Stories indexed with the term ‘parks planning’

Ann Arbor park advisory commission meeting (Jan. 15, 2013): The city’s park advisory commissioners are embarking on a process to analyze the need for a possible downtown park or open space, with the goal of delivering recommendations to the city council later this year.

In a 90-minute discussion at PAC’s January meeting, commissioners talked about how they’d like to approach this effort, which stemmed in part from a request that mayor John Hieftje made last summer. Momentum for PAC to weigh in has accelerated in light of recommendations recently delivered to the city council on the Connecting William Street project.

Several councilmembers have expressed concern that those recommendations – made by the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority on five city-owned sites – don’t include sufficient green space. PAC has already weighed in on that specific project, passing a resolution on Sept. 18 2012 that urged the council to seek additional evaluation on locations for a downtown park.

During public commentary, several residents – including supporters of the Library Green Conservancy – spoke in support of a substantial downtown park.

A PAC subcommittee plans to draft a plan for how to proceed, with the full commission continuing the discussion at their land acquisition committee meeting on Feb. 5. The process is expected to take 4-6 months.

Also at their Jan. 15 meeting, commissioners got an update on plans for locating a dog park at West Park, across from New Hope Baptist Church. PAC had recommended that location for a dog park, but – as The Chronicle previously reported – objections from church members have resulted in a decision to look for another location. The project had been slated for consideration by the city council on Jan. 22, but has been removed from the agenda.

PAC chair Julie Grand told her fellow commissioners that she was still committed to the concept of a centrally-located dog park, and that PAC and parks staff would pursue other options. A PAC subcommittee that had worked on identifying a new dog park location will be reconvened to bring forward another recommendation.

In other action, commissioners received a mid-year budget update. The parks system is doing better than planned, thanks to a combination of better-than-expected revenues and lower expenses. [.pdf of budget summary] The city’s fiscal year 2013 runs from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013. [Full Story]

Washtenaw County parks and recreation commission meeting, July 24, 2012: At its most recent meeting, WCPARC approved contracts totaling nearly $6 million.

The bulk of the funding – about $5.73 million – is for improvements at three of the county parks facilities: the water park at Rolling Hills ($4,792,530); the River Terrace section of the county’s Border-to-Border (B2B) trail near Dexter ($877,740); and enhancements to the new entrance to the County Farm Park on Washtenaw Avenue (estimated $50,000).

Work at the Rolling Hills water park will dramatically change the entrance to that popular county facility, which employs about 85 workers at the peak of the summer season. Commissioners voted to award the $4,792,530 contract to Sorensen Gross Construction Services (SGCS) of Flint, which submitted the lowest of seven bids.

The commission also approved an expenditure of $267,500 to buy the Baker property in Lima Township for the county’s natural areas preservation program. The land is on the north side of Trinkle Road, between Lima Center and Fletcher Roads – about a mile to the west of the recently protected Trinkle Marsh Preserve.

Staff gave updates on a variety of other projects, including conceptual design work on a recreation center in Ypsilanti. A team of students and faculty from the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning is working on that project. Director Bob Tetens reported that a couple of different approaches are being considered: a long linear facility along the Huron River, or a more traditional box-style building. Both would incorporate the B2B trail along the building, under overhangs, with a design that allows stormwater to flow under the building.

The meeting closed with shared memories of Meri Lou Murray, a former county commissioner who was largely responsible for creating the county parks system. Murray died on July 22. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor planning commission meeting (Feb. 8, 2011): After 90 minutes that included public commentary from three board members of the Allen Creek Greenway Conservancy, planning commissioners voted to postpone action on the city’s Parks and Recreation Open Space (PROS) plan until their Feb. 15 meeting.

The postponement coordinated with a similar move made last month by the Ann Arbor park advisory commission, which rescheduled its vote to its Feb. 15 meeting in order to allow for additional public input.

The PROS plan provides an inventory, needs assessment and action plan for the city’s parks system, and is updated every five years. The updated document is required by the state in order for the city to be eligible to apply for certain grants.

A public hearing on the PROS plan drew three board members of the Allen Creek Greenway Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to developing a park running through Ann Arbor from Stadium Boulevard to the Huron River, roughly following the course of the original Allen Creek. They advocated for stronger support of the greenway within the PROS plan. [Full Story]

Amy Kuras, Ann Arbor’s park planner, last talked with the city’s planning commission in June of 2010, soliciting their feedback for an update on the Parks and Recreation Open Space (PROS) plan. She’s in charge of revising the plan, and met with planning commissioners again last week, this time with a draft that’s in the final stages of revisions.

The commission will formally consider adopting the PROS plan at its Feb. 1 meeting, when there will also be a public hearing on the plan. It will then be forwarded to city council for final approval.

The plan – a document that in its current iteration is roughly 140 pages long – is required to be updated every five years in order for the city to be eligible for certain state grants. The proposed plan covers 2011 through 2015.

In addition to an inventory of the city’s parks system and assessment of current conditions, the PROS plan includes a listing of goals and objectives for the system, a needs assessment and an action plan. [The draft plan, a 5.1 MB .pdf file, can be downloaded from the city's website. It's also being sold at Dollar Bill Copying – $12.94 for a black-and-white copy, or $43.48 for color. In the following article, The Chronicle has included .pdf files of each of the nine sections separately.]

Commissioners spent about two hours giving Kuras feedback on the draft. Though they offered some revisions, the group praised Kuras for the breadth and depth of the effort – a process which has spanned more than a year. [Full Story]