Lumm (Ward 2) asked water treatment services manager Molly Wade why the amendment was for so much – 40% of the original contract. Wade explained that conditions turned out to be worse than expected. Also, she said, the amount of mill scale was not known. The project had also been delayed due to the weather – during 2010 it had rained a lot.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the contract amendment with E & L Construction Group.

Chelsea IT Agreement

Pulled out of the consent agenda by Jane Lumm (Ward 2) for separate consideration was an item authorizing the extension of a $32,000 annual agreement with the city of Chelsea for Ann Arbor to provide information technology (IT) services. The agreement covers basic IT services – helpdesk, management of Chelsea’s website, server hosting, backup and recovery, overseeing IT contractors, and project management.

Lumm said she certainly supports the collaboration between Chelsea and Ann Arbor, but just wanted to confirm that the $32,000 reflects full cost recovery for the city. Dan Rainey, head of IT for Ann Arbor, confirmed that the city is recovering its full costs.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) asked if there’d been requests from other municipalities for IT services to be provided by the city of Ann Arbor. Rainey indicated that the city certainly worked closely with Washtenaw County. Sometimes the county isn’t the best fit for another community, and the city can provide some value for them. Anglin said that the IT agreement shows regional cooperation and that’s important.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the IT contract with Chelsea.

Clean Air Promise Campaign

The council considered a resolution expressing its support for the educational efforts of the Clean Air Promise Campaign and to support clean air policies and “other protections that scientists and public health experts have recommended to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to safeguard our air quality.”

Ward 1 city councilmember Sandi Smith (standing) talks with Shirley Axon and Nancy Schewe of the Ann Arbor League of Women voters before the Feb. 21 council meeting.

The Clean Air Promise Campaign is a nationwide effort to protect the health of children and families from dangerous air pollution.

One of the co-sponsors of the resolution, Sandi Smith (Ward 1), told The Chronicle in a phone interview the week before the meeting that the resolution is not intended to supplant the possibility of enacting an ordinance that would regulate the unnecessary idling of vehicles in the city.

The Feb. 21 resolution was co-sponsored by Margie Teall (Ward 4) and mayor John Hieftje.

Shirley Axon and Nancy Schewe of the League of Women Voters of the Ann Arbor Area attended the meeting, and thanked the council for their support.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the resolution in support of the Clean Air Promise.

Street Closings

At its Feb. 21 meeting, the council considered street closings for several upcoming events. The street closings each had separate resolutions, but they were combined at the request of Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) at the start of the meeting.

Of the events, only the marathon is new this year. In chronological order:

• Box Cart Race/Soap Box Derby (Saturday, March 24, 2012)
• Take Back the Night Rally and March (Thursday, April 5, 2012)
• Monroe Street Fair (Saturday, April 7, 2012)
• Taste of Ann Arbor (Sunday, June 3, 2012)
• 12th Annual Mayor’s Green Fair (Friday, June 8, 2012)
• Tour de Kids Competitive Bike Race (Sunday, June 10, 2012)
• Ann Arbor Marathon (Sunday, June 17, 2012)
• Rolling Sculpture Car Show (Friday, July 13, 2012)

On the Ann Arbor Marathon, Mike Highfield addressed the council. He’s the president and CEO of Champions for Charity, the LLC that is organizing the event. Highfield noted the council had approved road closings for another Champions for Charity event a few weeks earlier – the Big Heart Big House run. [By way of additional background, Champions for Charity is also now providing the race direction for the Ann Arbor Track Club's Dexter-Ann Arbor Run. The Dexter-Ann Arbor Run, on June 3 this year, comes two weeks before the June 17 Ann Arbor Marathon date. The invitation on the website for the marathon – "Be part of a new running tradition in Ann Arbor!" – works as an implicit acknowledgement of the history of the Dexter-Ann Arbor half-marathon event, which has been run since 1974.]

Mike Highfield, president and CEO of Champions for Charity, which is organizing the Ann Arbor marathon.

Highfield told the council that the Ann Arbor police department and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority had been very helpful in coordinating the logistics of the route. He noted that $6 of every entry fee goes to the support the Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation. As of 5:30 p.m. that day, 715 people from 26 states had signed up so far. [The marathon event is limited to 2,500 entrants.]

Wendy Correll, executive director of the AAPSEF, and Christy Perros, AAPSEF board member, also briefly addressed the council. Correll sketched out the mission of the AAPSEF, which in part provides support for the public schools that goes beyond the mandated curriculum. She also highlighted the fact that it’s not only a marathon that will be contested – the event includes a half-marathon, a 5K and a 1.2 mile run for young kids. Perros described how she’d thought her first marathon would be in Chicago – but now it will be in her hometown of Ann Arbor.

Communications and Comment

Every city council agenda contains multiple slots 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: Homelessness

Mary Kate Bachler introduced herself as an undergrad student in the University of Michigan school of architecture and a resident of Ann Arbor. She said she was grateful to have the opportunity to speak in the interest of her community and in support of the efforts of Imagine Warming Centers. She was prompted to come address the council, she said, because of some remarks that mayor John Hieftje had said, on the topic of the 100 units of affordable housing that previously existed at the old YMCA at the corner of Fifth and William. Bachler responded to Hieftje’s contention that having affordable housing units dispersed around town – as opposed to concentrated in one place –would be better. Better for whom? she asked. How would a lack of a sense of community among those who are directly affected by poverty and addiction to help them make the difficult transition from homelessness to a home?

Bachler said Hieftje had reported meeting with representatives of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance, PORT, Dawn Farm and others to discuss the need for a warming center. How many homeless people have you met with thus far? she asked. Bachler said she’d come to realize there’s already a thriving, beautiful and talented community out there fighting for their lives this winter. If there are people who would prefer to be left out in the cold, as Hieftje had implied, she wondered why that might be the case? She said that it was careless to dismiss that reaction as a problem of those who need shelter, instead of acknowledging that it indicates a problem with institutions.

Bachler urged councilmembers to look past the stigmas of homelessness, and realize that we’re all residents of Ann Arbor and the council is supposed to represent everyone. She said she felt that city councilmembers have the means to make a positive change in Ann Arbor but did not do it. She asked them if they would continue to provide scapegoats on the issue of homelessness or take a risk to effect social change.

Mary Conway thanked the council for letting her come back to speak about the homeless in Ann Arbor. They’re unseen and for the most part unheard, she said. As a resident at the Delonis shelter, she said, she could attest that there are engineers, broadcast technicians, cosmetologists – employable people who are not all drug addicts and alcoholics. She said she was sorry that the newly-appointed judge, Joe Burke, and the executive director of the getDowntown program, Nancy Shore, had not stayed at the council meeting to hear a representative of the homeless community speak. [Shore had given a presentation earlier in the meeting about the getDowntown program.]

The homeless are a part of Ann Arbor and a big part of the ridership of the AATA, Conway said. They should be included in transportation use surveys – they influence others who ride the bus. She said we’ve been lucky to have a mild winter so far. But the summers will also be important. The homeless never seem to go away. She said she hoped homeless people could be helped off the street and back into a home.

T.J. Rice told councilmembers that he’d met most of them over the past couple of years – in connection with other issues. That evening, he was there to talk about the homelessness issue. For the last couple of months, he said, he’s been involved in Imagine Warming Centers from the outside looking in. Progress has been made, he said – a meeting had been held with the city administrator and they’d toured the city-owned property at 721 N. Main.

Rice said he had an interest in the issue because he’s been homeless too. He would like to give back something to the same community that has helped him get back on his feet. That morning he went to St. Andrews and on the way out he heard about the possibility that Camp Take Notice was being shut down. [Camp Take Notice is an enclave set up by people who are homeless, located on state-owned property off of Wagner Road.] Where are these people going to go to keep warm? he asked. Ann Arbor is better than that – the very least we can offer is a place to keep warm out of the cold, Rice concluded.

Comm/Comm: Incremental Approach

Bill Hanna introduced himself as a Ward 2 resident. His main motivation in speaking was to guarantee that his daughter, who was attending the meeting to fulfill a requirement for a government class, would have some public input to observe. He took pains to assure the council that he didn’t want to disrespect the other speakers who’d addressed the topic of homelessness, as his remarks were more lighthearted. He addressed the general issue of how the council brings new ideas forward, citing the example of the new crosswalk ordinance or the discussion about the possibility of enacting an ordinance to regulate unnecessary idling.

Hanna advised councilmembers that smaller incremental steps are better than the council’s current approach, which he characterized as “one shot,” attempting to achieve all-encompassing solutions that would never be changed or modified. No new system is built in one step, he said – a good design that’s been implemented has the flexibility for change after it’s been put in place. By proceeding incrementally, he said, the council would still get feedback. That way they could see what people are thinking. Currently, he said, the council risks the perception that what they’re doing is another crazy idea from the mayor and council that the city has to follow. It would work better, he said, if people felt like they were part of the process, and their suggestions were taken into account.

Comm/Comm: Crosswalks

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) said that, because Hanna had brought it up during his public commentary, she wanted to alert the council to her desire to look incrementally at some of the crosswalk locations in the city. She reported that there have been a couple of accidents at crosswalks in Ward 2 – one involving three cars and another one involving a pedestrian and a car. She told the other councilmembers that she’d be sending them more information.

Comm/Comm: Graffiti

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) said that many residents have noticed the city has an issue with graffiti that it is “not able to conquer.” She allowed that it’s frustrating. What she’d learned is that the city does clean properties, but the cleaner only works above 40F. And while it’s been a mild winter, it’s not been that mild. For residents who are impatient, she said, she joined them in their impatience. The city will be working on cleaning graffiti in March or April, depending on the weather.

Comm/Comm: Republican Primary, Council Races

Thomas Partridge addressed the topic of the presidential primary election to be held on Tuesday, Feb. 28. He called on the public to turn out and vote Democratic, because the eyes of the media are watching. We need state Democrats to stand up for progress, he said, including the fundamental civil right of having a place to live.

Later, at the second public commentary time at the conclusion of the meeting, Partridge indicated that he had been a candidate for city council in the past and may be a candidate for a city council seat or for mayor. He complained that the council rushed through its meeting as though it was being held on the night of something important like the Super Bowl. [The council's meeting on Feb. 21 concluded in just over two hours – about half as long as a typical meeting.] The council would be better advised to promote an open democratic process and to sever all conflict-of-interest ties, he said. No councilmembers should serve on related boards like the Downtown Development Authority, he said.

Mayor John Hieftje later responded to Partridge’s comment by noting that the mayor and councilmembers are required to serve on certain boards and commissions.

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

Absent: Christopher Taylor, Carsten Hohnke.

Next council meeting: Monday, March 5, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the second-floor council chambers at city hall, 301 E. Huron. [confirm date]

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An architectural drawing of the proposed Fuller Road Station. (Image links to city of Ann Arbor webpage on the Fuller Road Station)

The press release includes a statement from mayor John Hieftje, which reads in part: “After months of fruitful discussions, we received new information from the Federal Rail Administration regarding the eligibility of monies for the local match. This information altered project timing such that we could no longer finalize a proposal under the current Memorandum of Understanding.”

On the university’s side, Jim Kosteva – director of community relations – is quoted in the press release as follows: “We are optimistic the city’s drive to win additional federal and state dollars for Fuller Road Station will be successful …When the time comes, we stand ready to reengage.” [.pdf of press release]

The press release also includes the news that the university will build the parking deck it had planned for the Fuller Road Station site at a different location: “… it is acknowledged that the University will need to move forward with building a parking structure, in a yet to be determined location, near the Medical Campus to address the expected demand as employment and patient activity continues to grow.”

The university was primarily interested in the initial phase of the project, a large parking structure with more than 1,000 spaces planned.

The city of Ann Arbor’s main interest was in the second phase of the project – a multimodal transit center that city officials hope would include a new Amtrak station, bus depot and sufficient parking for those needs. That component of the project appears to be very much still in play, contingent on identifying funding.

The Chronicle has compiled a timeline overview of Fuller Road Station with links to previous coverage. After the jump, we look at: (1) the train/bus station component of the project; (2) what led UM to initially participate in the project; (3) what happened since a memorandum of understanding between the city and the university was ratified; and (4) the timing of the decision to halt the project.

Funding a Rail Station

With the university’s parking requirements no longer a part of the project, some of the controversy surrounding it could be reduced. That specific controversy stemmed from the objection that the construction of a large parking deck would require some kind of lease arrangement with the university over a long enough period to be tantamount to a sale of the land. A sale of city parkland is required by Ann Arbor’s city charter to be put to a voter referendum.

The parcel is zoned as public land (PL). The city council approved a change to the city’s zoning code in July 2010 that explicitly allows for “transportation facilities” on public land.

The city was looking to an investment from the university in Fuller Road Station to count toward matching funds for federal funding that would support construction of a later phase of the project, which would include a rail station. The project would still need to include a parking component – but not anywhere near the scale of the structure UM was planning to build. It’s not certain what funding sources will be available to the city of Ann Arbor as it moves forward with the project without UM’s involvement.

However, federal funds have always been a part of a hoped-for funding strategy. And in the spring of 2011, the city received news that initial federal funding for the project had been awarded – $2.8 million from the Federal Rail Administration, towards a $3.5 million project for environmental assessment and engineering at the site. The difference is required to be paid by a local match. The city and the university have already made expenditures in connection with that project that the city believes will count for most if not all of that local match. It’s typical that federally-funded infrastructure projects require something on the order of a 20% match in local funds.

The rail station component of the project is estimated to cost about $18 million, with necessary modifications and upgrades to tracks totaling an additional $6-7 million. When the FRA funding for the environmental assessment was announced, Ann Arbor transportation program manager Eli Cooper called the award significant because it indicates the FRA’s willingness to be the lead federal agency for the project. Although it’s not guaranteed, the FRA does not typically fund initial phases of a project like the environmental assessment without following through with funds for the project itself.

If the city eventually pursues the project independently of the university’s own parking needs, it would provide a more narrow focus on the amount of parking that’s required just for the rail station component. To meet that need, some amount of parking spaces would be required for short-term and drop-off parking, as well as some long-term parking. The figure corresponding to the city’s allotment of the spots when UM was involved would have worked out to around 200 parking spaces. Those spaces would need to be constructed as a project independently of UM’s parking needs.

The FAQ maintained by the city of Ann Arbor about Fuller Road mentions that Greyhound and Amtrak have indicated an interest in the project. [For a historical look at Amtrak ridership from 1994-2011, see "Transit Ridership Data Roundup: 2011"]

The Fuller Road Station is included in a 30-year vision that has been developed by the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority as part of a transportation master plan for a countywide system. The transition of the AATA to a system of governance that includes a wider geographic area than the city of Ann Arbor is currently being debated by the Ann Arbor city council. That’s a discussion centered on details of a four-party agreement – between the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the AATA.

Wall Street Controversy Led to Fuller Road Location

The attempted collaboration by UM with the city on Fuller Road Station stemmed from a controversy about UM’s plans to build a parking structure on Wall Street dating back at least four years. Plans by UM to expand in the general area go back to the 1980s. In 2008, the university’s plans to address its parking needs by constructing a parking deck on Wall Street had generated vocal opposition among nearby residents.

Early sketch of Fuller Road transit station from 2008-2009. (Image links to higher resolution image.)

So the alternative proposal to build the parking structure at the Fuller Park location next to the railroad tracks – in conjunction with a transit station that the city hoped to construct – had relieved some of the Wall Street controversy.

The specific pitch by the city to the university to collaborate on a multimodal transit center was publicly given concrete form at a January 2009 meeting of city staff and neighbors held at the Northside Grill, on Broadway in the Wall Street neighborhood. The city had identified the possible site for the proposed Fuller Road Station – a parking lot on land designated as part of the city’s park system – in its “Model for Mobility” long-term transportation planning initiative.

Later that year, on Nov. 5, 2009, the city council ratified a memorandum of understanding with the university for the parking deck component of the project. It called for a 22%-78% city-university proportionate share of the 1,050 parking structure spaces and a corresponding financial responsibility for construction. With an estimated cost of $46.6 million, the city’s share of the parking structure (phase 1) would have been roughly $10 million.

The UM board of regents approved the project at its Jan. 21, 2010 meeting. The memorandum of understanding calls for the parking structure component of the project to be ready for use by June 15, 2012. Construction would have needed to start in 2011 for that target to have been met.

The memorandum of understanding between the city and the university also gave a nod to the university’s interest in the rail station component (phase 2) portion of the project, but placed no obligations on UM: “The City and University shall cooperate and use their best efforts to achieve completion of mutually-beneficial elements of Fuller Road Station not included in Phase One.” Now, however, it’s not clear how UM might be involved on any elements of a rail station that might connect across the tracks to the UM hospital complex. The Feb. 10 press release includes the statement from Kosteva: “When the time comes, we stand ready to reengage.”

After the City-University MOU

Since the ratification of the memorandum of understanding, the project had languished, with little visible progress on the city-university deal. But community conversation about the deal has continued – during public commentary at meetings of the city council, the city’s park advisory commission, the city planning commission and of the UM regents. That’s because the Fuller Road location for the construction of parking for UM included at least as much controversy as the original Wall Street location – due partly to the fact that the parcel (currently a surface parking lot) is located on city-owned land designated as part of the city’s park system.

In May 2010, the city’s park advisory commission (PAC) considered a resolution that called for the city council to abandon the Fuller Road Station project, or at the least to get a better deal from the university in terms of revenues provided to the city for leasing the structure. [Chronicle coverage: "Better Deal Desired for Fuller Road Station"] That caught the attention of Hieftje, an advocate of the project, who attended PAC’s May 18, 2010 meeting and asked commissioners for their support. [Chronicle coverage: "Hieftje Urges Unity on Fuller Road Station"]

Hieftje’s request led commissioners to reconsider their position, dropping a call to stop the project but still urging city council to work for a more open process and to ensure a better financial deal to benefit the parks system. [Chronicle coverage: "PAC Softens Stance on Fuller Road Station"] The Ann Arbor city planning commission voted 7-2 on Sept. 21, 2010 to recommend approval of the Fuller Road Station site plan.

By the next year, with no visible additional movement, in June 2011 Hieftje indicated at a city council meeting that he’d be willing to schedule a work session on the topic of Fuller Road Station. And when a July 11, 2011 work session was added to the council’s calendar, it appeared the topic would be Fuller Road Station. However, at the council’s July 5, 2011 meeting, Hieftje indicated that the upcoming work session would not deal with Fuller Road Station – it dealt instead with possible changes to the city’s approach to garbage collection, as well as a reorganization of the city/county office of community development.

Later in July 2011, Hieftje sent a letter to constituents that reviewed much of the information that was previously known, but appeared to introduce the possibility that the University of Michigan would provide construction costs for the city’s share of the parking structure up front, with the city’s portion of 22% to be repaid later.

Although the final project has not been voted on and formally approved by the city council, aspects of Fuller Road Station, including its design, have moved ahead. A task force for a public art component was formed last year, for example. But at the public art commission’s November 2011 meeting, commissioners on the task force reported that they were told by city staff that the project had been delayed by 6-12 months.

Timing of the Decision to Halt Fuller Road Project

The Feb. 10 announcement about halting the joint university/city project comes after a release on Jan. 31 by the Sierra Club-Huron Valley Group of the city of Ann Arbor’s response to a Freedom of Information Act request seeking information on Fuller Road Station.

The material released under the FOIA request indicated growing frustration on the university’s side dating back at least to late October of last year. In an Oct. 20, 2011 email sent to mayor John Hieftje and city administrator Steve Powers – with the subject line “Action on Fuller Road Station” – UM director of community relations Jim Kosteva wrote:

There is growing anxiousness among university leadership regarding the ongoing delay in getting the commitment from Council and construction started. And revisiting our decision to postpone the structure(s) on Wall Street is becoming a more frequent discussion.

In that email Kosteva points to the imminent opening (since opened) of the new C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and the increased pressure that the new hospital puts on the university’s parking system. [.pdf of Oct. 20, 2011 Kosteva email]

The decision about halting the Fuller Road Station project was made at least as early as Wednesday, Feb. 1. And in retrospect, there were some signs of that. During that afternoon’s meeting of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, Hieftje appeared pre-occupied at the board table – he did not cast his vote of principle against the Republic Parking management incentive, as he has consistently done the previous three years.

And Lucy Ann Lance reported on air just after 9 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 3 that a hoped-for guest who could talk about UM’s parking and transportation system – Hank Baier, associate vice president for facilities and operations – would not appear on her Business Insider radio show (1290 AM) that morning.

Joe Grengs, University of Michigan associate professor of urban and regional planning, speaking at a Feb. 9 forum on sustainability in the city of Ann Arbor.

Possibly factoring into a delay in announcing the news were two public events held by the city of Ann Arbor on Wednesday and Thursday this past week (Feb. 8 and 9) – events where the topic of Fuller Road Station might naturally emerge. On Wednesday, the city hosted two sessions of a forum on the city’s non-motorized master plan update. And on Thursday, the city held the second of a four-part series on sustainability forums. The city’s transportation manager and AATA board member, Eli Cooper, was a speaker at both events. Had the news been released before those events, conversation might have centered on Fuller Road Station to the exclusion of other topics.

Even without the news of the project’s suspension, the topic of Fuller Road Station was raised during the sustainability forum, which focused on land use. During a question-and-answer period, Clark Charnetski – a member of the AATA’s local advisory council – voiced support for the proposed location.

Charnetski’s comment prompted a response from Joe Grengs, a panelist and UM associate professor of urban and regional planning. Grengs said he didn’t believe the university needed more parking, and that there are steps that could be taken to reallocate parking within UM’s current infrastructure.

The Fuller Road Station project undermines the city’s stated sustainability goals, Grengs said, because the mode of parking falls into a completely different category than walking, biking and rail transit. All of those latter modes work well in areas of high density, he said. But cars work against that – they are “big, hulking objects” that simply sit all day, he observed. So to have 1,000 cars parked at that location every day, at a place where there should be opportunities for interaction – places for retail or recreation, for example – “to me is a mistake and I’d urge the city to think about that,” he concluded. Grengs’ remarks were met with a smattering of applause from the audience.

Grengs’ commentary included a view that has been expressed by UM graduate student Joel Batterman at more than one public meeting covered by The Chronicle: That the university could meet its parking needs by reallocating and optimizing its current parking resources. Batterman is an urban planning student who is specializing in transportation issues. From his remarks made to UM regents on Jan. 20, 2011: “… continually increasing parking supply may be less environmentally and fiscally sustainable than an alternative strategy of adjusting parking pricing to more efficiently use existing parking supply.”

Fuller Road Station Timeline Overview

The following is a detailed timeline of the Fuller Road Station project, compiled by The Chronicle, with links to previous coverage.

• 1824 Ann Arbor is founded.
• 1837 University of Michigan re-locates from Detroit to Ann Arbor.
• 1993-Jun-26 UM and city make a land swap deal involving the surface parking lot at the site of the proposed Fuller Road Station. Ann Arbor News article states: “Oak trees to be spared from ax – A request from UM officials for a temporary parking lot may be the key to saving condemned burr oak trees.”
• 2006-Jun-15 City of Ann Arbor “Model for Mobility” introduced as a three-point vision, with: (1) north-south commuter rail, (2) east-west commuter rail, and (3) local circulator connector system.
• 2008-Sep-18 University of Michigan regents give initial approval to $48.6 million Wall Street parking structure.
• 2008-Dec-16 UM officials meet with residents who live near the proposed Wall Street parking structure projects.
• 2009-Jan-27 City transportation program manager gives combined multimodal transit center and parking structure concrete form by showing a sketch of the project, indicating its location at the Fuller Park parking lot. The presentation takes place in the context of a neighborhood meeting to respond in part to concerns about the UM proposal to build parking structures on Wall Street.
• 2009-Jun-19 UM regents pause the proposed Wall Street parking structure project.
• 2009-Aug-17 Ann Arbor city council approves $213,984 of city funds for an environmental study and site assessment. Of that amount, $104,742 was appropriated from the economic development fund.
• 2009-Nov-05 Ann Arbor city council approves memorandum of understanding with UM on Fuller Road Station.
• 2009-Nov-05 Ann Arbor city council authorizes additional $111,228 for environmental study and site assessment.
• 2010-Jan-21 UM board of regents approves the Fuller Road Station project.
• 2010-Feb-10 Public forum held for Ann Arbor residents on Fuller Road Station.
• 2010-May-04 Ann Arbor park advisory commission weighs a resolution calling for the city council to abandon the Fuller Road Station project, or at the least to get a better deal from the university.
• 2010-May-04 Ann Arbor city planning commission recommends amending zoning code list of permitted principal uses of public land (including the site of the proposed Fuller Road Station) – specifically, changing a “municipal airports” use to “transportation facilities.”
• 2010-May-18 Ann Arbor mayor John Hieftje attends meeting of park advisory commission urging their support of Fuller Road Station.
• 2010-Jun-01 Ann Arbor park advisory commission modifies resolution draft due in part to the mayor’s visit at their previous meeting.
• 2010-Jul-06 Ann Arbor city council votes to change zoning code to allow transportation facilities as allowable use for public land.
• 2010-Jun-15 Ann Arbor park advisory commission passes resolution on Fuller Road Station calling for transparency.
• 2010-Sep-21 Ann Arbor city planning commission votes 7-2 to recommend approval of the Fuller Road Station site plan.
• 2011-May-17 Ann Arbor park advisory commission gets update on Fuller Road Station, including award of $2.8 million from Federal Rail Administration for environmental study and site analysis. The funds would reimburse some money already expended.
• 2011-Jun-06 Public commentary at a city council meeting prompts city councilmember Sabra Briere (Ward 1) to request that a council work session be scheduled on Fuller Road Station – mayor John Hieftje agrees that one can be scheduled.
• 2011-Jun-20 City council adds a working session to its calendar for July 11, 2011.
• 2011-Jul-05 Mayor John Hieftje indicates during the city council’s meeting that Fuller Road Station is not among the intended topics for the July 11 work session.
• 2011-Jul-27 Mayor John Hieftje sends letter to constituents about Fuller Road Station.
• 2011-Oct-20 Jim Kosteva, UM director of community relations, sends an email to the mayor and city administrator warning of the need for urgency.
• 2012-Jan-31 Press release from Huron Valley Group of the Sierra Club calls for details of Fuller Road Station plans to be made known.
• 2012-Feb-10 Press release from the city of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan announcing a halt to the project.
• 2012-Jun-15 Date by which Ann Arbor-UM memorandum of understanding anticipates Fuller Road Station parking structure would be ready for use.

The Chronicle could not survive without regular voluntary subscriptions to support our coverage of public bodies like the Ann Arbor city council and the University of Michigan. Click this link for details: Subscribe to The Chronicle. And if you’re already supporting us, please encourage your friends, neighbors and colleagues to help support The Chronicle, too!

For actual coverage of the announcement that the Fuller Road Station project has been suspended, see: “UM, Ann Arbor Halt Fuller Road Project.”

Before the start of the Jan. 19 board of regents meeting, UM president Mary Sue Coleman scanned an article from The Chronicle – but not this Chronicle. It's a report from The Chronicle of Higher Education. (Photos by the writer.)

Instead, regents dealt with less high-profile matters, approving a range of action items with little discussion. Those included funding for a major expansion of the UM Health System into Wayne County, along the I-275 corridor; renovations that will transform the entrance to Schembechler Hall and make a museum of football memorabilia more accessible to the public; and improvements to the university’s Northwood apartment complex on north campus.

But much of the meeting consisted of reports. Stephen Forrest, UM’s vice president for research, presented a sobering outlook for future research funding, calling the climate for federal funding “worrisome.” After his talk, regent Andrea Fischer Newman pointed out that tuition is helping to support the university’s $1.2 billion research program – about 25% of those research expenditures are covered internally.

Regents also heard from dean Alison Davis-Blake, who described how the business school is countering the caricature of managers that are only focused on short-term profits, and whose management skills consist of the ability to say, “You’re fired!” Graduates of Ross are taught to think more broadly, she said.

An item not on the agenda of the Jan. 19 meeting received considerable attention during public commentary. One student and three professors spoke against an effort to unionize graduate student research assistants (GSRAs).

Also during public commentary, the chair of the Sierra Club’s Huron Valley group raised concerns over the proposed Fuller Road Station, saying that the joint UM/city of Ann Arbor project runs counter to the university’s sustainability efforts. Fuller Road Station’s initial phase is a proposed parking structure, located near the UM medical campus, that could hold over 1,000 vehicles.

President’s Opening Remarks

The board typically meets in the regents boardroom of the Fleming Administration Building, but the January meeting was held in a sixth floor conference room of the Ross Business School. Another event was scheduled in the same room following the regents meeting, so UM president Mary Sue Coleman began her remarks by noting that they needed to move through their agenda “with alacrity.”

Coleman thanked the business school and dean Alison Davis-Blake for hosting the meeting. Construction of the new building had been made possible through philanthropy, she noted. [The school is named for businessman Stephen J. Ross, who donated $100 million – the largest donation ever to UM.]

Coleman said she wanted to revel in the Sugar Bowl one last time. Several regents and UM executive had traveled to New Orleans for the game, she said, and it had been terrific to see the resurgence of the historic American city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Alumni were enthusiastic, the marching band outdid themselves, and coach Brady Hoke and the football team made the fans proud, she said, though at times nervous. It was a magnificent display of spirit and intercollegiate athletics, Coleman said.

Turning to academic honors, Coleman reported that UM chemistry professor Brian Coppola had received Baylor University’s Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. It’s the most financially lucrative teaching award in the country, she said – $250,000 to the winner, plus $25,000 for his home department, to further develop teaching skills there. Coppola is known for his innovative teaching, Coleman said – he won the U.S. Professor of the Year award in 2009, and UM’s Golden Apple teaching award in 1994. She said she’d watched one of his lectures that’s posted on the Baylor website, and she highly recommended that others watch the video too.

Calling it a landmark event, Coleman also highlighted the fact that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has decided to open a satellite location in Detroit – its first office outside of Washington D.C. This region was selected because of its high number of patent applications, from the auto industry as well as university research. Coleman reported that UM, Michigan State and Wayne State had worked hard to convince government officials to open the office here. She said she expects the university law schools will form alliances with the office, too.

Unionization of GSRAs

By way of background, at the board’s May 2011 meeting, regents had passed a resolution of support regarding the rights of graduate student research assistants (GSRAs) to decide whether to organize and be represented by a labor union. The resolution was passed over dissent from the board’s two Republican regents – Andrew Richner and Andrea Fischer Newman. Before the vote, UM president Mary Sue Coleman had spoken in opposition to the action.

On Jan. 19, Newman asked provost Phil Hanlon for an update on a UM graduate student who had spoken at a press conference the previous day. [The event had been organized by the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), a group that hopes to represent GRSAs if they decide to unionize. The student, Jennifer Dibbern, was a GSRA who alleges that she was fired by professor Rachel Goldman over her support of efforts to unionize the GSRAs.]

Hanlon responded to Newman, saying that a lot of faculty members had inquired about the situation. He said he had personally reviewed the student’s academic record and is convinced that the decision was justified and appropriate, and that the decision was made based on academic grounds. He strongly supported the action.

Unionization of GSRAs: Public Commentary

During public commentary at the end of the meeting, four people spoke against the unionization effort.

Stephen Raiman, founder of Students Against GSRA Unionization, started off the public commentary by noting that he had spoken to regents on the same issue at their November 2011 meeting. Now, he wanted to talk about the negative effects on the faculty. He said he’s talked to many people across campus at various levels, and encountered people who are afraid to speak out. One faculty member said his department chair didn’t want anyone to address this issue for fear of retribution from the board of regents, Raiman said. This feeling is pervasive, he said, and stems from the disagreement between the majority of board members and the university administration. He contended that the overwhelming majority of faculty are against the unionization of GSRAs.

Raiman noted that in order for the unionization effort to move forward, signatures from more than 50% of GSRAs needed to be collected – and this was completed by the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), he said. But many of the signatures were secured through misinformation or outright deception, he contended. He cited some specific examples of people he’d talked with, who told him that they hadn’t been informed about the $400 in dues they would owe to the GEO if the GSRAs are unionized. One person told him ”I signed their card to get rid of them,” Raiman said. These examples are anecdotal, he acknowledged, but he’s hearing more instances like this.

Victor DiRita, UM professor of microbiology and immunology, spoke during public commentary against the unionization of graduate student research assistants (GSRAs).

On Feb. 1, the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) will hold an administrative hearing on the legality of the election to unionize GSRAs, Raiman told regents. But his group is barred from attending – that means only one side of the issue will be represented, he said. He asked the board to ensure that the election is fair, if there’s an election. Raiman concluded by saying he was glad to see that there were faculty members brave enough to come and speak during public commentary.

The next three speakers were UM faculty: Victor DiRita, Finn Larsen, and Cagliyan Kurdak.

DiRita, a professor in the department of microbiology and immunology, is also associate dean for graduate and postdoctoral studies at the UM Medical School. He agreed with the sentiments expressed by Raiman. Saying he understood the impulse to offer choices to students, DiRita said that in this case, the choice is based on the flawed premise that students are employees. The faculty views that premise as a serious affront, he said. Faculty take mentoring and academic progress very seriously, and in fact it’s a red flag if someone treats a student like an employee, he said.

Larsen and Kurdak also raised concerns over possible GSRA unionization. Larsen, who’s chair of the physics department’s graduate program, said it’s meaningless to distinguish between thesis research and GSRA-supported research. Doing so will have a negative impact on the education and research missions of the university.

Kurdak, director of the applied physics program, also objected to characterizing GSRAs as employees. The relationship between faculty and students is very personal, he said. When problems arise between the faculty member and student, often times the problems are academic in nature – and union involvement would not be effective. In fact, it might result in escalating the situation so that there are no solutions that benefit the student, he said. Kurdak encouraged regents to recognize the academic nature of GSRA appointments.

Regent Andrea Fischer Newman thanked the faculty for coming to speak to the board on this issue.

Annual Research Report

Stephen Forrest, UM’s vice president for research, began his presentation by noting that this was the 90th annual research report to regents, but that it would be a more sober report than previous reports, because the university is entering sobering times. [.pdf of fiscal 2011 UM research report]

To put the research enterprise in context, Forrest noted its $1.2 billion in expenditures makes research the third-largest segment of the university, behind the health system ($2.4 billion) and education ($1.3 billion). He cautioned that these numbers can be misleading, because the three segments interlink in many ways.

Forrest then cited a 1962 quote from Harlan Hatcher, UM’s 8th president, on the occasion of the 40th annual research report: “The university fulfills three basic, interlocking functions: to educate youth in the widest possible variety of intellectual disciplines; to collect, increase, and disseminate knowledge that bears on these disciplines; and to perform those services for society, both individually and collectively, which, consistent with its education and research functions, it is peculiarly qualified to perform.”

Stephen Forrest, UM's vice president for research.

The statement was true then, Forrest said, “and it’s certainly true today.”

The challenge now, he said, is how to make the research enterprise thrive during a time of flat or declining federal support. Federal funding is the largest source of research dollars at UM, accounting for 66.7% – $824.75 million – of total research expenditures in fiscal 2011. For UM, federal funding has always increased year-to-year, Forrest noted, even when the overall amount of federal dollars available for research nationwide has declined. In fiscal 2011, federal funding for UM research increased 9.8% compared to the previous year.

In fiscal 2012, the university had expected federal funding to drop, but it didn’t, Forrest said. Regardless of the noise coming out of Washington, both political parties agree that innovation is a driver of American economy, he said.

In looking at funding received by UM from specific federal agencies, 46.2% of all UM research expenditures in fiscal 2011 were funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an increase of 12.6% compared to the fiscal 2010. UM’s medical school is the sixth largest recipient of NIH funding in the country, Forrest noted, and they ?? need to be concerned a little – “or maybe a lot” – about diversification, he said.

The university’s second-largest federal funding source is from the National Science Foundation. NSF funding increased 10.3% to $74.25 million in fiscal 2011. Federal energy funding grew 30.4% to $35.40 million – the largest percentage increase.

Research funding to UM dropped from two federal sources – NASA and transportation funds.

Total non-federal funding also decreased by 1.1%, to $105.63 million. Industry support accounts for $40.84 million of that non-federal total, an increase of 4% for the year. (Other non-federal sources are foundations and state or local government.)

Overall, funding from industry sources makes up only a small percentage of total research expenditures, Forrest noted. But it’s important, he said, because it serves as a catalyst for other funding. In the 1980s, the federal government started emphasizing “use-inspired” basic research – work that can eventually lead to the creation of jobs or that supports an “innovation economy,” Forrest said. Very often, federal grants require some kind of industry partnership.

Looking ahead, Forrest said the growth forecast is worrisome. The global growth domestic product (GDP) is hovering just above recession levels. The GDP dip in 2008 was “terrible,” he said, and subsequent shocks, like the tsunami in Japan or the debt crisis in Europe, have had an impact.

In the future, Forrest expects to see significant budget cuts across all federal agencies, as the nation’s debt catches up with it. The university dodged a bullet in 2012, he said, but shouldn’t get complacent. These trends are likely to persist over the next 5-10 years.

So what should UM do? It’s important to focus on the university’s research strengths that are priorities for the federal government and industry, Forrest said. The university’s “sweet spot” is use-inspired basic research, he said, in areas including health, energy, intelligent vehicle systems, advanced manufacturing and sustainability.

Secondly, UM needs to build on its culture and research environment, Forrest said. The university already has a reputation for strengths across disciplines, and for interdisciplinary cooperation, ties to industry, and international relationships, he said. Forrest also described the North Campus Research Complex (NCRC) as the university’s “secret calling card,” with rapidly developing potential.

Finally, Forrest told regents that UM’s research operations need to streamline the administrative process. One example is the need to mentor young faculty, he said, so that they can more quickly start getting research grants. UM’s research administration needs to improve, he continued, by forging better relationships with the university’s office of technology transfer, business engagement center, and individual academic units.

The administration also needs to reduce barriers to working with industry, he said. Forrest concluded by telling regents that they can look forward to announcements about how the university will make it easier to craft intellectual property agreements, and in general improve its relationship with industry.

Annual Research Report: Regent Commentary

Andrea Fischer Newman said it seems that the university is losing money on its research – is that the case? Forrest replied that internal funding accounts for about 25% of UM’s total research program, paying for things like fellowships, infrastructure, and packages for startups that license university technology. Research returns a great value, he said, but it does cost a lot.

Newman said she wasn’t criticizing it. But she wanted to point out that tuition is used in part to subsidize the university’s research program.

Update from the Business School Dean

Alison Davis-Blake, dean of the UM Ross School of Business since July 2011, gave a brief overview of the school’s mission and approach to business education. Much has been written about the ill effects of business school graduates, she began – people who are narrow-minded, focused on short-term profits, and whose management skills consist of the ability to say, “You’re fired!”

Alison Davis-Blake, dean of the UM Ross School of Business.

That’s a caricature, she noted, yet there’s some truth to it. The future of business requires managers who think broadly and who have subtle management skills – and those are the kinds of managers that the Ross School is training, she said.

The school offers the traditional business disciplines, Davis-Blake said. But it also take an action-based learning approach, she added, focusing on organization sustainability – doing more with fewer financial, human, temporal and environmental resources, while creating positive outcomes for people and organizations. The approach is done in a multi-disciplinary way, she said, and involves not only faculty and students, but also alumni, businesses, nonprofits and government organizations.

Davis-Blake gave three examples to illustrate this approach. An “advanced model factory” at the Tauber Institute will be coming online in September, she said. Located at the North Campus Research Complex, it will be a small-scale replica of a real production environment. Because it will be easy to reconfigure, it will allow students to examine the effectiveness of various production methods. The focus will be on lean manufacturing and “green” techniques, she said, using principles of “factory physics.” In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate students, workshops will be offered to Michigan businesses as well, she said.

Davis-Blake also cited work done by the school’s Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship. The emphasis is on cultivating positive emotions, positive connections and positive interpretations of events. A “job crafting” tool, for example, helps people change the way they work to make it more positive and productive.

In her final example, Davis-Blake described environmental sustainability work at the Erb Institute, a joint venture of the business school and the School of Natural Resources & Environment. Graduate students complete a thesis that involves a real client, and alumni teams choose projects that are suitable for publication. Three books – printed locally by Thomson-Shore – have been produced so far, she said, on the topics of climate strategies, hybrid organizations, and sustainable hotels.

Davis-Blake concluded by noting that her father had been a business school dean, and photos from his tenure showed an all-male faculty. Ross is not your father’s business school, she said.

Coleman thanked Davis-Blake, and commented that the energy from students in the building’s Winter Garden – the first floor lobby – was palpable.

Health System Expansion

A major expansion into western Wayne County by the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers was on the Jan. 19 agenda for regents to authorize.

The $39 million project entails opening a new clinic along the I-275 corridor, at a site located at Seven Mile and Haggerty Roads in Northville Township – about a half mile away UM’s existing Livonia Center for Specialty Care. Attracting patients from outside the market of Livingston and Washtenaw counties is part of the UM Health System’s strategic plan.

The plan calls for signing a 25-year lease on 100,000 square feet, with base rent of $27.25 per rentable square foot per year, increasing 5% every five years. The base lease covers expenses related to the land, site work, design and management fees, and a part of the building construction. Operating costs would be an additional expense.

Ora Peskovitz, UM's executive vice president for medical affairs.

The location is expected to include primary and specialty care; a musculoskeletal program; eye care for adults and children; radiology services; infusion for cancer and non-cancer treatment; and a medical procedure unit.

The site is expected to be ready by the winter of 2014.

When he introduced the item, UM chief financial officer Tim Slottow noted that there were several reasons why this particular lease required board approval – the lease is longer than 10 years, more than 50,000 square feet, and over $1 million annually. He said the project is something that has been worked on for several years.

Ora Pescovitz, UM’s executive vice president for medical affairs, spoke briefly about the project, saying it was a very important facility and pivotal for the health system’s strategic plans. It’s responding to the burgeoning clinical needs in communities along this stretch of I-275.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the lease for the Northville Township health system expansion.

Executive Officer Reports

During every meeting, UM’s executive officers have the opportunity to give verbal reports, supplementing any written communications they provide to the regents.

Executive Officer Reports: Health Care Costs

Tim Slottow, UM’s chief financial officer, said that in light of changes to health benefits made at the state level, he wanted to remind people of the successes that the university has seen in its health benefits strategies. Changes that UM has made since 2003 have resulted in about $94 million of savings annually, Slottow said, or about $400 million cumulatively. Of that, greater cost-sharing by employees accounts for about 65% of the savings. Employees pay for 30% of their health care premiums and co-pays.

Other savings were gained from use of generic drugs, instituting a one-year waiting period before new employees get university contributions toward their retirement savings accounts, and reducing administrative costs, he said.

UM president Mary Sue Coleman said the administration recognizes that faculty and staff have been partners in cutting costs. Everyone is aware of the need to do that, she said.

Executive Officer Reports: Development

Jerry May, UM’s vice president of development, reported that there was a strong uptick in donations in December, but fiscal year-to-date giving to the university is only up about 2% – $140.88 million for the first six months of fiscal 2012, compared to $138.05 million for the same period in fiscal 2011. [.pdf of development report]

May noted that in 2009, UM president Mary Sue Coleman had issued a challenge grant, with $5 million in matching funds to provide a $1 match for every $2 in endowment gifts of up to $500,000. That meant that the development office needed to raise $10 million in contributions to the university to fund undergraduate and graduate study abroad.

That goal has been met, May said, and there is now a permanent $15 million endowment that over the years will benefit thousands of students.

UM Athletics: Renovations, Finance

Two action items on the Jan. 19 agenda related to university athletics – for renovations of Schembechler Hall and Yost Ice Arena. In addition, regents were provided with supplemental information related to a financial audit of the athletics department.

UM Athletics: Renovations – Schembechler Hall

Regents were asked to authorize a $9 million renovation to the entrance of Schembechler Hall, which will integrate the Margaret Dow Towsley Sports Museum area. The building at 1200 S. State St. was constructed in 1990 for UM’s football program, and contains locker rooms, meeting rooms, medical treatment rooms, training areas, weight rooms, and administrative offices. The project will add about 7,000 square feet to the building, and renovate an additional 7,000 square feet. Funding will be provided from athletic department resources.

Tim Slottow, UM’s chief financial officer, said the renovations would completely change the look and feel of the entrance. Regent Andrea Fischer Newman asked whether the changes would make the museum more accessible. “Absolutely,” Slottow replied. The museum is significantly underutilized, he said, and this project is rethinking its whole use.

Newman said that if the university is going to spend $9 million on renovations, the public needs better access. Slottow said the changes will result in the museum being far better used.

The museum is a collection of UM football memorabilia, including some of the program’s championship trophies. In a statement released after the regents meeting, athletics director Dave Brandon indicated that more interactive displays will be added to the museum during the renovations. There’s no admission and it’s open to the public, but hours are limited. It’s open Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m., and Friday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Outcome: Regents unanimously approved the renovations to Schembechler Hall.

UM Athletics: Renovations – Yost Ice Arena

In a separate vote, regents were asked to authorize issuing bids and awarding construction contracts for a $14 million project at Yost Ice Arena. The overall project was initially approved by the board at its June 2011 meeting, with a schematic design subsequently approved in October.

The project includes replacing seating on the east, south and west sides of the rink, improving accessibility and emergency exits, converting the west side media balcony into a series of loge boxes, adding a new level five on the west side for media, and constructing new corner and stair platforms for additional seating. The project will be paid for out of athletic department revenues, and has been designed by Rossetti Architects Inc. of Southfield, Mich.

There’s the potential that a donor might provide additional funding for enhanced window treatments at Yost, Slottow said – UM athletics director Dave Brandon and Jerry May, the university’s vice president of development, are working on that. If the donation comes through, Slottow said he’ll be returning to the regents asking for an approval of an additional $1-2 million for the project.

Outcome: Without comment, regents unanimously approved issuing bids and awarding construction contracts for renovations at Yost.

UM Athletics: Finance – Supplement to Audit

As an item of information, Slottow pointed regents to a supplemental report for the athletics department financial audit covering the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011. [.pdf of supplemental audit information] Slottow noted that the information is required by the NCAA. The report includes reviews of financial contributions from various booster organizations, financial aid for one student athletic in each of 10 sports, compensation for 12 coaches, and several other items. No exceptions were noted.

Renovation Projects: Kraus, Northwood

Regents were asked to approve renovation projects totaling nearly $10 million for academic and student housing purposes.

Renovation Projects: Kraus

A $1.7 million renovation to the auditorium of the Edward Henry Kraus building was on the Jan. 19 agenda for approval. The Kraus building is used by biology departments and was constructed in 1915. Its auditorium – one of the largest on central campus – was last updated in 1990.

The current project would renovate about 5,100 square feet and include accessibility improvements, new seating, power for laptops and other devices, and other upgrades. The renovation will be funded by the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and the provost’s office. The work is expected to be complete by the summer of 2012.

Outcome: Regents unanimously approved the Kraus renovations.

Renovation Projects: Northwood

The board was asked to authorize a $7.5 million upgrade to the fire alarm and boiler systems at Northwood I, II and III – a 58-building apartment complex on north campus with 686 units of student housing.

The complex had been mentioned at the regents’ Nov. 17, 2011 meeting in the context of other housing changes on north campus and elsewhere throughout UM’s student housing system. At that meeting, regents approved renovations at two dorms – Baits II on north campus, and East Quad on central campus – and discussed the need for a broader strategic plan for student housing. Royster Harper, the university’s vice president for student affairs, had informed regents that the living/learning communities in the Northwood apartments I and II would be expanded to Northwood III.

The renovations to Northwood will be designed by UM’s department of architecture, engineering and construction, in collaboration with Riverside Integrated Systems Inc. and Structural Design Inc. The project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2013.

Outcome: Regents unanimously approved the Northwood renovation project, without comment.

Michigan Energy Institute

As an item of information, Stephen Forrest – UM’s vice president for research – noted that the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Institute is being renamed. As of Feb. 1, it will be called the University of Michigan Energy Institute.

When the institute launched six years ago, Forrest said, its name was chosen to reflect the legacy of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Institute, which had been formed in 1948 to focus on peaceful uses for atomic energy. It was a way to honor the more than 500 students and alumni who sacrificed their lives during World War II.

A prominent display about the Phoenix project will be located in the lobby of the building, he said, and the building itself will be named the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Laboratory on North Campus. [The building is located at the North Campus Research Complex (NCRC) on Plymouth Road, site of the former Pfizer research operation.]

The institute’s new name will reflect a more interdisciplinary approach that draws on a range of disciplines, including science, technology, policy, business and other fields, Forrest said. It’s an academic research unit of the office of the vice president for research, with the mission of developing and promoting energy research and education.

Regents had no comments regarding the name change.

Conflict-of-Interest Disclosures

Regents were asked to authorize five items that required disclosure under the state’s Conflict of Interest statute. The law requires that regents vote on potential conflict-of-interest disclosures related to university staff, faculty or students.

The items often involve technology licensing agreements or leases. This month, companies involved are Edington Associates LLC, ArborMetrix, Valley View Farms, FlexDex LLC, and Diapin Therapeutics LLC.

Outcome: In one vote, regents authorized the five conflict-of-interest disclosures, without comment.

Public Commentary

In addition to the four people who spoke during public commentary against the effort to unionize graduate student research assistants, as reported above, a fifth speaker raised concerns over the proposed Fuller Road Station.

Public Commentary: Fuller Road Station

Nancy Shiffler, chair of the Sierra Club’s Huron Valley group, congratulated the university for its Planet Blue sustainability efforts, saying she was impressed by its goal and scope. However, she’s concerned about a project that runs counter to those goals.

Nancy Shiffler, chair of the Sierra Club's Huron Valley group.

The proposed Fuller Road Station would be a parking garage for potentially 1,600 vehicles, and would directly contradict the university’s sustainability goals, she said. The garage would primarily be used by UM employees commuting by car, although eventually it might include a commuter rail station.

Shiffler outlined several concerns. If a train station is eventually built, having a large parking garage there would discourage people from using commuter rail, she said. The structure would increase air pollution and traffic congestion, especially during hospital shift changes. Building on parkland, repurposing the land for non-park uses, violates city zoning. An extended lease or use agreement amounts to a de facto sale of parkland, which by city ordinance would require a vote by residents for approval.

In addition, Shiffler noted that the project’s first phase is expected to be funded by UM and an undetermined source of local funding. For phase 2, the city hopes to secure a federal grant, she said, which would require an environmental assessment and possibly an environmental impact statement. However, construction could begin on phase 1 and negate the results of those environmental reports. The Sierra Club has contacted the Federal Rail Administration about this issue, she said.

Shiffler concluded by saying that UM appears to tout its sustainability program, but ignores the program when it’s convenient to do so. She didn’t think this was the image that UM wanted, and she urged regents to look at the project from the point of view of sustainability.

Regents gave no response to Shiffler’s commentary. Other residents have raised this issue at previous board meetings. For example, in March 2010 Rita Mitchell also spoke to regents about Fuller Road Station, urging them not to proceed with the project. Mitchell attended the regents’ Jan. 19 meeting, but did not address the board during public commentary.

Present: Mary Sue Coleman (ex officio), Julia Darlow, Denise Ilitch, Olivia (Libby) Maynard, Andrea Fischer Newman, Andy Richner, Kathy White.

Absent: Larry Deitch, Martin Taylor.

Next board meeting: Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012 at 3 p.m. at the Fleming administration building on UM’s central campus. [confirm date]

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Occupy UM protesters walking toward the Fleming administration building prior to the Dec. 15 regents meeting, where they protested against the high cost of public education. Flyers taped to The Cube repeated the same theme. (Photos by the writer.)

As UM president Mary Sue Coleman began her opening remarks to start Thursday’s meeting, about two dozen “Occupy UM” protesters, who’d been sitting in the boardroom, stood up and shouted, “Mic check!” For the next five minutes, in a call-and-response delivery, protesters outlined their grievances against the university’s leadership – primarily, that once-affordable public education has been turned into an expensive commodity. [A video of the protest is posted on YouTube.]

When the group finished, they left the boardroom chanting “Instruction, not construction!” Neither the regents nor Coleman responded to them or alluded to the protest during the rest of the meeting.

Another group of students gave a decidedly different performance just minutes later. The a cappella group Amazin’ Blue sang five holiday songs, prompting board chair Denise Ilitch to don a blue Santa’s hat – embroidered with “Michigan” – and sing along.

The meeting included two issues related to the Ann Arbor community and parking. During public commentary, Chip Smith of the Near Westside Neighborhood Association highlighted problems with a UM parking lot that’s surrounded by homes on the Old West Side. And in a staff memo accompanying a resolution to issue bonds for capital projects, Fuller Road Station was on the list in the category of projects that would require final approval by regents prior to being funded with bond proceeds. The regents had approved the controversial project – a joint UM/city of Ann Arbor parking structure, bus depot and possible train station – in January 2010, but a formal agreement between the city and university has not yet been finalized.

Other items on the Dec. 15 agenda included: (1) presentations by three UM faculty who were named MacArthur Fellows this year; (2) approval of the Michigan Investment in New Technology Startups (MINTS) initiative; and (3) approval of several renovation projects, including work on the Law School’s historic Charles T. Munger Residences in the Lawyers’ Club and the John P. Cook Building.

Occupy UM “Mic Check”

Occupy UM is one of several local groups formed since the Occupy Wall Street movement started earlier this year. [Other groups include Occupy Ann Arbor and Occupy For All – described on its website as a "merry band of roving peaceniks based in Ann Arbor."]

This Occupy UM protester read a statement to the regents that was repeated in unison by other protesters in the boardroom.

Before the regents meeting, Occupy UM held a rally at The Cube, located in the plaza next to the Fleming administration building, where the regents meet. After the rally, Occupy UM supporters entered Fleming and took seats throughout the boardroom before the start of the meeting.

The agenda begins with remarks from UM president Mary Sue Coleman, and as soon as she began speaking the protesters stood and shouted “Mic check!” – which launched the start of a technique used by Occupy protesters nationwide to propagate a message to a crowd without the aid of a microphone.

The five-minute call-and-response recitation – shouted by a leader in short phrases, and repeated in unison by the other two dozen or so protesters – sharply criticized the regents and university leaders for a range of actions and inactions that have resulted in a cost of education that’s inaccessible for many. They referred to the meeting’s agenda, saying it reflected the values of funding start-up businesses and construction projects rather than accessible education.

An excerpt:

There was once affordable public education. / Today / there is only an expensive commodity. / You sell this commodity to wealthy students. / To the rest of us you offer / a more ominous exchange: / an education / for a lifetime of student debt.

…

You endeavor to attract the richest and whitest / not the best and brightest. / You support construction not instruction. / We have another vision. / Job security and intellectual freedom / for faculty and staff; / a student body without student debt; / and a community that shatters race and class divisions / instead of reproducing them./

This university claims to be / an institution of inclusion and equality. / Our vision works for the future / when this may be true. / Your vision ensures / a public forever divided. / We reject your vision! [.pdf of full Occupy UM statement]

When they finished, the protesters continued chanting “Instruction, not construction!” as they left the room. Their chants could be heard as Coleman resumed her opening remarks, which highlighted the Dec. 18 winter commencement on Sunday, where New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson would give the keynote speech. Coleman also noted several faculty achievements, and gave well wishes for students during finals and for the UM football team at the Sugar Bowl. The meeting continued without any mention of the protesters by regents or UM executives.

However, the following day – Friday, Dec. 16 – a letter from Coleman to President Barack Obama was released, addressing the same issue of affordable education. The letter was tied to Obama’s recent meeting with university presidents at the White House, which Coleman did not attend. From the letter:

By bringing together higher education leaders to discuss college affordability, you have elevated a thorny issue that demands a national conversation because of its impact on all sectors of society. The cost of attending college is one of the most serious matters facing a country that seeks to strengthen its global competitiveness. How we resolve this dilemma requires collaboration, sacrifice and hard choices.

…

Higher education is a public good currently lacking public support. There is no stronger trigger for rising costs at public universities and colleges than declining state support. The University of Michigan and our state’s 14 other public institutions have been ground zero for funding cuts. The state’s significant disinvestment in higher education has been challenging: a 15 percent cut in the last year alone, and a reduction of more than 30 percent over the last decade.

We have worked extremely hard to mitigate the impact of these cuts on students and families. We must and will do more, but also offer recommendations that may benefit all of higher education.

Recommendations in the letter included: urging states to reinvest in public colleges and universities, asking the business community to lobby for increased government funding of higher education, increasing private support, and cutting costs.

Student, Faculty Awards

Provost Phil Hanlon gave a presentation about the various awards and other honors that UM’s faculty have received, as well as introducing and congratulating Alex Carney, a UM senior who recently was named a Marshall Scholar – one of only 36 students in the U.S. awarded the scholarship to study in Oxford and Cambridge. Carney – a mathematician, violinist and cross-country runner – received a round of applause.

Tiya Miles, chair of UM's department of Afroamerican and African studies and a 2011 MacArthur Fellow.

After cataloguing the range of honors for UM faculty – including Guggenheim Fellowships, the Carnegie Foundation’s U.S. professors of the year, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among others – Hanlon introduced three faculty members who had been named MacArthur Fellows this year: Tiya Miles, Melanie Sanford, and Yukiko Yamashita.

Each of the three professors spoke to the regents, describing their work and the support they’ve received at UM. Miles, chair of UM’s department of Afroamerican and African studies, talked about the interdisciplinary nature of her research, working in the program in American culture, the department of Afroamerican and African studies, the department of history, and the Native American studies program. She recalled a challenge several years ago when she was pregnant with twins and needed to take medical leave. A book she’d been working on wasn’t completed, and she said she could imagine a scenario in which she’d be left to fail. But she had wonderful department chairs, Miles said, and senior women faculty who reached out to her. Thanks to that support, her book was eventually published and received awards, and her daughters are now eight years old.

Sanford, an Arthur F. Thurnau professor of chemistry, described her work as developing new ways to make common chemicals in a more environmentally friendly fashion, with less waste. The research has potential to impact a range of industries, from pharmaceuticals to beauty products. She said she couldn’t do the work without the amazing undergraduate and graduate students that UM attracts. “That is really the strength of this university,” Sanford said. She also praised UM’s efforts to recruit and retain women in traditionally underrepresented fields, like chemistry. There’s tremendous diversity in the chemistry department, she said, making it a dynamic and exciting place to work, with fantastic research being conducted.

After Sanford’s remarks, regent Andy Richner asked how to make a plastic cup out of corn. “That’s easy,” Sanford quipped, and quickly described how to do it. She said her lab is working on ways to do this kind of thing more efficiently, with less energy.

Yamashita spoke next, saying that she’s a stem cell biologist but “that’s not as controversial as it sounds.” That is, her work uses adult – not embryonic – stem cells. The research is very, very basic, Yamashita said, using fruit flies. But it lays the foundation to find cures for degenerative diseases, for example, or cancer. She described basic research as like a baby: You don’t get rid of a baby because it can’t yet walk or talk. The university is very supportive of her work, Yamashita said. There are great mentors, she said, who know just the right amount of leash to use on junior faculty – not too much, nor too little.

Start-Up Tech Investment

A new initiative – the Michigan Investment in New Technology Startups (MINTS) was on the agenda for approval by regents at the Dec. 15 meeting. Plans for the initiative had been announced in early October by UM president Mary Sue Coleman in her annual address to campus.

Managed by UM’s investment office as well as the technology transfer office, the program involves investing in start-up companies formed using UM technology. It’s estimated that over 10 years, the program will invest about $25 million from the university’s long-term portfolio. According to a staff memo, the investments would be part of the portfolio’s venture capital sub-portfolio. A limit of up to $500,000 would be made in any single round of financing.

In addition to approval for the overall program, regents also were asked to approve guidelines for MINTS. [.pdf of MINTS guidelines]

Tim Slottow, UM’s chief financial officer, praised Erik Lundberg, the university’s chief investment officer, and Ken Nisbet, executive director of UM’s tech transfer office, for their work in putting together this program. Slottow described it as a breakthrough type of funding that doesn’t exist at any other university. With regental approval, the university will begin investing “as soon as we can,” Slottow said.

Outcome: Regents unanimously approved the MINTS initiative and guidelines.

Building & Renovation Projects

Regents were asked to approve several items related to building and renovation projects on the Ann Arbor campus, including renovations of the law school residences, an overhaul of the University Hospital’s Trauma Burn Unit, and issuance of bids for an addition to the G.G. Brown building on north campus.

Building & Renovation Projects: Law School Residences

Regents were asked to approve the schematic design for a renovation of the Law School’s historic Charles T. Munger Residences in the Lawyers’ Club and the John P. Cook Building. The residences house about 260 students and were built in the early 1920s.

Lee Becker of Hartman-Cox Architects describes the schematic design for the UM Law School residences.

Regents had previously authorized the overall project at their March 2011 meeting. That meeting had included  a unanimous vote to name The Lawyers Club dormitory in honor of Charles T. Munger, who gave the university $20 million toward renovations of the building. The March 2011 meeting also included a vote to approve a $39 million renovation of The Lawyers Club and the John P. Cook buildings – part of a larger expansion and renovation effort at UM’s law school.

Washington, D.C.-based Hartman-Cox Architects, working with SmithGroup, is handling the project’s design. Lee Becker of Hartman-Cox attended the Dec. 15 meeting and showed regents examples of the renovation work they’ve planned. Most of the work will be interior changes to the residences – such as opening up connections between the townhouse-style dorms so that hallways will run through all the units. One of the main goals is to build better community among the law school students, he said.

Becker noted that the renovations will allow the university to skip roughly $30 million in maintenance it would otherwise need to perform in the dorms. Other work will include removing the fireplaces, adding air conditioning, installing elevators, replacing the roof, restoring masonry and refurbishing leaded glass windows.

Tim Slottow, UM’s chief financial officer, mentioned that the renovations would bring the buildings up to the same energy efficiency standards as other UM facilities. Examples of specific changes addressing energy efficiency include low-flow fixtures to conserve water, insulation, energy-efficient light fixtures and thermostat setback controls in each room.

Regent Libby Maynard asked where the students will live during the renovations, which will take about 18 months and be finished in mid-2013. Hank Baier, UM’s associate vice president for facilities and operations, reported that the university is leasing space in several apartment complexes that are close to central campus.

Regent Andy Richner noted that he had lived there when he went to law school, and he supported the project. Mary Sue Coleman said she couldn’t be more pleased with the new design, calling it one of the most precious buildings in the country.

 Outcome: Regents voted to approved the renovations at the Law School dorms.

Building & Renovation Projects: Trauma Burn Unit

A $3.33 million renovation for the University Hospital’s Trauma Burn Unit was on the agenda for approval. Renovations of the roughly 6,600-square-foot facility include improved lighting for care within the patient rooms, improved treatment rooms, creation of a dedicated physical therapy and occupational therapy room, and creation of a faculty on-call room.

Project and Design Management LLC, an architectural firm based in Ferndale, will design the project. According to a staff memo, a phased construction schedule is planned to minimize disruption to operations and patient care, with construction to be completed in the fall of 2012.

Outcome: Regents approved the trauma burn unit renovations.

Building & Renovation Projects: G.G. Brown

On the agenda was an item that would authorize university staff to issue bids and award construction contracts for a $46 million addition to the  G.G. Brown Memorial Laboratories Mechanical Engineering building on UM’s north campus.

A schematic design for the 62,500-square-foot addition was approved by regents a year ago, at the board’s Dec. 17, 2010 meeting. Construction is expected to be complete by mid-2014. The addition will house research labs, and faculty and graduate student offices for emerging research areas, including bio-systems, energy systems, and nano-systems.

Outcome: The board voted to authorize the issuance of bids and the awarding of construction contracts for the G.G. Brown addition.

In addition, as an item of information, regents were presented with UM’s annual capital outlay request to the state for fiscal 2013. For the Ann Arbor campus, that request included funding for renovations of the existing G.G. Brown building – a separate project from the planned addition. At previous meetings, Tim Slottow – UM’s chief financial officer – has said that UM expects to receive $30 million in funding for the renovation as part of the state capital outlay bill. At the Dec. 15 meeting, he didn’t specify any anticipated dollar amount, but said he hopes the state will help with this project and two others at UM’s Flint and Dearborn campuses.

Long-Term Bonds

Regents were asked to authorize the issuance of up to $280 million in general revenue bonds to fund a variety of capital projects. Tim Slottow, UM’s chief financial officer, briefly introduced the item, saying that UM needs to refinance some of its existing $200 million in commercial paper and provide longer-term financing for authorized capital projects.

A staff memo included a list of projects that require financing:

• Alice Crocker Lloyd Hall renovation
• Crisler Arena expansion and renovation
• C.S. Mott Children’s and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospitals, and related projects
• Institute for Social Research addition
• Vera B. Baits Houses II renewal
• Seven projects for the UM Hospitals and Health Centers: (1) Simpson Circle parking structure improvements; (2) University Hospital accelerator replacement; (3) University Hospital computed tomography angiography; (4) University Hospital kitchen renovations for room service protocol; (5) University Hospital medical procedure unit expansion; (6) University Hospital radiation oncology simulator replacement; and (7) University Hospital Trauma Burn Unit renovations.

In a separate category, three projects were listed as requiring final approval by regents prior to being funded with bond proceeds:

• Fuller Road Station
• UM  Hospitals and Health Centers – A. Alfred Taubman Health Care Center internal medicine renovations
• UM Hospitals and Health Centers – A. Alfred Taubman Health Care Center Levels 1 and 2 backfill renovations

Regents had approved the Fuller Road Station project at their January 2010 meeting, when they had also authorized appointing an architect. From the staff memo provided to the regents at that 2010 meeting:

The first phase of the development of this major intermodal transportation complex is the Fuller Road Station project which includes site preparation and construction of an intermodal facility that includes: four covered bus loading/unloading zones and waiting areas; a covered area for bike hoops and lockers; parking for 1,000 vehicles (78 percent for university and 22 percent for city use); improvements to Fuller Road immediately adjacent to the site for vehicle access; and upgrades to the multi-use path along Fuller Road.

The university will manage the construction of the Fuller Road Station project. That includes building the facility on city property, following city code review and inspection, and collaborating with the city for their approval of design. This project is unique since we would be constructing the facility on city-owned property and following city building codes. We will also need approval for the lease on city-owned land since it would be for a period of greater than ten years. We will seek approval of the lease at a later date, but prior to seeking bids or awarding construction contracts for the project. A parking structure operation and maintenance agreement will be developed concurrently with design of the project. The City of Ann Arbor will manage the site preparation at an estimated cost of $3,000,000. In addition, at the City’s expense, they will undertake an environmental assessment of the property. Although there will be a temporary loss of some leased parking spaces during construction, there will be an increase of approximately 780 university parking spaces as a result of this project.

The estimated cost of the project is $46,550,000. Costs will be shared between the University of Michigan and the City of Ann Arbor in proportion to the number of parking spaces available to each (78 percent and 22 percent respectively). Total university funding, not to exceed $36,309,000 (78 percent), will be provided from Parking resources. The construction cash flow may be provided, all or in part, by increasing the commercial paper issuance under the commercial paper program, secured by a pledge of General Revenues, and authorized by the Board of Regents. The parking structure consulting firm of Walker Parking Consultants will design the project. Design is scheduled to begin immediately, and we will return with a construction schedule when we seek approval of schematic design.

At that January 2010 meeting, James D’Amour – a member of the executive committee for the Huron Valley Group of the Sierra Club – spoke out against the project, objecting to it being built on city-owned property that had been designated as parkland. He and other community members have been vocal in their objections to the structure, primarily at public meetings of the Ann Arbor city council and the Ann Arbor park advisory commission – most recently at PAC’s November 2011 meeting. [See Chronicle coverage: "More Concerns Aired on Fuller Road Station"] Regents have not discussed the project at their board meetings since the January 2010 vote.

Outcome: Without discussion, regents authorized the issuance of general revenue bonds. 

Annual Lease Report

As an item of information, regents were provided with an annual report on leases held by the university that exceed 50,000 square feet. Tim Slottow, UM’s chief financial officer, noted that there was very little change from the 2010 report, made at the regents’ Dec. 17, 2010 meeting.

There are currently five leases for space over 50,000 square feet:

• 222,775 square feet at the Domino’s Farms complex, used by various UM Health System departments.
• 125,815 square feet at the KMS Building on South State Street, used by UMHS and leased from Kosmos Associates.
• 65,693 square feet at 325 East Eisenhower Parkway leased from Burlington Property LLC for use by Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Spine Rehabilitation and the Dental School.
• 63,920 square feet at 2301 Commonwealth Boulevard, for use by UMHS and leased from First Properties Associates.
• 51,534 square feet at 1051 North Canton Center Road in Canton, leased from Saltz Center for the UMHS Canton Health Center.

Appointment of UMHS Development Officer

As a supplemental agenda item, regents were asked to approve the appointment of Brian Lally to a newly created position: associate vice president for medical development and alumni relations for the UM Health System. Jerry May, UM’s vice president for development, told the regents that the university had been doing a search to fill this new position for more than a year, with the goal of dramatically increasing fundraising for UMHS. Lally will report jointly to May and Ora Pescovitz, UM’s executive vice president for medical affairs.

Lally most recently has served as vice president of development and alumni relations for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth Medical School.

Outcome: Regents unanimously approved Lally’s appointment.

Conflict-of-Interest Items

At each monthly meeting, regents are asked to authorize items that require disclosure under the state’s Conflict of Interest statute. The law requires that regents vote on potential conflict-of-interest disclosures related to university staff, faculty or students.

The items often involve technology licensing agreements or leases. This month, the eight separate items included four research agreements, one subcontract agreement, one licensing agreement, one licensing option agreement, and one business transaction. Companies involved are: ONL Therapeutics; Emerging Micro Systems Inc.; CytoPherx Inc.; CSquared Innovations; Arbor Ultrasound Technologies; ISSYS Inc.; and Red Poppy Floral Design.

Outcome: Without comment, regents unanimously authorized the conflict-of-interest disclosures.

Student Government Report

In his regular report to the board, DeAndree Watson – president of the Michigan Student Assembly – explained the reasoning behind the organization’s upcoming name change. As of Jan. 1, the MSA will be called the Central Student Government. In 2010, students had voted to change the constitution of their student government, creating three separate branches that mirrored the federal system: executive, legislative and judicial. The legislative branch is known as the Assembly, and the overall government name was changed to distinguish itself from that branch. The name will also serve to distinguish the central student government, which represents students campuswide, with the various student governments for each school or college within UM.

Regent Andrea Fischer Newman asked Watson if he’d considered possible confusion with Central Michigan University. Watson replied that he had been part of the group that had rewritten the constitution, and that had settled on the new name. The word “Central” had been meant to signify a “central voice” for all students, he said. The only concern they’d heard about it was from one student who felt it might disenfranchise students on UM’s north campus. The official name will be the University of Michigan Central Student Government, he said.

Misc. Communications

Stephen Forrest, UM’s vice president for research, told regents that the university’s formal policies and procedures had been completed for the return of Native American human remains and associated materials in UM’s collections under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Responding to a follow-up query from The Chronicle, David Lampe – executive director of research communications – reported that the 75-page document formally specifies details of all of the policies and procedures that UM has adopted to handle the requirements of the act. It has been submitted to UM’s Office of the General Counsel for final approval – it will eventually be posted online.

Public Commentary

During public commentary at the end of the meeting, Chip Smith introduced himself as a UM alum and donor, and a representative of the Near Westside Neighborhood Association. The association consists of 24 historic homes – all built in 1930 or earlier – that border a UM parking lot off of Krause Street, known as Lot W11, between West Washington and West Liberty. [.jpg of map showing location of the NWNA and the lot] The neighborhood group was recently formed in response to construction at the lot, which has caused issues related to noise, lighting and stormwater runoff, among other things.

Chip Smith spoke to regents about problems in a UM parking lot off of Krause Street affecting neighboring homes. He represents the recently formed Near Westside Neighborhood Association.

Smith thanked Jim Kosteva – UM’s community  relations director – for his help, and provided a handout to regents that included a Nov. 23 letter that the association had sent Kosteva about Lot W11 issues.

A packet of materials distributed to regents by Smith listed several issues related to the parking lot, including the impact of construction activities, traffic, vandalism, and a lack of communication with neighbors. One of the handouts stated that “UM Lot W11 has been a bad neighbor for 20+ years.”

During his remarks, Smith focused on two main concerns: (1) implementing best management practices for stormwater control, and (2) lighting at the lot, which is outdated and intrusive for surrounding homes.

He praised UM’s sustainability initiative, and asked regents and the administration to hold the project group’s feet to the fire in terms of implementing stormwater best management practices that the university has adopted. [Among the sustainability goals outlined by Coleman in September was this one related to stormwater: "Protect the Huron River through best-in-class stormwater control strategies and by applying 40 percent fewer chemicals to campus landscapes, and ensure that at least 30 percent of stormwater runoff does not flow into the Huron River."]

Referring to construction on the lot that’s planned in 2012, Smith said the main issue is lighting. It’s unclear whether the current lights – which Smith said are extremely bright – will be replaced, but he asked that UM staff work with representatives of the neighborhood to find an acceptable solution.

In addition to these specific issues, the problem is the way in which the residents are treated, Smith said. Of the 24 houses surrounding the lot, 21 are owner-occupied. “This is our neighborhood,” he said, adding that he looked forward to working with UM to minimize the impact of future construction. He thanked regents for the opportunity to address the board.

After Smith’s remarks, regent Larry Deitch called the presentation “refreshing” – presumably because the tone had not been combative, as is often the case with remarks made during public commentary. Regent Andrea Fischer Newman said it would be helpful if Smith could bring a map. [A map of the lot, as well as photos of that location and other UM parking lots, were part of a packet of materials distributed to regents at the start of Smith's remarks.]

Present: Mary Sue Coleman (ex officio), Julia Darlow, Larry Deitch, Denise Ilitch, Olivia (Libby) Maynard, Andrea Fischer Newman, Andy Richner, Kathy White.

Absent: Martin Taylor.

Next board meeting: Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 at 3 p.m. at the Fleming administration building on UM’s central campus. [confirm date]

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A Santa sock worn by regent Libby Maynard at the final board meeting of 2011 was a subtle reflection of the holiday season.

Students from the Amazin' Blue a cappella group sang Christmas carols at the Dec. 15 regents meeting.

Board chair Denise Ilitch wore a UM Santa's hat during the performance by Amazin' Blue. The front of the hat was embroidered with "Michigan."

At left: Lynn Bowen, an administrative assistant with the city who provides staff support for the park advisory commission, is retiring and was honored at PAC's November meeting. She has worked at the city for 26 years, including the last six years with parks and recreation. To the right are PAC chair Julie Grand and Colin Smith, the city's parks and recreation manager. (Photos by the writer.)

Commissioners were briefed by city staff about annual finances related to the land acquisition for parks and greenbelt programs, which are funded by a 30-year millage. They also got an update on the city’s marketing efforts for parks and recreation, and heard a report on the status of a sustainability project – several PAC commissioners had attended a September joint work session to help prioritize city goals related to environmental quality, economic vitality, and social equity.

Updates were also given about a sediment removal project in the Ruthven Nature Area, and about two parking-related projects at Riverside Park and Veterans Memorial Park.

In his manager’s report, Colin Smith noted that he’d taken a canoe run through the under-construction Argo Dam bypass pools – the new channel was a ”bit sportier” than he had expected, and is still being tweaked. He also told commissioners he’d received word that two state grant applications made by the city of Ann Arbor – $300,000 for the proposed Ann Arbor skatepark at Veterans Memorial Park, and $300,000 for improvements at the Gallup Park canoe livery – had ranked in the top 12 out of 100 applications statewide for funding from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. That bodes well for the possibility that the grants will be awarded – a decision from the state is expected in December.

During the meeting commissioners also honored two volunteers with the city’s natural area preservation program – Sarah Newman and Drew Lathin – and said farewell to Lynn Bowen, the administrative assistant who works with PAC. The meeting was her last before retiring from the city.

An item not on the agenda – the proposed Fuller Road Station – drew focus from public commentary as well as some questions from commissioners later in the meeting. 

Fuller Road Station

The issue of Fuller Road Station has raised concerns for several members of PAC dating back nearly two years. The large parking structure, bus depot and possible rail station is proposed near the intersection of Fuller Road and Maiden Lane, near the University of Michigan medical campus on city-owned land. The land has been used as a surface parking lot since 1993, leased to the university, but is on property designated as parkland. It’s a joint project of the city of Ann Arbor and UM, but a formal agreement regarding its construction and operation hasn’t yet been finalized.

In June 2010, the commission passed a resolution that asked the city council to make available a complete plan of Fuller Road Station – including any significant proposed agreements, such as what the university will pay the city for use of the structure – allowing sufficient time for a presentation at a televised PAC meeting before the council votes on the project. The resolution also asked that staff and the council ensure the project results in a net revenue gain for the parks system. PAC most recently got a detailed update on the project at its May 2011 meeting. The commission has not formally received word about whether the city council will agree to the requests made in the 2010 resolution.

There was no agenda item for the proposed Fuller Road Station, but the issue came up during public commentary as well as at the end of the meeting, with questions from commissioners.

Fuller Road Station: Public Commentary

Nancy Kaplan told commissioners that she was there to speak about transforming Fuller Park into a Fuller Road parking garage, saying it set many negative, troubling precedents. One precedent is that it’s OK to change a part-time surface parking lot into a parking garage. The fact that it’s a surface lot to accommodate parking for the University of Michigan is being used to justify building a parking garage with up to 1,600 spaces, with an expected structural life of 75 years, she said. This decreases the chances of reclaiming the Huron Valley as a beautiful amenity. Another negative precedent, Kaplan said, is circumventing the expectations of a 2008 ballot initiative passed by Ann Arbor voters, which requires a referendum in order to sell city parkland. This circumvention breaks with the trust of voters, who had a common understanding of what it meant to sell parkland, she said, and although this situation isn’t technically a sale, the result is the same.

A third negative precedent is accepting that the project will move forward without a due process hearing. Aside from the memorandum of understanding, no city council vote on the overall project has been taken. Yet at the Nov. 14 council work session, Kaplan noted, it was stated that a groundbreaking is expected this spring, and that public art is already being planned. Finally, she said the university has embarked on a sustainability initiative, but bringing up to 1,600 cars into the parking garage is counter to sustainability. She pointed out that Stanford University in California doesn’t subsidize employee parking, as UM does. Instead, as part of its reward system, Stanford pays employees not to park, and offers bus passes and free shuttles. The side benefit is that Stanford doesn’t have to build a lot of parking garages. Kaplan said that hopefully these negative precedents, plus the model of Stanford, are issues to be considered seriously.

Rita Mitchell continued the topic of Fuller Road Station. She began by noting that she’s a steward for the city’s natural area preservation (NAP) program, and takes great interest in parks. She said she appreciated PAC’s work. She asked that commissioners discuss and forward a series of questions to city council, to be reviewed in public, regarding plans to build a parking structure in Fuller Park. She gave a brief history of the property, noting that it was acquired by the city in the 1920s for use as parkland, and was the city’s first golf course. Starting in 1993, it was temporarily leased to UM for parking, and many problems have stemmed from that use. It’s already an area of great traffic congestion, and adding up to 1,600 more cars will create a range of problems, including air pollution, more polluted runoff, and conflicts with pedestrians, buses and bicyclists. Air pollution and health risks will increase in the summer for people, including children, who use Fuller Pool, located across the street, Mitchell said.

The city has spent significant money already, without discussing with the public whether parkland should be repurposed in this way, Mitchell said. She asked that PAC advise the city council to hold a public hearing on the issue, at a time that’s not influenced heavily by upcoming holiday schedules, so that the community can express their concerns. She noted that the council’s Nov. 14 work session had included discussion of art for the structure, and called it “outrageous” that this discussion would happen for a project that hasn’t yet been approved. The university is the primary beneficiary for this project, but the public doesn’t know who is negotiating with the university on this project. “Do you, as commissioners?” she asked. PAC should ask council to be provided with the names of those negotiating, and the specifications of the negotiations. Repurposing parkland subverts the letter and intent of the 2008 ballot initiative that requires a voter referendum on the sale of parkland, she said. The structure would have a 75-year lifespan, and 75 years for use of land is in effect a sale. But there’s been no discussion of a fair market value, or compensation to the citizens or parks system for the use of the land.

Mitchell also said she’s heard about the possible transfer of the Amtrak station to that site. While rail travel is a great idea, she said, there are also a range of concerns. Is it in the best interests of the city to build and run a train station? Should it be placed on parkland? If Ann Arbor is just one commuter stop, why do we need a 1,600-space parking structure? There hasn’t been adequate public discussion on this issue, Mitchell said. In addition, this summer a major water and sewer line were moved in Fuller Park – had that been discussed with PAC? Is the sign that’s now missing from the south end of Fuller Park a silent indication that the land is no longer part of the park system? Park commissioners are stewards of all city parks, Mitchell said. She urged them to start asking pointed questions and advocate for greater public participation in decisions that relate to parkland.

Fuller Road Station: Commissioner Questions

Later in the meeting, Gwen Nystuen asked city staff a series of questions about the Fuller Road Station project. She wondered about the legal status of the city’s parks, and how that relates to the project. She asked about the site plan for Fuller Road Station – if council approves the project, would it constitute a change of land use, and no longer be part of the parks system? These are issues that have never been discussed by city council, she noted. The land is part of the central Huron River valley, an area that has some of the least parkland per capita in the city, she said. This project would reduce it even more, she said, so it’s of concern to PAC. She also wondered about the status of the soccer field that had been in that area.

Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, said these are legitimate questions. He asked Nystuen and other commissioners to send him whatever questions they had, and he would forward the questions to the city attorney or other relevant staff. He said the soccer field will be put in place again after utility work is finished on the south side of Fuller Road.

Tim Berla suggested asking representatives from the city attorney’s office, systems planning unit and Eli Cooper, the city’s transportation program manager, to attend a future PAC meeting to discuss the Fuller Road Station project. He noted that sometimes their answers are a bit opaque, and that it’s better to have the chance to ask follow-up questions in person, rather than to just get their answers in writing.

Open Space Millage Update

Ginny Trocchio of The Conservation Fund briefed commissioners on the annual financial report related to the land acquisition for parks and greenbelt programs. [A similar update was given to the greenbelt advisory commission by Kelli Martin, financial manager for the city’s community services unit, at GAC's Sept. 14 meeting.] [.pdf of land preservation annual report]

Under contract with the city, Trocchio is a Conservation Fund staff member who helps administer the city’s greenbelt program and land acquisition program for parks, which are both funded by the 30-year open space and parkland preservation millage. The 0.5 mill tax was approved by voters in 2003. Two-thirds of the millage proceeds are used for the greenbelt program, and one-third is allotted to parkland acquisition. PAC oversees the portion related to parkland acquisition.

Revenues from the millage were $2.164 million in fiscal 2011, down slightly from $2.262 million the previous year. In addition, the greenbelt program brought in nearly $2.8 million in federal grants during the year – the highest amount it has ever received. Those grants are from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program, or FRPP. Investment income was $233,614 for the year, down from $492,576 in FY 2010. In total, $5.185 million in revenues came in for the combined greenbelt and parks acquisitions programs in FY 2011.

On the expense side, items included $1.2 million in debt service on the $20 million bond that the city issued in FY 2006. The greenbelt program spent $8.3 million during the year, related to land preservation projects. Parks spent $985,900 during the year, including two major purchases: (1) $592,503 for property off of South Pond owned by Wes Vivian and Elizabeth Kauffman, and (2) $369,160 for property next to the Bluffs Nature Area, owned by the Elks.

In FY 2011, $120,338 was paid to The Conservation Fund, which manages the greenbelt and park acquisition programs. Total administrative costs – including items like information technology (IT) and bond insurance – were $161,195. Administrative expenses accounted for 1.5% of the $10.672 million in total expenditures.

The fund balance stands at $10.3 million, down from $15.79 million a year ago. Of that, the portion for land acquisition for parks is $4.24 million.

Commissioners had no questions for Trocchio about the report.

Promoting Parks and Recreation

Kimberly Mortson, communications liaison for the city of Ann Arbor, gave a presentation on communications, marketing and social media for the parks and recreation system. She said that although she also does some work for other parts of the city’s community services area, 95% of her efforts are for parks and recreation.

Mortson noted that she started using Facebook and Twitter to promote city programs and events about two years ago. One of the advantages is that she can post a message one time, but there are an infinite number of people who’ll see it – and it doesn’t impact her budget, because Facebook and Twitter are free services. There’s a general Facebook page for parks and recreation, and other pages for specific units of parks and recreation, like the Ann Arbor farmers market, Cobblestone Farm and canoe liveries, among others

Twitter page for Ann Arbor parks. (Links to Twitter)

On Twitter, the @a2parks account has over 1,800 followers, Mortson reported. Over the past year, staff has tweeted from events, like the re-opening of West Park after its renovations, or the Heisman Trophy appearance at Hanover Park. They also use the account to promote other activities and programs.

Parks and recreation has also started using FourSquare, a social networking website that allows users to “check in” from their smart phones or other mobile devices, when they arrive at their destination. Mortson said she’s uploaded all the city’s parks and recreation locations to FourSquare – it’s another free marketing tool, she said.

Turning to the city’s website, Mortson told commissioners that the parks and recreation page is one of the most visited pages on the a2gov.org site. There will be changes to the page in the coming weeks and months, she said, to help people use the site more easily. Staff is also working with the state of Michigan on a new mobile application – the MI Camping and Recreation Locator. Now, people can use the application to search for information about state parks, she said. Ann Arbor will be the first city in the state to have its information loaded on that application, so that people can search for Ann Arbor parks information, too.

Some marketing materials for parks and recreation include QR codes, Mortson said – a marking similar to a bar code, which can be read by smart phones. The code is used to direct people to different websites for parks and recreation.

In addition to cost savings, social media and other online marketing is green, Mortson said – it saves paper.

Mortson said the city also advertises parks and recreation events and programs in traditional media, and showed several examples of ads that have run in the Ann Arbor Observer, Ann Arbor Chronicle, AnnArbor.com and other publications. Other venues for promoting parks and recreation include ads on buses and posters within city facilities.

Following Mortson’s presentation, Gwen Nystuen praised her efforts, saying the information showed that her marketing work is succeeding. Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, noted that the programs are being well-run, and are being promoted exceedingly well. He gave the example of this summer’s day camps. In an extremely competitive area, two of the city’s four day camps were filled. Smith credited Mortson’s marketing efforts for helping achieve that level of participation.

Sustainability Project

Jamie Kidwell is working for the city on a sustainability project funded by a $95,000 grant the city received from the Home Depot Foundation. At the Nov. 15 meeting, she briefed commissioners on a Sept. 27, 2011 joint working session that involved four city commissions: park, planning, energy and environmental. The session focused on prioritizing existing goals for the city that touch on sustainability issues.

A Sept. 27, 2011 sustainability work session at Cobblestone Farm involved four city commissions: park, planning, energy and environmental.

By way of background, the concept of sustainability focuses on what’s called the triple bottom line: environmental quality, economic vitality, and social equity. The goal of the sustainability project for Ann Arbor is to review the city’s existing plans and organize them into a framework of goals, objectives and indicators that can guide future planning and policy. Other project goals include improving access to the city’s plans and to the sustainability components of each plan, and to incorporate the concept of sustainability into city planning and future city plans.

There’s an 18-month timeline for the project, which started earlier this year. For the first phase, Kidwell reviewed existing city plans – such as the downtown plan, the non-motorized transportation plan, the natural features master plan and others – and interviewed key city staff to determine which plans they use to guide their decision-making. Included in this project are 26 plans, and the second phase has involved organizing the goals for each plan. [.pdf of the list of 26 plans]

Kidwell and other city staff started to develop a framework for these plans, and to identify gaps that exist – goals that the city might want to pursue, but that aren’t laid out in existing plans.

At November’s regular PAC meeting, Kidwell characterized PAC as well-represented among the 26 commissioners at the three-hour sustainability session on Sept. 27. [Among the PAC members attending were Julie Grand, Tim Berla, Tim Doyle, Gwen Nystuen, Sam Offen, and John Lawter.]

Kidwell explained that the staff had identified four planning areas – climate & energy, community, land use & access, and natural systems. During the work session, commissioners met in breakout groups and started to prioritize the 226 goals that staff had pulled out from the city’s 26 planning documents and sorted into the four planning areas.

Kidwell provided a handout that listed the top goals identified at the work session in each planning area:

Climate & Energy

(1) Reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions 8% from 2000 levels by 2015.

(2) Commit to energy conservation measures and methods.

(3) Reduce greenhouse gas emissions in municipal operations 50% from 200 levels by 2015.

(4) Use 5% renewable energy community-wide by 2015.

Community

(1) To encourage cooperation between the City educational institutions and between the City and Townships that surround Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, Pittsfield and Scio) on development issues that affect each other.

(2) Provide job opportunities, raise the standard of living of county residents, promote a sense of place and realize a tax base sufficient to provide public services through a comprehensive set of public and private strategies to foster and attract emerging industries.

Land Use & Access

(1) Encourage dense land use and development patterns which draw people downtown and foster an active street life, contribute to its function as an urban residential neighborhood and support a sustainable transportation system

(2) Establish a network of greenways throughout the City that provide non-motorized connections between various land uses, such as neighborhoods, commercial and employment centers, downtown and the University of Michigan, and that help retain the shape and continuity of natural features, especially along stream corridors, between parks and through new neighborhoods. The network also should extend to greenways located on adjacent township and County properties.

Natural Systems

(1) To protect and restore woodlands, landmark trees, steep slopes, endangered species habitats, prairies and savannahs, the Huron River, creeks and native flora and fauna from the impacts of development.

(2) To improve air quality to protect the health and welfare of the public

(3) Develop, complete and regularly update watershed plans for the City’s tributary waterways to improve water quality and to restore and preserve, waterways, banks, wetlands, floodplains, wildlife habits, native species and natural areas. Plans should include techniques to dramatically reduce the volume and speed of storm water runoff, increase water directed to infiltrate soil, and reduce the volume of toxics and pollutants reaching waterways.

(4) To protect, preserve and restore the natural resources of Washtenaw County through a comprehensive approach to water management and preservation of our natural features.

The 226 goals had been an exhaustive list, Kidwell said, with overlapping goals on a range of topics. The priority goals identified at the working session are a starting point, she said, providing feedback as the staff continues to refine what goals will fit into a sustainability framework.

Among the next steps, Kidwell said, will be to form a joint committee with representatives from each of the four commissions, to continue work on this project. There will also be a lecture series starting in January featuring issues in the four planning areas. Those lectures will be free and open to the public. At the same time, work will continue on developing a sustainability action plan, tying goals to measurable targets, Kidwell said.

Julie Grand, PAC’s chair, reported that she and Karen Levin will serve on the joint committee, representing PAC.

Parking Lot Improvements

Park planner Amy Kuras and Liz Rolla, a city engineer who primarily works on road resurfacing and reconstruction projects, talked about two parking lot improvement projects – at Riverside Park and Veterans Memorial Park.

Kuras said the projects represent a collaboration between the parks and public services units. At Riverside, the current parking lot is frequently under water, so Kuras was planning to address that issue as well as make other changes at the park. [For details, see Chronicle coverage: "Work Planned at Ann Arbor's Riverside Park"]

Sketch of proposed changes to Riverside Park. (Links to larger image)

Canal Street, a city street runs next to the park, also needs repair, so Kuras approached the public services staff to coordinate their work. The parking lot will be moved to a different part of the park – out of the floodplain – and Canal Street will be repaved.

Tim Berla noted that the path at Riverside, running next to the Huron River, is also frequently under water. Will the project address that too? Short of creating an elevated boardwalk, Kuras said, there’s nothing they could do to prevent flooding, given the path’s proximity to the river.

The second project involves the repaving of Dexter Avenue, which runs past Veterans Memorial Park. The road repaving needs to address stormwater issues, while the parks staff is concerned about the park’s path and parking lot, which are falling apart, Kuras said.

Rolla said the road will be reconstructed from Maple to Jackson. Typically, the requirement to capture stormwater runoff is handled through underground oversized pipes and swirl concentrators. But since the road runs past the park, the staff is looking at handling runoff with a bioswale in the park, which would include native plantings. There are federal dollars to pay for stormwater improvements, which will cover about 80% of the project’s cost, Rolla said.

Kuras said benefits include rebuilding the path that runs along Dexter Avenue, and reducing the parking lot’s footprint, though the number of parking spaces will remain unchanged. It’s a better environmental solution, she said, because of the bioswale.

Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, said it’s good timing, since the city plans to renovate the softball fields there in 2012. The field renovation will likely start in mid-August, after the softball leagues finish their season.

Gwen Nystuen asked whether the parking lot would be paved with a pervious surface. No, Rolla replied. It’s too wet in that area for pervious pavement. Instead, the lot will be graded so that runoff will drain into the bioswale.

Karen Levin asked whether the park would be closed during this project. The section off of Dexter Avenue will probably be closed for some period, Kuras said, but the ice rink and pool – with an entrance off of Jackson Road – won’t be affected. Rolla added that the Dexter Avenue project will likely run from April through November, but they’ll leave it up to the contractor to decide when to do the parking lot and bioswale part of the project.

Aerial view of the site for the proposed bioswale at Veterans Memorial Park. The road at the top is Dexter Avenue. (Image links to larger file.)

John Lawter asked whether the bioswale will have standing water. There might be some minimal amount of standing water as the plants take hold, Rolla said, but the bioswale will be designed so that water will infiltrate. It’s similar to the bioswale at Buhr Park, she said. There will also be outlets leading to the city’s conventional storm sewer system, she added, in the event of a major rain.

Tim Doyle asked how much maintenance will be required in the bioswale. Rolla replied that the city will have an agreement with the contractor, who will provide maintenance in the area for three years. After that, the plantings should be established and it will be treated as a wet meadow by the city’s natural area preservation program. Smith noted that currently, the area proposed for a bioswale is included in the park’s mowing cycles. That maintenance would eventually be eliminated.

Julie Grand wondered what will happen if balls get hit into the bioswale – how are they retrieved? Smith said it’s a rare day when any balls are hit into the area proposed for the bioswale. Nor is it an area that’s typically used for team warm-ups. “It is really pretty much a dead space,” he said.

Grand also noted that the new parking lot will be closer to the playing fields. Is there more potential for balls to hit the cars? Rolla said it’s proposed to be moved only slightly closer to the fields. Kuras added that the location was discussed at length, and indicated that there’s little concern about the change.

Ruthven Nature Area

Lara Treemore Spears of the city’s natural area preservation (NAP) program updated commissioners on a wetland mitigation sediment removal project at the Ruthven Nature Area. The project involves removing sediment from Millers Creek, which flows through Ruthven, and repairing stream bank erosion that occurred when the creek bypassed its channel because of a sediment dam.

Like many streams in urban areas, Spears said, Millers Creek is surrounded by impervious surfaces. That creates runoff and sediment flowing into the creek, and over the years, has caused the creek to completely change its course.

The city risks losing some of its infrastructure along Huron River Drive and Geddes Road, Spears said – specifically, there’s the risk of damage to an undersized 24‐inch culvert under Geddes, which was not designed to receive the full volume of Millers Creek and could result in road flooding. Removing the sediment would redirect stormwater flow to a former open channel running through the wetlands at Ruthven, and into a larger 60-inch culvert under Geddes. It’s not an area that’s designated as a county drain, she noted, so it doesn’t fall under the purview of the county water resources commissioner’s office.

It’s best to remove the sediment when the ground is frozen, Spears said, so the work will likely begin in January. It will require some clearing, she said, but not nearly as much as has been done along Washtenaw Avenue for the county’s Mallets Creek drain project. The stream bank will be shored up with rock and restored with topsoil, mulch blanket, and native plant seed.

The city has submitted an application for a permit from the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality to do the work, and is awaiting review.

The ultimate goal, Spears said, is to reduce erosion. The city’s capital improvements plan (CIP) includes a sediment study of Millers Creek, to see if better long-term solutions can be found for preventing erosion.

Gwen Nystuen noted that there are a lot of  invasive species in Ruthven. She also wondered if the city had any plans to put in more trails through the nature area. There’s a trail with an entrance off of Geddes Road. But Spears noted that for a path off of Huron Parkway, after the first 325 feet it gets quite wet. There is one high quality area – a glacial kame, a hill created by glacial deposits. But most of the runoff flows straight south through a buckthorn thicket, she said – buckthorn is considered an invasive.

Tim Berla asked for Spears to give her best guess as to how long it would be before they’d have to repeat this work. Spears acknowledged that the problem comes from upstream, in an area that the city doesn’t control, and that erosion is aggravated by the surrounding impervious surfaces of roads and other development. Berla asked if there are any additional measures that can be taken, like adding underground swirl concentrators – devices designed to remove suspended solids from stormwater prior to reintroducing it into the city’s stormwater system. Spears said a long-term sediment study of the creek would look at those kinds of potential solutions.

Manager’s Report

Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, updated commissioners on a range of items, starting with plans to renovate the city’s softball fields at Veterans Memorial Park, West Park, Southeast Area Park and Allmendinger Park. It’s analogous to the work already done at the soccer fields, he said. The idea is to bring the fields up to an acceptable level of play. Staff will be presenting a budget for the project to PAC at its December meeting. Smith and other staff had held a public meeting on the project earlier this month, which was attended primarily by managers of various leagues that use the fields. Smith reported that they seemed happy to see the project get underway.

Manager’s Report: Argo Bypass

Smith also noted that earlier in the month he had gone canoeing to test the new Argo Dam bypass, even though it had been snowing at the time. The design team is still tweaking the series of pools that make up the channel, and Smith described the stretch as a “bit sportier” than he had expected. It’s exciting to see that project come together, he said. Smith reported that the city council would be voting on a proposed change of scope to the project, which PAC had recommended at its August meeting.

View facing west of the first two pools in the Argo Dam bypass. The concrete pass-through at the far end will be replaced by a new, larger entrance.

The change will add a new entrance to the waterway from Argo Pond to the Huron River. The modification to the project is linked to an offer from DTE to pay for a whitewater section that’s part of the overall project, which freed up city funds for a new entrance from Argo Pond into the bypass. DTE is being required by the state to complete environmental remediation on its nearby property, which prompted its request that the city hold off on the part of the project that runs along the river.

Smith said the city’s agreement with DTE stipulates that the energy firm will hire the same consultant who designed the bypass – Gary Lacy – to design the whitewater features. TSP Environmental, which is building the bypass, will build the new entrance. [The city council subsequently voted to approve the change of scope at its Nov. 21 meeting.]

Tim Doyle wondered whether the change of scope will delay other aspects of the project. Only the whitewater features, which will be located in the river, will be delayed, Smith said. The bypass and new entry will move forward. It will likely be at least another year before the whitewater features are added, he said.

Manager’s Report: Update on Skatepark, Gallup Livery Grants

Smith reported that two state grant applications made by the city of Ann Arbor – $300,000 for the proposed Ann Arbor skatepark at Veterans Memorial Park, and $300,000 for improvements at the Gallup Park canoe livery – ranked in the top 12 out of 100 applications statewide for funding from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. Smith told PAC members that he received the application scores in the mail earlier in the day.

The skatepark application ranked 12th out of the 100 applications, based on a scoring system used to evaluate the grants. The Gallup Park application ranked 2nd. Smith also reported that a $300,000 grant application for Rutherford Pool in Ypsilanti had ranked 11th in the scoring system. The scoring is an indication of the likelihood that these grants will be awarded, but that announcement won’t be made until Dec. 7, Smith said. It’s also unknown how much money will be awarded this year from the trust fund. He told commissioners that the top 12 grant applications total $2.7 million. There’s a cap of $300,000 per project.

At its March 15, 2011 meeting, PAC had voted to recommend supporting the grant applications. The city council made a similar vote of support on March 21. The council’s resolution of support prioritized the skatepark project over the Gallup renovations – based on the opportunity to leverage $400,000 of matching funds from the Washtenaw County parks and recreation commission.

NAP Volunteers Honored

Toward the beginning of the Nov. 15 meeting, Dave Borneman, manager of the city’s natural area preservation program, introduced two volunteers – Sarah Newman and Drew Lathin – who had been honored in October by the city council as NAP Volunteers of the Year. Newman was recognized for work in the Miller Nature Area and Furstenberg Nature Area. Lathin was honored for work in the Miller Nature Area, as well as for volunteering for NAP’s burn crew and its frog and toad surveys. Borneman read the proclamations that had been given to the two volunteers at the Oct. 26 council meeting, and PAC gave them a round of applause.

Newman thanked commissioners, as well as the staff of NAP, for all their work. She described Furstenberg and Miller as areas that are at the opposite ends of the spectrum. Furstenberg is a gem in the parks system, located along the Huron River and constantly maintained by NAP. Miller, on the other hand, is a large but relatively unknown neighborhood park on the west side that’s full of invasive species.

Her time most recently has been spent at Miller, and her role has been to encourage neighbors to get involved, she said, including work with kids in Peace Neighborhood Center‘s summer day camp, helping them to learn about what a nature area is and to help preserve the trails. “It’s a privilege and pleasure to work with the dedicated, intelligent and super hard-working group that Dave heads,” Newman said.

Dave Borneman, center, head of the city's natural area preservation program, introduced two NAP Volunteers of the year: Drew Lathin and Sarah Newman.

Lathin said it was an honor to be honored, but that he and Newman wouldn’t have gotten much done in Miller Nature Area without the hundreds of hours that other volunteers worked. They’ve had close to 1,000 volunteer hours there since they started working on about a one-acre section of the park.

He said his work at Miller started one winter day when he was walking through and saw all the invasive honeysuckle and buckthorn there. In a moment of insanity, he said, he decided to do something about it. Borneman directed him to Jason Frenzel, who was NAP’s volunteer coordinator at the time. Lathin said he’s happy he has mental health benefits as part of his insurance, because he thinks they’re called for. He praised NAP staff under Borneman’s leadership, saying they aren’t typical government employees – they’re very committed to what they’re doing, and they do great work. Lathin said he’s just the tip of the iceberg, in terms of the volunteers who work for NAP.

Present: Tim Berla, Doug Chapman, Tim Doyle, Julie Grand, Karen Levin, Gwen Nystuen, John Lawter, councilmember Mike Anglin (ex-officio). Also Colin Smith, city parks manager.

Absent: David Barrett, Sam Offen, councilmember Christopher Taylor (ex-officio).

Next meeting: PAC’s meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011 begins at 4 p.m. in the city hall second-floor council chambers, 301 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor. [confirm date]

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