The council approved a contract with Game Time c/o Sinclair Recreation for $132,000 to improve facilities at three parks. Arbor Oaks Park and Scheffler Park will have their play structures replaced, and North Main Park will be getting a tire swing and chess table.

Arbor Oaks Park is located in Ward 3 in the southeast quadrant of the city. Image links to interactive map by the city of Ann Arbor.

In addition, the council approved the purchase of two 2014 Toro model 7210 commercial six-foot-wide mower/snow broom combination units at $50,426 each for a total of $100,853.

The units have a mower deck that can be used in the summer months and can be converted in the winter into a tank-tread type unit with an enclosed cab that accepts a rotating snow broom, a snow blower, or a plow blade.

The two Toros will replace two walk-behind mowers and three riding mowers.

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron.

Action to give the ordinance initial approval came at the council’s April 7, 2014 meeting, after it had been postponed on March 3, 2014, and before that on Feb. 3, 2014. The initial approval came over dissent from Sumi Kailasapathy (Ward 1), Jane Lumm (Ward 2) and Jack Eaton (Ward 4).

To be enacted, the new law will need a second vote from the council at a future meeting.

Chuck Warpehoski (Ward 5), sponsor of the proposed new local law, appeared before the city’s park advisory commission on Feb. 25, 2014 to brief commissioners on the proposal and solicit feedback.

Made punishable under the proposed ordinance through a $50 civil fine would be smoking within 20 feet of: (1) bus stops; (2) entrances, windows and ventilation systems of the Blake Transit Center; and (3) entrances, windows and ventilation systems any city-owned building.

The ordinance would also authorize the city administrator to have signs posted designating certain parks or portions of parks as off limits for outdoor smoking, and to increase the distance from entrances to city buildings where outdoor smoking is prohibited.

Where no signs are posted noting the smoking prohibition, a citation could be issued only if someone doesn’t stop smoking immediately when asked to stop.

An existing Washtenaw County ordinance already prohibits smoking near entrances, windows and ventilation systems, according to the staff memo accompanying the resolution – but the county’s ordinance can be enforced only by the county health department. The memo further notes that the Michigan Clean Indoor Air Act does not regulate outdoor smoking.

Ellen Rabinowitz, interim health officer for Washtenaw County, attended the April 7 meeting and spoke to councilmembers about the county’s experience. She supported the city ordinance, as did Cliff Douglas, director of the University of Michigan’s Tobacco Research Network. Douglas addressed the council during public commentary and answered questions later in the meeting.

Council deliberations on this item are included in The Chronicle’s live updates filed during the April 7 meeting.

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron.

Screenshot of Legistar – the city of Ann Arbor’s online agenda management system. Image links to the March 3, 2014 meeting agenda.

New to the agenda are several items related to non-motorized issues, most prominently a funding request to support the activity of an already-established task force on pedestrian safety and access.

The council will also be asked to fund requests related to city parks and other city facilities like city hall and the airport. Eighteen new vehicles will also be added to the city’s fleet, contingent on council action on March 3.

The council will also consider a resolution that urges full funding of the state of Michigan’s fire protection grant program – for cities like Ann Arbor that host state-owned facilities like the University of Michigan.

In somewhat more detail, one public art issue, embodied in two different resolutions, was postponed from the council’s Feb. 18, 2014 meeting, when councilmembers could not agree on an approach to transferring money out of the public art fund back to the funds from which the money was originally drawn. The specific point dividing the council was not so much the transfer of money but rather a plan to fund the new approach to public art – after the council eliminated the Percent for Art funding mechanism last year.

Updated March 1, 2014: The first resolution has been altered for consideration on March 3 so that it focuses exclusively on the public art program transition issue. The second resolution incorporates changes to reflect the council’s deliberations on Feb. 18: It transfers a total of $943,005 of Percent for Art money to its funds of origin, an amount that defunds the art project at Argo Cascades, but keeps funding for the Coleman Jewett memorial and for a project called Canoe Imagine Art.  [public art resolution (1) for consideration on March 3, 2014] [public art resolution (2) for consideration on March 3, 2014]

That disagreement over funding of the newly created program is also related to another public art item on the agenda – a six-month contract extension for the city’s part-time public art administrator. The item first appeared on the council’s Jan. 21 agenda, but the council postponed that vote until Feb. 3, when it was defeated. On Feb. 18 it was then brought back for reconsideration, but immediately postponed until the March 3 meeting.

Also postponed from Feb. 18 is an item that would direct the city administrator to prepare for the council’s approval a budget resolution regarding affordable housing. The resolution would allocate $600,000 from the city’s affordable housing trust fund to support the Ann Arbor housing commission’s plan to renovate its properties. That allocation would be contingent on the closing of the sale of the former Y lot to Dennis Dahlmann, as the net proceeds of that sale are to be deposited into the city’s affordable housing trust fund.

Postponed from the Feb. 3 meeting was the first reading of an ordinance that would regulate smoking outside of public buildings and also potentially in areas of some city parks. Chuck Warpehoski (Ward 5), sponsor of the new proposed local law, appeared before the park advisory commission at its Feb. 25 meeting to brief commissioners on the proposal and solicit feedback.

New items on the March 3 agenda include a funding proposal for the pedestrian safety and access task force established by the city council late last year, with members appointed in late January. The $122,250 item includes a $77,500 contract for facilitation services from Project Innovations. That’s the same firm contracted for similar work in connection with the city’s sanitary sewer wet weather evaluation – which is expected to conclude in the summer of 2014.

Other issues on the March 3 agenda with a non-motorized connection are three stretches of sidewalk. In the context of sanitary sewer design work that Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber Inc. is being hired to do, two sidewalks are included: a stretch along Barton Drive, and a stretch along Scio Church Road. The council will also be asked to pay for the construction of a stretch of sidewalk along Ann Arbor-Saline Road near the I-94 bridge – as part of a road reconstruction project that the Michigan Dept. of Transportation is handling.

Another new item is a resolution that Jack Eaton (Ward 4) had announced at the council’s Feb. 18 meeting that he’d be bringing forward. It would waive the attorney-client privilege on a staff memo about laws governing the assessment of homes. The resolution indicates that the memo addresses the effect that reducing the assessment for one year would have on the property tax assessment for the subsequent year, based on action by the Board of Review and/or the Michigan Tax Tribunal.

In other action, the council will be asked on March 3 to approve the purchase from Signature Ford of 18 new vehicles – most of them for use by the Ann Arbor police department. Total cost of the purchase is $457,393.

City parks factor into three agenda items: (1) a resolution to establish an urban park on part of the surface level of the Library Lane underground parking structure; (2) a paving contract for the replacement of basketball and tennis courts at Clinton Park; and (3) a grant application to the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources Grants Management (MDNRGM) to support a universal access playground at Gallup Park. The Rotary Club has already pledged $250,000 toward such a playground.

The city hall (Larcom Building) is featured in two agenda items – to pay $160,923 for a secondary chiller unit and $28,469 for new light fixtures. An amendment to an agreement with MDOT for an already-completed fence project at the Ann Arbor municipal airport also appears on the agenda, and will cost the city $425.

After authorizing significant equipment purchases to support water main repair activity at its Feb. 18 meeting, the council will be asked to approve two additional items related to water main repair. One item is a $44,702 emergency purchase order to buy more aggregate material used for backfilling water main repairs. A second item authorizes an emergency purchase order for repairing and making a new connection for the water main at 1214 S. University. In both cases, the emergency purchase orders were authorized by the city administrator, and the work was done.

Street closures for two events are on the council’s March 3 agenda: Take Back the Night and the Monroe Street Fair.

Also on the agenda is a resolution that would encourage Gov. Rick Snyder, state senator Rebekah Warren, and state representatives Jeff Irwin and Adam Zemke to explore creative ways to fund the state’s fire protection grant program for municipalities like Ann Arbor, which host state institutions. In the last three years, the program has been only 40-55% funded.

This article includes a more detailed preview of many of these agenda items. More details on other agenda items are available on the city’s online Legistar system. The meeting proceedings can be followed Monday evening live on Channel 16, streamed online by Community Television Network starting at 7 p.m.

Public Art

At the council’s Feb. 18, 2014 meeting, two resolutions on the transfer of public art money back to its funds of origin were postponed. Councilmembers seemed to agree that a substantial sum – at least $800,000 that had accumulated under the now defunct Percent for Art funding mechanism – should be transferred back to its funds of origin. The issue actually dividing the council was not so much the transfer of money but rather a plan to fund the new approach to public art that the council put in place when the Percent for Art funding mechanism was eliminated last year.

The resolution proposed by Sabra Briere (Ward 1) called for establishing a budget for public art administration for FY 2015 and FY 2016. The resolution by Jane Lumm (Ward 2) did not include a budget provision for public art administration.

Updated March 1, 2014: The  resolution ordered first on the agenda (Briere’s) has been altered for consideration on March 3 so that it focuses exclusively on the public art program transition issue. This resolution was put forward by Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and is co-sponsored by Sally Petersen (Ward 1), Christopher Taylor (Ward 3), Margie Teall (Ward 4) and Chuck Warpehoski (Ward 5)

The resolution ordered second on the agenda (Lumm’s) incorporates changes to reflect the council’s deliberations on Feb. 18: It transfers a total of $943,005 of Percent for Art money to its funds of origin, an amount that defunds the art project at Argo Cascades, but keeps funding for the Coleman Jewett memorial and for a project called Canoe Imagine Art. The defunding of the art project at Argo Cascades was originally a feature of Briere’s resolution that was not shared by Lumm’s.  In addition to Lumm, the second item on the agenda is cosponsored by Jack Eaton (Ward 4), Sumi Kailasapathy (Ward 1) and Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

[public art resolution (1) for consideration on March 3, 2014] [public art resolution (2) for consideration on March 3, 2014]

The former Percent for Art funding mechanism required 1% of all capital fund project budgets to be set aside for public art. The new approach entails including city-funded art when it’s designed as an integral part of a capital project, with council approval. Art projects also could be funded through a combination of private and public money.

Possibly a part of the council’s discussion on March 3 will be a review of what a council committee recommended in advance of the council’s decision to eliminate the Percent for Art program at its June 3, 2013 meeting. That recommendation was attached to the council’s agenda as a report/communication about a year ago, for the council’s March 18, 2013 meeting. [.pdf of council committee's public art findings and recommendations]

The five councilmembers serving on that committee included Margie Teall (Ward 4), as well as all of those who have declared their intention to participate in the Democratic mayoral primary race: Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Sally Petersen (Ward 2), Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) and Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3).

The time frame that some councilmembers have talked about for funding the new approach to public art – before judging whether it has succeeded – is as long as three years. That appears to be based on one of the committee’s recommendations:

Recommendation: The staff should review the successful implementation of any changes in the ordinance after 36 months. This timing is based on the task force’s awareness that capital improvements may take longer than two years to move from inception to completion.

That finding also included a recommendation on administrative support:

Recommendation: a professionally trained public art administrator can provide this level of support, but needs to be employed more than 50% of the time. The Public Art Task Force agrees that the program would benefit from the services of a trained administrator, either as a contract employee or a direct hire.

The disagreement over funding of the newly created program is also related to another public art item on the March 3, 2014 agenda – a six-month contract extension for the city’s part-time public art administrator. The item first appeared on the council’s Jan. 21 agenda, but the council postponed that vote until Feb. 3, when it was subsequently defeated. On Feb. 18 it was then brought back for reconsideration, but immediately postponed until March 3. The amount at issue to fund the contract is $18,500.

Affordable Housing

Also postponed from the Feb. 18 meeting is an item that would direct the city administrator to prepare for the council’s approval a budget resolution regarding affordable housing. It would allocate $600,000 from the city’s affordable housing trust fund to support the Ann Arbor housing commission’s plan to renovate its properties. That allocation would be contingent on the closing of the sale of the former Y lot to Dennis Dahlmann, as the net proceeds of that sale are to be deposited into the city’s affordable housing trust fund.

The item was postponed on Feb. 18 only after the council’s two liaisons to the housing and human services board – Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and Jane Lumm (Ward 2) – had aired out conflicting perspectives on the importance of having the item on the agenda. Briere had placed the item on the Feb. 18 agenda. Lumm argued that the agenda placement had come late on Friday and that it was not necessary – for the housing commission’s purposes – to vote on the issue until March 3.

Politics between the city council and the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority are also a part of the mix, as the housing commission has made a $600,000 request of the DDA as well. DDA board members seem keen to see the city pledge its support to the housing commission before committing DDA funds. And some city councilmembers appear to want to secure the DDA’s commitment before voting to support the housing commission’s renovations with affordable housing trust fund dollars.

Outdoor Smoking

Postponed from the Feb. 3 meeting was the first reading of an ordinance that would regulate smoking outside of public buildings and also potentially in areas of some city parks. Chuck Warpehoski (Ward 5), sponsor of the new proposed local law, appeared before the city’s park advisory commission at its Feb. 25 meeting to brief commissioners on the proposal and solicit feedback.

Made punishable under the proposed ordinance through a $50 civil fine would be smoking within 20 feet of: (1) bus stops; (2) entrances, windows and ventilation systems of the Blake Transit Center; and (3) entrances, windows and ventilation systems any city-owned building.

The ordinance would also authorize the city administrator to have signs posted designating certain parks or portions of parks as off limits for outdoor smoking, and to increase the distance from entrances to city buildings where outdoor smoking is prohibited.

Where no signs are posted noting the smoking prohibition, a citation could be issued only if someone doesn’t stop smoking immediately when asked to stop.

An existing Washtenaw County ordinance already prohibits smoking near entrances, windows and ventilation systems, according to the staff memo accompanying the resolution – but the county’s ordinance can be enforced only by the county health department. The memo further notes that the Michigan Clean Indoor Air Act does not regulate outdoor smoking.

Non-Motorized Issues

New items on the March 3 agenda include a funding proposal for the pedestrian safety and access task force established by the city council late last year, with members appointed in late January. The $122,250 item includes a $77,500 contract for facilitation services from Project Innovations. That’s the same firm contracted for similar work in connection with the city’s sanitary sewer wet weather evaluation – which is expected to conclude in the summer of 2014.

Other issues on the March 3 agenda with a non-motorized connection are three stretches of sidewalk. In the context of sanitary sewer design work that Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber Inc. is being hired to do, two sidewalks are included: a stretch along Barton Drive; and a stretch along Scio Church Road.

Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber Inc. did design work for another project for which the council will be asked to authorize funding. The firm prepared the construction drawings, contract specifications and an opinion of probable construction costs for the roadway and non-motorized improvements for a stretch of sidewalk along Ann Arbor-Saline Road near the I-94 bridge. That’s part of a road reconstruction project the Michigan Dept. of Transportation is handling.

Non-Motorized: Pedestrian Safety and Access Task Force

A pedestrian safety and access task force was established through a council resolution passed on Nov. 18, 2013. Confirmed as members of the task force on Jan. 21, 2014 were: Vivienne Armentrout, Neal Elyakin, Linda Diane Feldt, Jim Rees, Anthony Pinnell, Sarah Pressprich Gryniewicz, Kenneth Clark, Scott Campbell, and Owen Jansson.

A key resolved clause establishing the group’s scope of work includes the following: “… the task force will explore strategies to improve pedestrian safety and access within a framework of shared responsibility through community outreach and data collection, and will recommend to council improvements in the development and application of the Complete Streets model, using best practices, sound data and objective analysis.”

The council will be asked on March 3 to consider a resolution to appropriate $122,250 to support the task force’s work, which includes delivery of a report a year from now – in February 2015. The funds are sourced in part from an allocation made during the May 20, 2013 budget deliberations, which appropriated  $75,000 for a study to prioritize sidewalk gap elimination. The connection between sidewalk gaps and the task force’s work is based in part on one of the other resolved clauses establishing the task force: “… the task force will also address sidewalk gaps and create a tool for setting priorities for funding and filling those gaps; …”

The funding will in part be used to pay for a $77,400 contract with Project Innovations Inc. to provide facilitator support to the task force.

According to the staff memo accompanying the resolution, a “team of staff members has identified Project Innovations, Inc. as a firm in the region that has demonstrated skill in task force facilitation and robust community engagement efforts, and is uniquely qualified with the capacity to facilitate the pedestrian safety and access task force’s rigorous work approach within the specified timeframe.” Based on the phrasing in the memo, the work appears not to have been put out to bid and Project Innovations was identified as a “sole source” provider.

Project Innovations is the same firm currently providing facilitation support to a citizens advisory committee that is attached to a sanitary sewer wet weather evaluation study being conducted by the city.

The resolution establishing the task force does not explicitly charge the group with a review of the city’s crosswalk law. But the pedestrian safety task force was established in the same time frame as the council considered an amendment to the city’s crosswalk law. The council ultimately voted to change the language of the law at its Dec. 2, 2013 – so that motorists were required to concede the right-of-way only to pedestrians who had already entered the crosswalk.

That change was subsequently vetoed by mayor John Hieftje. Drawing on the phrasing used in Hieftje’s statement of veto, Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) has indicated he intends to bring forward an amendment that would require motorists to stop at crosswalks for pedestrians only if “they can do so safely.” At the council’s Feb. 18, 2014 meeting, Kunselman announced he’d be pursuing such an amendment.

Non-Motorized: Sidewalks – Barton Drive, Scio Church

As part of the same contract to design urgent repairs to the sanitary sewer pipes and structures in Huron Street near the intersections of Glen Street and Zina Pitcher, Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber Inc. is also being tapped to provide the designs for two sidewalk projects that could ultimately result in special assessments for adjoining property owners.

At its July 15, 2013 meeting, the council approved $15,000 for preliminary design of a sidewalk along Barton Drive.

Location of proposed Barton Drive sidewalk.

At its Nov. 19, 2012 meeting, the council approved $15,000 for preliminary study of a sidewalk to be constructed along Scio Church, west of Seventh Street. And on Nov. 7, 2013 the council approved another $35,000 for Scio Church sidewalk design work.

Purple indicates stretches of Scio Church Road where no sidewalk exists.

The contract with Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber Inc. – which includes $50,629 for the design of the two stretches of sidewalk – would draw on that previously authorized funding.

Non-Motorized: Sidewalks – Ann Arbor-Saline

The council will also be asked at its March 3 meeting to approve a $30,000 general fund expenditure to pay for a new sidewalk along the east side of Ann Arbor-Saline Road from the westbound I-94 exit ramp to the north end of the I-94 bridge, and along the west side of Ann Arbor-Saline Road from Brookfield Drive to the Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) park-and-ride commuter parking lot. The work is part of a more general road reconstruction project being handled by MDOT under an agreement between the city of Ann Arbor, the Washtenaw County road commission, MDOT and Pittsfield Township.

Additional Vehicles

The council will be asked on March 3 to approve the purchase of 18 new vehicles from Signature Ford in Perry, Michigan. Most of the new vehicles are for use by the Ann Arbor police department. Total cost of the purchase is $457,393 and includes:

• one 2014 Ford F-150 four-wheel-drive pickup at $26,407.
• one 2014 Ford Escape four-wheel-drive at $24,050.
• four 2014 Ford Police Interceptors: Sedans at $24,601 each.
• nine 2014 Ford Police Interceptors: Utility at $26,298 each.
• two 2014 Ford Police Interceptors: Utility with rear-auxiliary air-conditioning for use as K-9 units at $26,846.
• one 2014 Ford F-150 two-wheel-drive pickup at $18,158.

The staff memo notes that the police vehicles to be purchased will replace vehicles that will have reached either the 80,000-mile or the six-year limit specified in the city’s labor contracts with the Ann Arbor Police Officers Association and the Ann Arbor Police Supervisors.

The memo further notes that the new sedans have less shoulder room than Crown Victorias. So the AAPD is finding it difficult to install the increased amount of equipment needed in police vehicles, while still maintaining adequate room for officers. That’s why more of the SUV pursuit-rate vehicles are being incorporated into the police department’s fleet.

The city’s non-police vehicles are subjected to a two-step process to determine replacement. According to the staff memo accompanying the resolution, the first step scores a vehicle’s age, miles/hours of use, type of service, reliability, maintenance and repair cost. The second step is review of the vehicle repair history and general condition.

One non-police vehicle to be replaced through the purchase is a truck that has been in service for 7.6 years and has over 4,800 total hours of operation, averaging 0.23 repair work orders per month. The total cost of repairs has exceeded 60% of its purchase price.

City Assets

Several items related to upkeep and improvement of city assets appear on the city council’s March 3 agenda.

City Assets: Parks

City parks factor into three agenda items: (1) a resolution to establish an urban park on part of the surface level of the Library Lane underground parking structure; (2) a paving contract for the replacement of basketball and tennis courts at Clinton Park; and (3) a grant application to the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources Grants Management (MDNRGM) to support a universal access playground at Gallup Park. The Rotary Club has already pledged $250,000 toward such a playground, which is expected to cost about $500,000.

City Assets: Parks – Library Lane Surface?

A resolution that proposes to build an urban park on top of the Library Lane underground parking structure appears on the city council’s March 3 agenda. The proposal was also presented at the Feb. 25, 2014 meeting of the Ann Arbor park advisory commission. The commission was not asked to act on it.

Library Lane park proposal.

The presentation to PAC by Will Hathaway, on behalf of the Library Green Conservancy, included a proposal to reserve about 10,000 square feet on the surface of the Library Lane Structure for an urban park, to be “bounded by the Fifth Avenue sidewalk on the west, the Library Lane Street sidewalk to the south, the western entry to the central elevator to the east, and the southern curb of the service alley on the north.” [.pdf of proposed resolution] [.pdf of proposed site boundaries]

Hathaway reported at that meeting that he’s been working with city councilmember Jack Eaton (Ward 4). Sponsors of the resolution on the March 3 agenda are Eaton, Sumi Kailasapathy (Ward 1), Jane Lumm (Ward 2), and Mike Anglin (Ward 5), who serves on PAC as an ex officio member.

The resolution calls for financial support as well as an allocation of staff time to design and create the park. The resolution asks PAC and the parks staff to prepare preliminary recommendations for the park’s design, to be presented at the council’s first meeting in October of 2014.

Other aspects of the proposal include:

• asking the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to prepare for an eventual transition from parking to non-parking on the surface of the Library Lane structure;
• asking the DDA to conduct a structural analysis of the Library Lane structure to determine if any modifications are needed to safely support design features, such as soil, plantings of various sizes, water features, a skating rink, a performance stage, and play equipment;
• asking that the city’s community services and parks staff work with DDA and the Ann Arbor District Library to facilitate public programming with activities including craft fairs, book fairs, food carts, and fine arts performances;
• asking the DDA to work with the city to explore possible above-ground private and/or public development of the remaining, build-able portion of the surface level north of the central elevator and above the central exit/entrance ramp.

The resolution specifies certain conditions for development rights on the remaining surface of Library Lane, including additional public open space and pedestrian access as features of any private development. The resolution also calls for close collaboration with neighboring properties and businesses, including the Ann Arbor District Library, First Martin Corp., the University of Michigan Credit Union, the Inter-Cooperative Council, and the businesses facing Fifth Avenue and Liberty Street.

Activists have pushed for a public park or plaza on the top of the Library Lane underground parking structure for several years. Several members of the Library Green Conservancy – including former park commissioner Gwen Nystuen, and former Ann Arbor planning commissioner Eric Lipson – attended PAC’s Feb. 25 meeting.

PAC has explored the urban park issue more broadly, most formally with a downtown parks subcommittee created in 2012. The subcommittee presented a report at PAC’s Oct. 15, 2013 meeting that included general recommendations, with an emphasis on “placemaking” principles that include active use, visibility and safety. The most specific recommendation also called for developing a park or open space on top of the Library Lane structure. A park or open space at that location should exceed 5,000 square feet, according to the report, and connect to Library Lane, the small mid-block cut-through that runs north of the library between Fifth and Division. [.pdf of 21-page full subcommittee report]

The subcommittee’s report was accepted by the Ann Arbor city council on Nov. 7, 2013 over dissent from Anglin.

Hathaway’s presentation on Feb. 25 drew on recommendations from the PAC subcommittee, as well as from information in the DDA’s Connecting William Street study.

On Feb. 25, several park commissioners raised concerns, some of which focused on the process of bringing this resolution forward without specific direction from the council. Hathaway noted that the council resolution is intended to start the process, with council direction, to begin working with stakeholders, PAC, the public and others in the design and development of this park.

City Assets: Parks – Clinton, Gallup

At its Feb. 25, 2014 meeting, the Ann Arbor park advisory commission recommended approving a $133,843 contract with Best Asphalt to rebuild the tennis and basketball courts at Clinton Park. The council will be asked to act on the contract at its March 3 meeting.

Clinton Park is located in the southeast part of the city, on Stone School Road, north of Ellsworth Road.

The park is located on the west side of Stone School Road, south of Eisenhower Parkway.

Including a 10% construction contingency, the project’s total budget is $147,227. Best Asphalt provided the lowest of five bids, according to a staff memo. The project will be funded with revenues from the park maintenance and capital improvement millage.

Another item on the March 3 council agenda relates to a proposed “universal access” playground at Gallup Park. At its Jan. 28, 2014 meeting, the park advisory commission recommended applying for the grant from the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources Grants Management (MDNRGM) to help fund the project. Representatives of Rotary Club attended that PAC meeting to convey the group’s $250,000 pledge. Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, told park commissioners that although there are about 80 playgrounds in Ann Arbor, none are universally accessible. It’s a “huge shortcoming” for the parks system, he said.

The exact location within Gallup Park hasn’t been determined, but the playground would be about 5,000 square feet and exceed the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The design and equipment is intended to create environments that can be used by all people, with features like ramps, color-contrasting structures, wider bridges and walkways, and playground equipment that makes it easier for people using wheelchairs.

The council will be asked to authorize the grant application at its March 3 meeting.

City Assets: Larcom Building

The city hall (Larcom Building) at 301 E. Huron is featured in two agenda items – to pay $160,923 for a secondary chiller unit and $28,469 for new light fixtures.

The $160,923 contract for installation of a secondary chiller would go to CSM Mechanical LLC. The existing chiller for city hall is described in the staff memo accompanying the resolution as old, requiring extensive maintenance. Repair is difficult because parts are becoming harder to find. It’s the only unit for the building, so if it goes down, the building has no cooled air. The unit also doesn’t handle well the rapid change in temperatures in spring and fall.

So the city’s strategy will be to install a secondary chiller – leaving the old chiller still in service. The new chiller unit will have about two-thirds the capacity of the old one. If the older unit breaks down during the peak summer season, the new unit will at least be able to provide some cooling air. The long-term plan is to replace the old chiller unit with a second smaller capacity chiller.

The purchase of $28,469 worth of light fixtures for city hall would be from McNaughton McKay Electric Company of Ann Arbor. The new fixtures will replace the original fixtures – which are being removed as part of an asbestos abatement project. The purchase covers the light fixtures for the third and fourth floors. They will match those installed in the basement and first floor during the recent renovation of city hall.

City Assets: Airport

A $17,000 amendment on a contract with the Michigan Dept. of Transportation for a fence and gate project at the Ann Arbor municipal airport appears on the council’s March 3 agenda. Of that, the city’s portion is $425. The remainder is covered by federal and state funds. The actual project was completed in October 2013.

Water Main Issues

After authorizing significant equipment purchases to support water main repair activity at its Feb. 18 meeting, the council will be asked to approve two additional items on March 3 related to water main repair. One item is a $44,702 emergency purchase order to buy more aggregate material used for backfilling water main repairs. A second item authorizes an emergency purchase order for repairing and making a new connection for the water main at 1214 S. University. In both cases, the emergency purchase orders were authorized by the city administrator, and the work was done.

The emergency purchase order with Ellsworth Industries for $44,702 was submitted and approved on Feb. 14. The city had an existing contract with Ellsworth Industries to supply the aggregate material. The staff memo cites the extreme cold during the 2013-2014 winter as causing “a greater than average number, scope and magnitude of water main breaks city-wide.”

The emergency purchase order with E.T. MacKenzie was for a water main repair not to exceed $30,000 – on South University at the location of Pinball Pete’s. Here’s a timeline of the events of early February released by Oxford Property Management. [.pdf of Oxford Property Management timeline Feb. 6 through Feb. 12, 2014]

The city opted to use E.T. MacKenzie for the work – which included making a new connection to a different main – because the owner’s contractor was already on site.

Street Closures

Street closures for two events are on the council’s March 3 agenda: Take Back the Night and the Monroe Street Fair.

Take Back the Night is a demonstration against sexual violence. This year’s event begins on April 2 at 7 p.m. in the ballroom of the Michigan Union. The keynote speaker is Samantha Soward. A march through the University of Michigan campus and the city of Ann Arbor follows. The route of the march goes south down State Street to Madison, taking Thompson, William, Fourth Avenue and Liberty back to State Street.

This year’s annual Monroe Street Fair takes places on Saturday, April 5. The section of Monroe Street to be closed is between Tappan and State streets.

Fire Protection

A resolution sponsored by Jane Lumm (Ward 2) could be analyzed as obliquely related to the council’s decision at a special session on Feb. 24, 2014 not to exercise a right of first refusal to purchase the Edwards Brothers Malloy property on South State Street.

By way of background, that property will now be purchased by the University of Michigan, thus removing it from the tax rolls – because UM does not pay property taxes.

As a result, the city will lose about $50,000 per year in revenue, which is used to pay for basic services like police and fire protection. The university does not operate its own fire protection service.

The city’s station #5 is located on university property, for which the university does not charge rent, utilities, or maintenance costs. UM estimates the annual value of that arrangement to the city at about $230,000. In general, however, the Michigan legislature recognizes that municipalities hosting state-owned facilities face a burden of providing fire protection for such facilities – without receiving property tax revenues to pay for that fire protection.

So the legislature enacted a law to award fire protection grants from the state of Michigan – which are dependent on an allocation from the state legislature each year. The allocation is governed by Act 289 of 1977. [.pdf of Act 289 of 1977] The statute sets forth a formula for a state fire protection grant to all municipalities that are home to state-owned facilities – a formula that attempts to fairly determine the funding allocated for fire protection grants in any given year. The fire protection grant formula is defined for any municipality in terms of the relative value of the state-owned property in the municipality.

More precisely, the percentage in the grant formula is the estimated state equalized value (SEV) of state-owned facilities, divided by the sum of that estimated value and the actual SEV of the other property in the community. For example, in Ann Arbor, the total SEV of property on which property tax is paid is roughly $5 billion. The estimated value of state-owned facilities (primarily the University of Michigan) is around $1 billion. So the percentage used in the state fire protection formula for Ann Arbor is about 16% [1/(1 + 5)].

The percentage in the formula is different for each municipality. That percentage is then multiplied by the actual expenditures made by a municipality for fire protection in the prior fiscal year.

The formula can be described as equitable among municipalities – because the grant amount depends in part on the relative value of state-owned facilities in a given municipality. All other things being equal, a city with a greater number of state-owned facilities receives more fire protection grant money than one with a small number of state-owned facilities. The formula can also be described as equitable to the state of Michigan, because the formula calibrates the state’s investment in a municipality’s fire protection to the level of funding that a local municipality itself is willing to provide.

The roughly $14.8 million in a provisional budget request from the Ann Arbor fire department for FY 2015 would translate to a state grant of roughly $2.3 million.

But the state statute explicitly provides for the possibility that the legislature can choose not to allocate funds sufficient to cover the amount in the formula [emphasis added]:

141.956 Prorating amount appropriated to each municipality.
Sec. 6. If the amount appropriated in a fiscal year is not sufficient to make the payments required by this act, the director shall prorate the amount appropriated to each municipality.

Since 1996, the legislature has funded the grants at amounts as low as 23% of the formula to as high as 68%. For the five-year period from 2007 through 2011, the legislature funded the same dollar amount of about $10.9 million statewide, but that translated into diminishing percentages over the five-year span. In the last three years, the program has been only 40-55% funded.

State of Michigan Fire Protection Grants: Actual Dollars. (Data from state of Michigan, chart by The Chronicle.)

State of Michigan Fire Protection Grants: Percentage of Formula Funded. (Data from state of Michigan, chart by The Chronicle.)

The resolution on the Ann Arbor city council’s March 3 agenda would encourage Gov. Rick Snyder, state senator Rebekah Warren (D-District 18), and state representatives Jeff Irwin (D-District 53) and Adam Zemke (D-District 55) to explore creative ways to fund the state’s fire protection grant program for municipalities like Ann Arbor, which host state-owned facilities.

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The work would be funded with proceeds from the parks maintenance and capital improvements millage.

According to a staff memo, the Tincknor-Campbell House is a cobblestone farmhouse that was built in 1844. Its existing wood shingle roof was installed in 1977 and is in serious disrepair. The proposal calls for the new roof to be made of cedar shakes, with flashing done in copper.

The event barn, built in the late 1980s, is rented out for weddings, parties, business conferences, and other events. Its existing roof is over 30 years old and is also in poor condition. Because the building is not historically significant, the proposal calls replacing the roof with a recycled plastic shingle that resembles cedar, but that is less costly and more durable.

The alternative material was approved by the city planning staff who provide support to the city’s historic district commission. The Cobblestone Farm Association has also reviewed the proposal and agreed with the recommendations. The park advisory commission voted to recommend the contract at its Dec. 18, 2012 meeting.

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The city’s park advisory commission had voted at its June 19, 2012 meeting to recommend that the council put the millage renewal on the ballot. The current 1.1 mill tax expires this year. A renewal would run from 2013-2018 and raise about $5 million next year. The recommended allocation of revenues is 70% for park maintenance activities, and 30% for park capital improvement projects. Of that allocation, up to 10% can be shifted between the two categories as needed.

Examples of park maintenance activities include “forestry and horticulture, natural area preservation, park operations, recreation facilities, and targets of opportunity,” according to a staff memo. Capital improvement projects would cover parks, forestry and horticulture, historic preservation, neighborhood parks and urban plazas, park operations, pathways, trails, boardwalks, greenways and watersheds, and recreation facilities.

PAC was first briefed about the millage renewal at its March 22, 2012 meeting. At the time, PAC chair Julie Grand – who served on a working group to strategize about the renewal – said concerns about the economic climate were a major reason why an increase wasn’t being recommended. City parks staff and PAC members subsequently held several public forums about the renewal that were sparsely attended. Technically, the rate of 1.1 is an “increase” inasmuch as the currently authorized millage rate has been reduced from 1.1 mills to 1.0969 by the Headlee Amendment.

The proposed ballot language reads as follows: “Shall the Charter be amended to authorize a tax up to 1.10 mills for park maintenance and capital improvements for 2013 through 2018 to replace the previously authorized tax for park maintenance and capital improvements for 2007 through 2012, which will raise in the first year of the levy the estimated total revenue of $5,052,000.”

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The Thursday meeting custom for election-day weeks appears to be traceable to the city charter and the council’s own rules – but a close reading of those documents indicates that the council should probably be convening a regular meeting on Monday, not Thursday.

And that’s ironic – because the importance of close reading, with attention to details of possible new charter language, could actually be a theme of Thursday’s meeting agenda.

Most prominently, the council’s deliberations could include a discussion of the exact language for a proposed charter amendment on parkland protections, which the council might choose to place on the Nov. 6 ballot. As considered at the council’s previous meeting, on July 16, 2012, the possible charter amendment would require that certain long-term leasing arrangements on city parkland be subject to a voter referendum. In 2008, voters had already approved a charter amendment that subjects any sale of parkland to a popular vote.

On July 16, the council had postponed action on the proposed ballot resolution until its Aug. 9 meeting. In arguing for postponement, some councilmembers cited a desire to have the city’s park advisory commission (PAC) weigh in on the proposed amendment. PAC will convene a meeting on Aug. 8 to consider the matter, and to make a recommendation to the city council.

Another reason given for postponement was the need to examine more closely the meaning and practical significance of the charter amendment language. And in the interim, councilmembers and staff have been mulling additional contractual arrangements on parkland – which could be explicitly added to the charter amendment’s text. Among those arrangements would be any contracts for construction of buildings on parkland that are not “customarily incidental to the principal use and enjoyment of such land.”

If the council chooses to postpone the resolution again, it could vote at its Aug. 20 meeting to place the parks charter amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot, and still meet the statutory deadline for certifying ballot language to the county clerk.

I’ll predict that the council postpones the resolution again, until Aug. 20. And I don’t think that would be an unreasonable outcome for the Aug. 9 meeting. Compared to the annual scheduling of regular city council meetings, the parkland charter amendment deals with topics that are far more complex. And it’s just a way bigger deal.

If the language in the council rules for scheduling meetings can be muddled – enough so that the council has not been interpreting the rule as written – then it’s easy to imagine that the parkland charter amendment could easily be muddled, too. So I think the wording of a charter amendment on parkland deserves the kind of discussion by councilmembers and vetting by the public that would result from robust deliberations on Aug. 9, followed by a vote on Aug. 20.

Spoiler alert: If you don’t want to know the result of the city council’s deliberations on Aug. 9, don’t tune in to CTN Channel 16 and don’t watch it stream live over the Internet on Thursday, starting at 7 p.m. Just watch the Olympics on NBC instead. If you do choose to view the live council proceedings, or attend in person, please note that no medals will be awarded – despite the intense all-around competition in verbal gymnastics.

After the jump, I lay out what the city charter and the council rules have to say about city council regular meeting times. 

Meeting Calendar

Toward the end of each year, the city council votes on a resolution that establishes its regular meeting schedule for the next calendar year. Last year that vote took place at the council’s Dec. 5, 2011 meeting.

That schedule provided for meetings on Aug. 9 and Nov. 8, instead of the Aug. 6 and Nov. 5 dates that would be expected, given the regular pattern – that council meetings are held on the first (and third) Monday of the month.

City Charter Requirements

The city charter does not prescribe that the meetings be held on Monday or any other day. But it does require at least two meetings a month, and it sets forth a remedy, in case a regular meeting happens to fall on a holiday. That remedy is this: Hold the meeting on the next “secular day,” unless the holiday is an election day. If the holiday – on which the regular meeting date falls – is an election day, then the charter prescribes that the council’s meeting would be held on the following Thursday.

Meetings of the Council
SECTION 4.4.
(a) The Council shall fix the time and place of its regular meetings and shall hold at least two regular meetings in each month. If any day prescribed for a regular meeting of the Council is a holiday, such regular meeting shall be held at the same time and place on the next secular day, except that when such holiday is an election day, the meeting shall be held on the following Thursday. [Ann Arbor City Charter]

Just to illustrate, based on the Ann Arbor city charter it would be possible for a city council to set a schedule of regular meetings where the pattern is this: Hold city council meetings on the first and third Tuesday of the month. If that were the pattern, then the charter prescribes two different ways of dealing with regular Tuesday meetings scheduled for holidays. If July 4 falls on a Tuesday, then the Tuesday meeting should be held one day later, on Wednesday, July 5. But for a regular meeting that fell on election day, the charter would  prescribe that the meeting be held two days later, on a Thursday.

There’s no charter requirement that has the impact of moving a regular Monday meeting to a Thursday during the week of an election. Nor is there a charter provision allowing for such a change after the regular meeting times have been fixed.

Council Rule Requirements

So what does the set of formal city council rules have to say about meeting times? It’s the council rules (not the city charter) that prescribe first and third Mondays as the regular meeting time. And the rule appears intended to mimic exactly the wording of the city charter – because it includes a provision about what to do in the event that an election day is involved [emphasis added]:

RULE 1 – Time of Council Meetings.
Regular meetings of the Ann Arbor city council shall be held on the first and third Monday of the month at 7:00 p.m., in the council chamber at city hall. When the date for a regular council meeting falls on a holiday the meeting shall be held the next secular day (Tuesday), except during an election day, when it will be held on Thursday of that week. [Council Rules]

The wording that I highlighted is, I think, an attempt to make the council rule parallel to the city charter – without due attention to the practical effect and likely intent of the charter requirement. Further, as its written the council rule cannot reasonably be interpreted to mean what the council has for several years taken it to mean – that during an election-day week, a regular Monday meeting will move to the following Thursday.

So what is the practical effect of the charter requirement? It ensures that when a regular council meeting falls on an election day, then that meeting gets moved two days later, to a Thursday. So for the framers of the city charter, two factors were apparently important: (1) meetings shouldn’t be held on election day; and (2) meetings shouldn’t be held the day immediately following election day. It’s (2) that distinguishes election days from other holidays, which can have meetings immediately following them. The framers of the charter did not appear to mind if a meeting was held the day immediately before an election.

But a regular Monday meeting regime, as stated in the council rule, would never result in a regular meeting falling on election day – because election day is always on a Tuesday. So the charter itself doesn’t allow or require shifting a regular Monday meeting to a Thursday when it is followed by an election day.

What about the council’s rule – does it require or allow shifting a regular Monday meeting to a Thursday, if it’s followed by a Tuesday election day? Well, no.

That’s because the logical condition set forth in the rule – which must be met before applying any of the changes in regular meeting scheduling – is not, in fact, met. Take Aug. 6 as an example. That’s the date of the regular meeting that would result from the first-and-third-Monday pattern in the first part of the rule. The condition is this: “When the date for a regular council meeting falls on a holiday…” But Aug. 6 is not a holiday. So for evaluating  the regular Monday meeting date of Aug. 6, we can safely ignore everything that follows that unmet condition.

When would the italicized portion of the council rule apply? Theoretically, it would apply whenever there is a Monday holiday immediately preceding a Tuesday election day. Then, the “when” condition would be met, and the meeting would, by rights, be shifted to the next day, Tuesday – but the “except” clause would push that meeting to Thursday.

Language Reflecting Actual Practice

It’s possible that what the council rule’s authors were really trying to achieve was a prescription for what’s become the actual custom and practice – a provision that for election-day weeks, the meeting would always be shifted from Monday to Thursday. The somewhat odd phrasing “during an election day” is a clue that perhaps the work of authorship was left in an unfinished state. Here’s some wording that would reflect the current custom and practice:

RULE 1 – Time of Council Meetings.
Regular meetings of the Ann Arbor city council shall be held on the first and third Monday of the month at 7:00 p.m., in the council chamber at city hall. When the date for a regular council meeting falls on a holiday the meeting shall be held the next secular day. When the date for a regular council meeting falls during an election-day week, the council meeting will be held on Thursday of that week.

Why did I just invest 2,000 words in the arcana of the city council meeting schedule?

My point is this: If it’s a challenge to craft clear language for setting regular meeting dates, then for crying out loud, it’s an even greater challenge to craft clear language that accurately captures citizens’ expectations for public participation in decisions about parkland.

So I will not mind if the council takes the Aug. 9 meeting just to thrash through alternatives to conditions and wording of the proposed parkland charter amendment – and establishes as a goal for that meeting to settle on draft language that citizens can study between then and Aug. 20.

That’s time enough for citizens to read it, understand it, and weigh in with their elected representatives for or against placing the question on the ballot.

By Aug. 20, it’s reasonable to expect a council vote on the resolution.

The Chronicle could not survive without regular voluntary subscriptions to support our coverage of public bodies like the Ann Arbor city council. 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!

Ultimately, the council voted to refer the issue to the city’s park advisory commission (PAC), postponing its own vote until Aug. 9.

The chair of that commission, Julie Grand, had written in an email to mayor John Hieftje on July 12 that she felt “… it is critical for PAC to provide a formal resolution prior to any council vote. I therefore propose to find an alternative time for PAC to hold an open work session with councilmembers [Jane] Lumm, [Mike] Anglin and [Sabra] Briere [co-sponsors of the resolution] in accordance with the deadlines imposed on ballot initiatives prior to council’s vote on this matter.”

In the last two months, the nine-member PAC has seen the departure of three long-time members, because of term limitations: Gwen Nystuen, Sam Offen and David Barrett. Nystuen and Offen were replaced by Ingrid Ault and Alan Jackson. Barrett’s replacement was nominated at the council’s July 2 meeting – Bob Galardi, a former Ann Arbor Public Schools administrator. The two city council representatives to PAC – Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) and Mike Anglin (Ward 5) – are non-voting ex officio positions.

The special meeting by PAC has not yet been scheduled. In an email to The Chronicle, Grand indicated that it might be scheduled for the first week in August. The Ann Arbor city council has until its second meeting in August to put various questions before voters on the Nov. 6, 2012 ballot. A resolution placing a question on the ballot requires a seven-member (2/3) majority on the 11-member council.

The draft language before the council on July 16 was: “Shall Section 14.3(b) of the Ann Arbor City Charter be amended to require voter approval for long-term (greater than 5 yrs) non-park or non-recreational uses of parkland within the city while retaining the section’s current requirement for voter approval of the sale of any city park, or land acquired by the city for a park or cemetery?”

If approved by voters, the charter would be changed to read [added language in italics]: The city shall not sell, lease, or contract for any non-park or non-recreational long-term use, without the approval, by a majority vote of the electors of the city voting on the question at a regular or special election, any city park, or land in the city acquired for park, cemetery, or any part thereof. For purposes of this subsection long-term shall be defined as a period greater than 5 years.”

The existing charter provision, which deals only with the sale of parkland, had been approved in November 2008 by a 81%-19% margin of voters (42,969 to 9,944).

Michigan’s Home Rule City Act already lists among a city’s prohibited powers: “… to sell a park, cemetery, or any part of a park or cemetery, except where the park is not required under an official master plan of the city …” The council voted to place the question before voters in 2008 over dissent from councilmember Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) and former councilmember Leigh Greden.

That year, the council had consciously settled on wording that included just selling, as opposed to leasing. In an Oct. 31, 2008 Ann Arbor News article, mayor John Hieftje was quoted as follows: “From time to time, we’ve thought about how nice it might be to have a restaurant near the river. I think it’s something people would really enjoy … That would be impossible if the ballot measure was expanded to include leasing.”

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

A 1.12-acre parcel to the north of the Bluffs – connecting the existing parkland to Huron View Boulevard – is currently zoned O (office), and had been donated to the city by a nursing home near that site. A 0.57-acre addition to the south connects the existing parkland to Sunset Road and is currently zoned R4C (multiple-family dwelling). It had been purchased by the city from the Elks lodge, using funds from the open space and parkland preservation millage. Both parcels were recommended to be rezoned as PL (public land).

City planner Alexis DiLeo told planning commissioners at their June 5 meeting that the parcels make the nature area more accessible. Though there is frontage onto North Main, there’s no easy access there for pedestrians or cyclists.

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

From left: Councilmembers Sandi Smith (Ward 1) and Sabra Briere (Ward 1). The two had co-sponsored a resolution establishing a task force to study the North Main Street and Huron River corridor. (Photos by the writer.)

In addition to the budget, the council efficiently dispatched with a fairly packed agenda of regular items, which are covered in this part of the meeting report. The item generating the most discussion was a follow-up to action taken at the council’s previous meeting on May 7, to establish a task force to study the North Main Street and Huron River corridor.

That resolution had provided for nine task force members representing different constituencies. At the May 21 meeting, a resolution was brought forward to add three members. A debate unfolded about whether to add a fourth member – from the Ann Arbor public art commission – to the mix. Ultimately that addition was approved narrowly on a 6-5 vote on the 11-member council.

While the North Main task force is meant to develop a vision for future land use in the corridor, the council took action on several current land use items too. Winning easy approval were a site plan for Allen Creek Preschool on Miller Avenue, and a rezoning and site plan for Michigan AAA on South Main Street. The council also quickly approved six routine rezoning requests associated with annexation from a township into the city of Ann Arbor.  And councilmembers gave initial approval to revisions of the planned unit development regulations for a Shell service station on Ann Arbor-Saline and West Eisenhower Parkway.

Associated with these land use items were a total of 10 separate public hearings. However, no one addressed the council during any of those hearings.

The city’s park system made it onto the agenda in a few different ways. First, a consent agenda item was pulled out for separate consideration to highlight the fact that renovations to South University Park were being funded with a $50,000 gift that had been made by a couple – Leslie and Michael Morris – who previously lived next to the park. The council also approved the lease of a 40-space parking lot near Argo Canoe liveries to meet additional demand for river trips that has been generated by construction of the Argo Cascades bypass around the dam.

Related to open space outside the city were the reappointments of two members of the greenbelt advisory commission – Peter Allen and Catherine Riseng. The commission overseas a portion of the city’s open space and parkland preservation millage.

Financial issues considered by the council included initial approval to increase water, sewer and stormwater rates that will together generate an additional $1.7 million in annual revenue. The council also approved a tax abatement for Sakti3, a battery technology company in Ann Arbor that is looking to expand its operation here.

Other items on the agenda included receipt of a federal grant to develop a strategy for improved energy efficiency in rental housing, as well as a grant administered for laptop computers to be used as electronic pollbooks. The computers are used for election record-keeping, not for casting ballots. The council also gave initial approval to an ordinance revision that relieves homeowners of responsibility for maintaining sidewalks adjacent to their property for the duration of the sidewalk-repair millage, which voters approved in November 2011.

North Main Task Force Positions

On the May 21 agenda was an item adding three positions to a task force to study the corridor along North Main Street and the Huron River: a member of the city council, someone from the boating/fishing community of river users, and a representative from the Huron River Citizens Association. During the meeting, an amendment was offered to add a member of the Ann Arbor public art commission (AAPAC) to the task force, too.

When the task force was established at the council’s May 7, 2012 meeting, the membership had included the following: one member of the park advisory commission, one member of the planning commission, one resident representing the Water Hill neighborhood, one resident representing the North Central neighborhood, one resident from the Old Fourth Ward, one resident representing the Broadway/Pontiac neighborhood, two business and property owners from the affected area, and one member of the Huron River Watershed Council.

The task force is charged with delivering a report to the city council more than a year from now – by July 31, 2013 – that describes “a vision to create/complete/enhance pedestrian and bike connection from downtown to Bandemer and Huron River Drive, increase public access to the river-side amenities of existing parks in the North Main-Huron River corridor, ease traffic congestion at Main and Depot at certain times of a day and recommend use of MichCon property at Broadway; …”

Earlier than that – by the end of 2012 – the task force is to make recommendations on the use of the city-owned 721 N. Main parcel.

The creation of the task force comes in the context of the city’s application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for funds to demolish two former maintenance yard buildings on the city-owned 721 N. Main parcel. The application has been approved by FEMA, but is pending the update of the city’s All-Hazard plan, which had expired and is being updated. FEMA is willing to help fund the demolition, because the two buildings are located in the floodway. The city council’s eventual acceptance of the FEMA grant will require a deed restriction on development in the floodway portion of the parcel.

North Main Task Force Positions: Council Deliberations

Sandi Smith (Ward 1), who had co-sponsored the initial creation of the task force, led off the discussion by saying that the council had been inundated with requests about the task force, and that had prompted the addition of three more categories.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) said he felt one segment of the community that should be included is the public art commission. It’s important to make the entrances to the city beautiful, he said, so he wanted a representative from the public art commission on the task force. Sabra Briere (Ward 1) thanked Derezinski for that suggestion. She noted that there truly are so many possible voices that could be heard on the task force.

But Briere worried that the task force could become overcrowded. The task force had been given very tight deadlines, she said. She reported that she’d encouraged interested people to attend the task force meetings and participate, even if they can’t vote. She said she lacked clarity on the parameters for public art – whether the money can be used for non-original decorative pieces, for example. So she hesitated to say where the role of the public art commission member could be on a task force that’s more visionary than practical at this point. Adding a representative from the public art commission would move it up to 13 voting members, which pushes the envelope of practicality, she felt.

Derezinski made a formal motion to amend the resolution to add a representative from the public art commission. If Briere was not clear about the parameters for public art, Derezinski said she should attend the commission meetings or read the annual report. To him the idea of making the entrance beautiful “sort of implies art.”

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5).

Smith respected the idea of having art be a part of this, but said there is not necessarily a specific project the task force is meant to study – because their responsibility is much broader than a specific project. Later in the process, she felt, it’d be appropriate to bring in someone from the public art commission. However, she couldn’t support it now.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) said there’s a continuing discussion about how to better integrate art into the city. He felt it’s possible that someone from the public art commission could help influence the visioning. Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) asked if there are capital projects known to be a part of the task force effort. Briere responded to Hohnke, saying yes and no. She noted that the city staff will be applying for additional grants for 721 N. Main [from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and from the Washtenaw County parks and recreation commission]. She felt that counts as capital improvement. However, the task force’s job is to talk about how best to use the site, not to build or approve a capital project. She imagined that capital projects would come out of this – for example, if there’s a tunnel or a bridge built to get across the railroad tracks, that’s a capital improvement.

Derezinski felt that Briere’s answer to Hohnke’s question was a yes. Derezinski contended that the task force had started off by looking at an entrance to the city. When you start to plan your vision, he said, art should be a part of the vision – and entrances to the city are critically important. The art should not be just an add-on. He said he would like Ann Arbor to be known as an art city. The resolution was already adding three additional members, he said, so he wanted to add one more.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) indicated that this was a case where she’d defer to the people who brought the resolution on the task force forward – and it appeared that they don’t want to add one more member at this time.

She noted that there are other corridor studies going on – for Washtenaw Avenue and South State Street –and no one from the public art commission is on those committees. She felt that the North Main task force is not yet at a point where it needed a member from the public art commission. She wouldn’t support the amendment, she told Derezinski, but she did support what he was trying to do.

Outcome on the amendment: The council voted 6-5 in support of the amendment to add a member to the task force from the public art commission. Voting for the additional member were Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), Christopher Taylor (Ward 3), Margie Teall (Ward 4), Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5), Mike Anglin (Ward 5), and mayor John Hieftje.

Mayor John Hieftje told Derezinski that it was now Derezinski’s task to find a member of the public art commission to add. [Derezinski serves on the public art commission. Two day's later, the public art commission met and recommended that Connie Rizzolo Brown be appointed to the task force.]

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) noted that there’d been a desire expressed by the Greenway Conservancy to be part of the task force, too. She worried that a group as large as 13 might be too large to be effective, and that’s why she had not voted for Derezinski’s amendment.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to add the four positions to the North Main/Huron River task force.

The appointment of actual members to the task force has not yet been made. Sandi Smith (Ward 1) indicated that the complete set of names might be expected by the council’s June 4 meeting. Later in the council meeting, Hieftje gave the following names, which will be formally appointed at the June 4 meeting: Darren McKinnon (Water Hill representative); David Santacroce (North Central neighborhood representative); Ray Detter (Old Fourth Ward representative); Tamara Burns (Broadway/Pontiac neighborhood representative); Julie Grand (park advisory commission representative); Erica Briggs (planning commission representative); Paul Ganz and Mike Martin (business & property owners of the affected area representative); Sandi Smith (councilmember); Rita Combest (Huron River/Newport neighborhoods representative); Cynthia Ives (boating/fishing/river users representative). Not yet determined is the representative from the Huron River Watershed Council. And the public art commissioners subsequently recommended Connie Rizzolo Brown to represent the commission.

Allen Creek Preschool Site Plan

The council considered a site plan for the Allen Creek Preschool, located at 2350 Miller Ave.

The site plan had been recommended unanimously for approval by the Ann Arbor planning commission at its April 17, 2012 meeting. The commission also granted a special exception use for the project.

The project entails building a one-story, 929-square-foot addition onto the west end of an existing 3,111-square-foot preschool building, for a new total of 4,040 square feet. The preschool has an agreement with the Korean Methodist Church at 1526 Franklin Street to use eight parking spaces at the church lot. On-street parking is available on Miller Avenue and Franklin Street.

The special exception use is required because the project is located on a site zoned R1C (single-family dwelling district). According to a staff memo, the preschool includes programs for children up to 5 years old, with one or two afternoon enrichment classes serving children up to 8 years old. The programs will have a maximum of 14 students each (with 8 for young children attending with their parents) and one or two staff members teaching the programs. The preschool programs will be held mornings on Mondays through Thursdays, with enrichment classes held in the late afternoons. The number of children at the preschool will increase from 25 to 42, with a maximum of 50 in the future.

In December 2010, the planning commission had previously granted special exception use and recommended site plan approval for a project proposed by the preschool at a different location. That plan had called for demolishing the existing building and constructing a new 1,101-square-foot preschool building in a residentially zoned district at 1515 Franklin St. The preschool subsequently decided to pursue a different project.

The site plan (but not the special exception use) required approval by city council.

Outcome: Without deliberation, the council unanimously approved the Allen Creek Preschool site plan.

Shell Station Rezoning

The council gave initial consideration to a request to revise the zoning regulations associated with the parcel on the northeast corner of Ann Arbor-Saline and West Eisenhower Parkway, where a Shell service station is located.

The city planning commission had previously voted unanimously to recommend approval of the zoning changes at its April 17, 2012 meeting.

Owners of the station are asking for revisions to the site’s planned unit development (PUD), which would allow them to build additions onto the existing 1,000-square-foot convenience store. The new additions would total 4,089 square feet, including 2,189 square feet to the north and east of the store. Their plan also calls for converting the 900-square-foot carwash area into new retail space. The existing access drive to the carwash would be landscaped, and the parking lot would be reconfigured for a new total of 16 spaces.

According to a planning staff memo, the PUD revisions were recommended because they are seen as providing an overall benefit to the city, by: (1) supporting the continued viability of retail options for the surrounding neighborhood; (2) creating job opportunities from this expansion; and (3) controlling the architectural design standards of this building as a gateway into the city.

Outcome: Without deliberation, the council gave unanimous initial approval to the Shell station PUD revision. Because changes to the PUD regulations are a change to the city’s zoning code, hence to the city’s ordinances, the initial approval by the council at its May 21 meeting will need to be followed by a second and final approval after a public hearing at a subsequent meeting.

AAA Site Plan, Rezoning

The council considered final approval of a rezoning request from AAA Michigan and the site plans for two separate parcels that are part of the same project on South Main Street. The council had given initial approval to the rezoning request at its May 7 meeting.

The rezoning request was to change half of a parcel located at 1200 S. Main to the P (parking) zoning designation.

The rezoning to P (parking) is part of a two-parcel site plan proposal – for which the city planning commission provided a positive recommendation at its March 6, 2012 meeting. At that meeting, the commission took two votes on the 1200 S. Main parcel – the site plan and the rezoning proposal. And on both votes, the planning commission split 6-3. For the other, adjacent parcel at 1100 S. Main, the city planning commission voted unanimously to recommend the site plan for approval.

The two parcels, at 1100 and 1200 S. Main, are across from Michigan Stadium. An AAA branch built in the 1950s is located there. The owner wants to build a new branch on a different part of the site, tear down the existing building, and reconfigure parking spaces.

The two parcels are part of a 1.5-acre site containing four parcels owned by the auto club and all zoned O (office). Located on the 1200 S. Main parcel is the current one-story branch building with walk-out basement and 36 parking spaces, with exits onto South Main, Berkley and Potter.

The 1100 S. Main site is a surface parking lot, which has 72 spaces and exits onto both Potter and Keech. The owner is requesting to build a one-story, 5,443-square-foot new branch building on the northeast corner of that site, with parking for 21 spaces. A second phase of the project would include an eventual 2,230-square-foot addition to the south side of that building. There are six landmark trees on the site, and the plan would require removal of two that are located along South Main, near Keech. Other trees would be added elsewhere on the site.

After the new structure is completed, the old building at 1200 S. Main would be torn down and a 14-space parking lot would be put on that parcel. And to do that, the proposal asked that the northern 123 feet of that parcel – about half of the parcel – be rezoned from O (office) to P (parking), so that parking could become the principal use for that site. A site plan for that parcel is also required.

The owner’s overall plan called for a total of 35 spaces – a reduction from the current parking on the site, which was approved in the mid-1970s but no longer conforms with existing zoning. The 35 spaces would be four more spaces than the 31 maximum number permitted under the O (office) zoning, based on the new building’s square footage in both phases. That’s why the owner requested that a portion of the overall site be rezoned for parking – in the P (parking) district, there is no maximum.

The council’s deliberations were brief. Margie Teall (Ward 4) got confirmation from city planning manager Wendy Rampson that the intent was not to build a parking structure on the site, but rather to have a surface parking lot.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved all three resolutions related to the Michigan AAA site.

South University Park Improvements

On the council’s consent agenda was an item to approve a $43,533 contract with Terra-Firma Landscape Inc. to make improvements to South University Park.

Photo from the June 21, 2011 park advisory commission meeting, when the Morrises announced their gift of $50,000 to rehab South University Park. From left: Michael Morris and Leslie Morris, and Colin Smith, the city's parks and recreation manager.

The work includes removal of trees and shrubs, replacement of the basketball court, removal of the bench and dilapidated kiosk, and installation of three new benches, installation of a new concrete walk that bisects the park, a picnic table, and native flowering trees and shrubs as well as extensive grading to the site.

Consent agenda items are moved and voted on as a group, but can be separated out at the request of any councilmember. Jane Lumm (Ward 2) pulled out this resolution for special consideration to review the list of improvements.

What’s noteworthy, Lumm said, is that they’re being funded by a $50,000 donation from Leslie and Michael Morris, who previously lived by the park and would like to see it improved.

Lumm also highlighted the past service of Leslie Morris on the Ann Arbor city council and the park advisory commission.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the contract with Terra-Firma Landscape Inc. to make improvements to South University Park.

Supplemental Argo Livery Parking

The council considered a resolution approving a $2,500 lease with Huron River Holdings Inc. to use a parking lot near 416 Longshore Drive on weekends and holidays from May 26, 2012 to Sept. 3, 2012 to supplement parking for patrons at the Argo Canoe Livery. [Combined, the Argo and Gallup canoe liveries in Ann Arbor are the largest in the state of Michigan, according to livery manager Cheryl Saam.] It’s expected that the increased user fees at the livery, especially in connection with increased rentals due to the new Argo Dam bypass – called the Argo Cascades – will offset the cost of the lease.

Council deliberations consisted of Sabra Briere (Ward 1) remarking that she is glad more parking is being secured [the lot offers 40 spaces]. However, she ventured that still more parking in the area would be needed as the city had created additional demand through the construction of the Argo Cascades.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the lease to provide overflow parking.

Greenbelt Commission Reappointments

The council considered approval of the reappointment of Peter Allen and Catherine Riseng to the city’s greenbelt advisory commission. The group is responsible for overseeing a portion of the city’s open space and parkland preservation millage.

The greenbelt advisory commission is one of the few boards and commissions for which the nominations to serve come from the city council as a body, not from the mayor. The item had been on the council’s agenda at its May 7 meeting – but only inadvertently. It had been intended only as a communication item. The council voted to postpone consideration of the reappointment until the May 21 meeting.

The commission’s membership is defined in terms of qualifications in different categories. Allen fills the slot on the commission designated for a real estate developer. Riseng fills a slot designated for a plant or animal biologist. According to her University of Michigan faculty profile, Riseng is an “aquatic ecologist with specific focus on fluvial ecosystems and benthic invertebrate ecology.”

The complete slate of membership positions include the following: two members to serve as representatives of environmental or conservation groups; one member who is an agricultural landowner or operates an agricultural business; one member who is a real estate development professional; one member who is a plant or animal professional; one member who is a plant or animal biologist; three members from the public-at-large; one member of the Ann Arbor city council.

The city council representative to the greenbelt advisory commission is Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5). In re-introducing the reappointments, Hohnke noted that both Allen and Riseng have provided their substantial expertise in service of the commission.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to reappoint Allen and Riseng to the greenbelt advisory commission for three-year terms.

Water, Sewer Rate Increases

The council gave initial consideration to increased rates for drinking water, sanitary sewer and stormwater. According to a staff memo, the increases on an average single-family customer come to 3.21% across three different rate tiers – assuming the same level of consumption as last year. That 3.21% increase works out to $19.40 per year. [.pdf of water, sewer rates]

History of Ann Arbor water rates, showing the introduction of tiered rates. (Image links to Google Chart.)

Because the water and sewer rates are part of a city ordinance, the council will need to vote a second and final time on the rates, after a public hearing.

By way of illustration of the rates, the drinking water rate for the vast majority of residential customers is tiered, based on usage. For the first 7 “units” of water, the charge is proposed to increase from $1.27 to $1.31. For the next 21 units, the charge is proposed to increase from $2.64 to $2.74 per unit. And for the 17 units after that, the increase is proposed to be from $4.50 to $4.69. For additional amounts more than 45 units, the charge is proposed to increase from $6.50 to $6.78 per unit.

One hundred cubic feet is 748 gallons. So a rate of $1.31 per unit translates to significantly less than a penny a gallon – $0.00175.

Ann Arbor’s tiered rate system was implemented in 2004. Before that, the rate for all usage levels was the same. In 2003, that was $1.97 per unit. In 2004, the lowest tier was dropped to $0.97. This year’s rate for the lowest tier is still less than what the general rate was in 2003.

Council deliberations were brief. Sabra Briere (Ward 1) led off by saying that Ann Arbor has always had some of the lowest rates compared to other communities. And she noted that those who use the least amount of water pay less.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) felt the council shouldn’t gloss over something that results in generating that much additional revenue. The rate increases are expected to generate $664,834 more for the water fund, $916,577 more for the sanitary sewer fund, and $184,064 for the stormwater fund. But the increases are in the 3-4% range, she said, which she felt is reasonable and she would support the changes. None of the councilmembers take this change lightly, she said. The rates are competitive. The additional revenues are necessary to fund debt service and new capital projects. The increases are not insignificant but are reasonable, she said. Mayor John Hieftje said he appreciated the mention of Ann Arbor’s rates as compared to other municipalities.

Outcome: Councilmembers unanimously voted to give initial approval to the rate increases.

Sakti3 Tax Abatement

The council considered a tax abatement for Sakti3 – a battery technology spinoff from the University of Michigan. Sakti3 is led by UM professor Ann Marie Sastry.

The council had postponed their vote on the tax abatement at the council’s May 7 meeting – at the request of Marcia Higgins (Ward 4), who wanted the matter referred first to the council’s budget committee.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4).

According to a staff memo accompanying the resolution, the abatement would be on $151,433 of real property improvements and $1,374,861 of new personal property. According to a memo from city financial staff, the value of the tax incentive to Sakti3 over three years totals $36,000.

Reasons given in the staff memo for the abatement include the need for Sakti3 to expand and add new equipment for the continually changing alternative energy business and the expected addition of five new employees due to the firm’s expansion. The memo concludes that the retention and expansion of such operations is consistent with the economic development goals of the city of Ann Arbor and of Ann Arbor SPARK.

Previously, the council voted on March 21, 2011 to set a public hearing on the establishment of the industrial development district under which Sakti3 is applying for an abatement. And on April 4, 2011, the city council approved the establishment of that district.

The city is prohibited by state statute from abating taxes on any more than 5% of the total state equalized value of property in the city. Responding to an emailed query, city of Ann Arbor chief financial officer Tom Crawford wrote to The Chronicle that total SEV for the city for 2012 stands at $5,294,974,640, and the total SEV of abated property in 2012 is $8,935,974. That works out to 0.169% – well under 5%.

At the May 21 meeting, the council moved the item forward on the agenda so it could be considered early in the evening. The brief deliberations consisted of a report from Higgins, who noted that the council’s budget committee had met to discuss the abatement, and had recommended that the request be moved forward to the council for approval. Higgins chairs the budget committee.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the Sakti3 tax abatement.

Sustainability Grant

The council considered authorizing receipt of $256,000 to create a community-scale energy strategy to increase energy efficiency improvements in rental housing.

The rationale for the project, according to a staff memo, is to address energy costs that are regressive, because renters often pay more on utilities due to the condition of rental housing stock. That is, higher energy costs affect poorer renters more. The grant will be used to develop a strategy to address inefficiencies in rental housing and thereby increase the affordability of rental housing stock.

The money was awarded to the city as part of a larger $3 million grant given last year to Washtenaw County through the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Community Challenge Planning Grant (CCPG). According to the city staff memo, the goal of the Washtenaw County grant is “to expand existing affordable and energy efficient housing options and connect them to job centers and healthy food through an enhanced multi-modal transportation corridor.”

The corridor in question is Washtenaw Avenue, between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

The $256,000 will be used by Ann Arbor for a rental housing energy efficiency project that is planned to last through December of 2014. Of the $256,000, $210,000 is budgeted for labor to hire a project manager and $46,000 is budgeted for marketing and outreach.

Matching funds totaling $370,000 have been pledged: $50,000 from the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality grant supporting Michigan Green Communities; $60,000 from the Home Depot Foundation Sustainability Framework; and $260,000 from the city’s PACE/A2energy.org energy efficiency financing and community outreach efforts.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the receipt of the grant.

Electronic Pollbooks for All Ann Arbor Precincts

The council considered approval of a $32,850 grant from the state of Michigan, funded through the Help America Vote Act, to pay for 48 laptop computers and the peripheral devices needed to use the equipment as electronic pollbooks (EPBs).

The electronic pollbooks do not change the way voters cast their ballots; Ann Arbor voters will continue to use paper ballots. The electronic pollbooks are expected to make record-keeping at the precinct locations on election day more efficient and to reduce waiting time for voters.

The city had already accepted eight laptops and accessories, which were deployed at eight polling places for the May 8, 2012 election. That pilot program went smoothly, according to a staff memo accompanying the resolution.

An added incentive to the city to participate in the state’s EPB program is that the state will fund 50% of the cost of the maintenance agreements for Ann Arbor’s voting tabulators – if EPBs are implemented in all 48 of the city’s precincts by the Nov. 6, 2012 election. For previous Chronicle coverage of the pilot deployment, see “New Technology for Tech Bond Election.”

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the state grant for electronic pollbooks.

Annexation Rezonings

The council considered final approval for six separate rezoning requests associated with annexation into the city of Ann Arbor from Scio Township. The zoning change in all cases is from the township to a residential category. The requests had received initial approval at the council’s April 16 meeting.

Five of the properties were annexed into the city on Oct. 3, 2011 – in connection with the expansion of a well-prohibition zone due to 1,4 dioxane groundwater contamination caused by the Pall Corp.’s Wagner Road facility, formerly owned by Gelman Sciences. Those five properties are: 305 Pinewood St.; 3225 Dexter Rd.; 427 Barber Ave.; 545 Allison Dr.; and 3249 Dexter Rd.

Annexation into the city allows the properties to connect to city of Ann Arbor water services. Pall has paid all petition filing fees as well as the connection and improvement charges for water and sanitary sewer service that are related to the annexations. The zoning for which the city council gave final approval is for R1C. [Google map of well prohibition zones and property locations] [.jpg of map with well prohibition zones and property locations]

A sixth parcel for which the council considered final rezoning approval – also due to annexation, but not related to the well-prohibition zone – is located at 1575 Alexandra Blvd. The parcel was rezoned from the township to R1A zoning.

No one spoke at any of the individual public hearings on any of the rezoning resolutions. The council did not deliberate on any of the parcels.

Outcome: On separate votes, the council unanimously approved the six rezoning resolutions.

Sidewalk Repair Ordinance

The council gave initial consideration to a revision of the city’s sidewalk repair ordinance – in light of the voter-approved sidewalk repair millage, passed in November 2011. The basic idea is that for the period of the authorized millage – through fiscal year 2016 (which ends June 30, 2017) property owners will not be responsible for repairs to sidewalks abutting the property on which they pay taxes.

There are various wrinkles and contingencies in the revised ordinance for properties located within the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority tax increment finance (TIF) district.

Ann Arbor voters authorized an additional 0.125 mill to be levied as part of the street repair millage, which was also renewed at that November 2011 election for 2.0 mills, for a total of 2.125 mills.

As part of the resolution passed by the city council to place the sidewalk millage question on the November 2011 ballot, the council directed the city attorney and other staff to provide the ordinance revision for the council’s consideration on or before Dec. 1, 2011. There was no comment at the council table about why the revision came to the council nearly half a year after the date specified.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) introduced the ordinance, and described the rationale for the part that deals with the DDA district. He said that because the DDA captures a certain amount of millage monies, the DDA was taking responsibility for repair of sidewalks in the DDA district. But on further reflection, the DDA had insufficient experience with the inspection and repair program, so DDA staff had worked with the city on a plan to have the city perform the repairs and have the DDA fund those repairs with a portion of the millage.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to give initial approval to the sidewalk repair ordinance. As with all ordinance revisions, the council will need to vote a second time at a subsequent meeting, following a public hearing, in order for the ordinance to take effect.

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: R4C/R2A Report

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) alerted his colleagues to the fact that a report from the advisory committee that studied the R4C/R2A zoning areas of the city has been referred to the planning commission’s ordinance review committee. The report is available on the planning commission website, he said. He noted that there are a lot of different views on it. [Derezinski is the city council's representative to the planning commission. For a detailed overview of the R4C/R2A report, see Chronicle coverage of the May 8, 2012 planning commission working session.]

Comm/Comm: Human Rights

Thomas Partridge introduced himself as an advocate for everyone needing vital services. He told the council he is on the Democratic primary ballot for Michigan house of representatives, District 53. [The seat is currently held by Democrat Jeff Irwin.] Partridge said he was there to advance the cause of human rights and disability rights. He called for full funding of housing and human services in Ann Arbor. He called on the council to take an integrated approach, instead of a segregationist approach, and to do away with the old-boy network, and backroom decision making.

Comm/Comm: Smart Meters

Nanci Gerler updated the council on DTE smart meter installation. She reported that the Ypsilanti Township board had voted to enact a moratorium – because the board felt an opt-out provision was necessary. She told the council that citizens as well as representatives for DTE had spoken. She wanted the council to take action and let DTE know there’s a large number of people who will be affected by smart meter installation.

Helen Slomovits introduced herself as a resident of Ann Arbor. The benefits and safety of the devices are being misrepresented by utility companies, she contended. She urged the council to enact a moratorium on smart meter installation. The devices allow for time-of-day billing. She contended the devices don’t save energy or save customers money. In fact, she contended, they cause electric bills to go higher. She also contended that the meters are an invasion of privacy, because they collect more information than necessary. The utility companies also misrepresent the amount of RF radiation the meters give off. The data transmissions might be few per day, but because the devices are part of a mesh network there are about 10,000 transmissions a day to keep the network going, she said.

Responding later to the public commentary on smart meters, Jane Lumm (Ward 2) noted that smart meters are on the agenda for the next environmental commission meeting. Mayor John Hieftje remarked that most communities aren’t fortunate enough to have an environmental commission.

Comm/Comm: Energy Farms

Kermit Schlansker spoke to the council about the challenges to achieving sustainable living. He described the inherent geometric advantages to bigger buildings – a better surface-area-to-volume ratio. He described a range of different energy systems, including solar systems, windmills, bio-digesters, and thermal reservoirs.

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

Next council meeting: Monday, June 4, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 301 E. Huron. [confirm date]

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Susan Pollay, left, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, with councilmembers Sandi Smith (Ward 1) and Margie Teall (Ward 4, sitting) before the start of the March 21 council meeting. Pollay was distributing copies of the downtown street outreach task force report. (Photos by the writer.)

The council has now been formally considering the new licensing ordinance for three months. The ordinance will next come before the council at its Tuesday, April 19 meeting for final approval. Also on April 19, the council will take a final vote on a zoning ordinance that would apply to medical marijuana businesses. The moratorium on use of property in the city for medical marijuana businesses – originally enacted on Aug. 5, 2010 to last for 120 days, but subsequently extended – was extended again at Monday’s meeting through June 30, 2011. [.pdf of medical marijuana licensing ordinance as amended on March 21, 2011]

In a lower-profile but logistically significant move, the council voted to move its second meeting of April from Monday to Tuesday, April 19, because sundown on that Monday marks the start of the week-long Passover celebration in the Jewish tradition.

Other business conducted by the council included: (1) approving a recommendation for non-renewal of a liquor license for the Fifth Quarter; (2) authorizing transfer of $90,000 to the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to improve a public plaza near the Forest Street parking structure; (3) setting a public hearing to establish an industrial development district that could lead to tax abatements for the firm Sakti3; (4) authorizing a letter of support for a Washtenaw County grant application to the state for acquisition of a natural area; and (5) authorizing the city’s own application to the state for grants to support park improvement projects and a new skatepark.

Council deliberations on the park improvement grant applications resulted in the prioritization of a grant to support construction of the skatepark over one to support improvements to the Gallup park canoe livery. The city hopes both grants will be approved by the state.

The council also heard a presentation on a plan for the Millers Creek area, and later in its meeting adopted the plan. It could eventually lead to establishing the creekshed formally as a “drain,” in the sense that the county water resources commissioner (formerly the drain commissioner) uses the term. That designation will increase the area’s eligibility for various funding mechanisms to pay for projects there.

The council heard a presentation from its street outreach task force, summarizing its work over the last six months. That work includes a proposed revision to the city’s panhandling ordinance, which the council will begin considering at its April 4 meeting.

The council also passed a resolution establishing a search committee for a new city administrator. The committee will bring a recommendation to the council at its April 19 meeting on an interim administrator, who will assume responsibilities when current city administrator Roger Fraser departs at the end of April.

The city’s IT director, Dan Rainey, was on hand to receive a Digital Cities award recognizing the city’s efforts to improve services through digital technology. Fraser mentioned during his communications time that the council’s meetings are now being streamed live over the Internet: CTN Channel 16 Live.

Medical Marijuana Licensing

At its March 21 meeting, the council considered a set of licensing requirements for medical marijuana businesses. All new ordinances require an initial approval, plus a final vote by the city council after a formal public hearing. The council had first considered the licensing scheme at its Dec. 6, 2010 meeting. Councilmembers undertook several amendments to the licensing proposal at three of its meetings over the last three months: on Jan. 3, Feb. 7 and March 7.

Dennis Hayes, who has addressed nearly every meeting of the city council when it has discussed medical marijuana, and councilmember Sabra Briere (Ward 1).

At its Oct. 18, 2010 meeting, the council gave initial approval to a set of zoning regulations for medical marijuana businesses, but it has not yet given its final approval to those regulations. The council’s strategy is to bring licensing and zoning forward at the same time for a final vote. The context for development of zoning regulations was set at the council’s Aug. 5, 2010 meeting, when councilmembers voted to impose a moratorium on the use of property in the city for medical marijuana dispensaries or cultivation facilities, and directed its planning commission to develop zoning regulations for medical marijuana businesses. Subsequently, the city attorney’s office also began working on a licensing system.

The moratorium on using additional facilities in the city as medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities – first enacted on Aug. 5, 2010 and subsequently extended – was extended a second time by the council at its Jan. 18 meeting to go through March 31, 2011.

During the course of Monday’s deliberations, mayor John Hieftje elicited from the city attorney’s office an estimate that there are 15 marijuana dispensaries currently operating in the city, plus three dispensaries that are operating in areas that would be prohibited, if the city’s zoning ordinance is given final approval.

Medical Marijuana Licensing: Public Commentary

Gersh Avery reported to the council that a lot of people come to him asking for help – cancer patients who are in stage four, typically. They ask him to make an extract of cannabis that can be used as chemotherapy. In Michigan, there have been 15-20 skin cancer cases cured, he said. He stressed that this is not palliative care, but curative. This kind of cancer research is taking place in other states and other countries, so he wanted to know why it was not taking place in Ann Arbor. A research laboratory to test these materials, he said, needs to be protected, not persecuted. Ann Arbor should be made a center of medical advancement, he said.

Rory Gould told councilmembers he had moved to Ann Arbor from New York 10 years ago, because he wanted to raise his children in a place where they would not be on top of each other, where people are nice to one another, where they’d be exposed to cultural diversity, and have access to high quality education. He thanked the council for their hard work on the ordinance – it’s an example of the spirit of tolerance Ann Arbor is famous for, he said.

Still, he cautioned that there are some remaining concerns. Requiring permanent record-keeping of growers might put good people in danger, he said, and could put a damper on supply. He also expressed concern about the number of dispensary licenses. Most of the existing dispensaries are very well run, he said, but a license might fall into the wrong hands. He said there are some places that are not well run that have no handicapped access and don’t supply locally-grown cannabis. He suggested that licenses also be made transferable on approval of the city council.

Dennis Hayes observed that it’s a now familiar cast of characters who have been speaking and he thanked the council for the work they’ve done. He noted that there are some councilmembers who are spending an extraordinary amount of time to get it right. The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act is helping people get access to high quality medicine, he said. There are still some restrictions, however, that he feels are not helpful to patients. One of those restrictions is that the applications require disclosure of a substantial amount of information about the ownership of the entity – which could be burdensome for dispensaries organized as collectives.

Chuck Ream thanked the council for the opportunity to address them. He said he’d met with Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and the mayor the previous Friday about the issue of documenting the source of the product. He agreed with the intent of the ordinance – we should know where the product comes from in the event of a health emergency. He suggested language that would allow relevant local, county, or state health officials to take action. He suggested that records be kept for 30 days – there’s no reason to keep them for longer than that. He called the need for a cultivation license “pernicious,” because it attempts to restrict the right of people to grow marijuana. About the ordinance requirement that cultivation facilities need a license, he called on the council to “get it out of there,” or everyone who’s currently growing in Ann Arbor will file suit.

Medical Marijuana Licensing: Council Deliberations

The council undertook a series of additional amendments to the ordinance.

Medical Marijuana Licensing – Amendment on Code Section

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) began with an amendment to move the proposed licensing code out of Title VI of the city code, which is designated “Food and Health,” and to move it to Title VII, “Businesses and Trades.” The move entailed a new chapter number – it was proposed that it be changed from Chapter 71 to Chapter 95. The amendment also changed the name of the chapter by striking the word “business.”

At council’s March 7 meeting, Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) had complained to city attorney Stephen Postema that the new chapter was not included in an existing chapter on business licenses – which is also in Title VII. The proposed amendment could be seen as a partial accommodation to Higgins’ concern. The introduction as amended reads:

That a new Chapter 95 be added to Title VII of the Code of the City of Ann Arbor to read as follows:

CHAPTER 95. MEDICAL MARIJUANA LICENSES FOR CULTIVATION FACILITIES AND DISPENSARIES

Postema indicated that he had no problem with the change.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the amendment changing the code section and title.

Medical Marijuana Licensing – Amendment on License Eligibility

An amendment was proposed to make the ordinance consistent with a different amendment made at the council’s previous meeting – it disqualified people based on a felony conviction only if the felony was for a controlled substance offense. Previously, section 6:415 (2) had disqualified a person based on any felony conviction. As amended, it reads:

6:415. License Required, Number of Licenses Available, Eligibility. …
(2) A cultivation facility or dispensary shall not be eligible for a license if any person required under this chapter to be named on the application has ever been convicted of a felony involving controlled substances as defined under the Michigan public health code, MCL 333.1101, et seq, the federal law, or the law of any other state.

Outcome: The council approved the amendment restricting disqualification just to controlled substance felony convictions, with dissent from Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2).

Medical Marijuana Licensing – Amendment on Board Activity

An additional amendment to 6:415 added the phrase “taking into consideration recommendations from staff” to the way the licensing board would make its recommendations:

6:415. License Required, Number of Licenses Available, Eligibility.
…
(7) … The Board will annually review and recommend the licensing criteria, the number of licenses authorized, the license fee structure taking into consideration recommendations from staff, …

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the amendment without comment.

Medical Marijuana Licensing – Amendment on Home Occupations

At the request of Sandi Smith (Ward 1), the following amendment was added to allow for the possibility of voluntary registration with the city by home occupation businesses – which the ordinance does not require to be licensed:

6:415. License Required, Number of Licenses Available, Eligibility.
…
(9) Medical marijuana home occupations do not require licenses but may register with the City by providing the address of the home occupation and the registry number on the caregiver registry identification card or that the MDCH issued to the caregiver who is delivering the marijuana, or some other form of identification.

Smith indicated that the idea is to allow the opportunity to have clarity, in the event that someone gave a tip to the police about suspected illegal activity at a location and that there could be a police raid. She wasn’t sure if anyone would take advantage of that opportunity to voluntarily register with the city to avoid the police storming in. She said she didn’t see any harm.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) suggested that “registry identification card” be supplemented with “some other form of identification.” [The Chronicle understood this to have been accepted as a friendly amendment, but the city clerk's records do not include it as part of the amendment.]

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) wondered if this kind of thing was something usually found in an ordinance or rather was simply a service the city is providing. Postema said it wasn’t usual but said it was also appropriate. The police could have their own program based on a council resolution, he said.

Outcome: The council approved the amendment on a roll call vote, with dissent from Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) and Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3).

Medical Marijuana Licensing – Amendment on Titling

The next amendment simply made the subsections of 6:417 parallel by giving them each a title:

6:417. Application Requirements for New Annual License or Renewal of Existing License; License Requirements for New License and for Renewed License
(1) Application Acceptance. …
(2) Application Requirements. …
(3) License Requirements. …

Outcome: The council approved the titling of the subsections.

Medical Marijuana Licensing – Amendment on Signage

Originally proposed at the previous council meeting, but inadvertently amended out of the proposed amendment, was language specifying the size of letters on the required signage:

(3) License Requirements. A new license shall not be issued to a dispensary or cultivation facility until the applicant for the license complies with all of the following requirements:
…
(d) The applicant has installed a sign in a location visible to all persons who enter the premises, which contains the following statement in letters that shall be no less than one inch high: …

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) wanted to strike the hyphen included in the phrase “one-inch” that appeared in the amendment as offered. Postema indicated that it was not a legal issue, and the hypen was dropped.

Outcome: The council approved the requirement on lettering size for the signs.

Medical Marijuana Licensing – Amendment on Labeling, Record Keeping

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and Sandi Smith (Ward 1) had developed an alternative to the package labeling requirements that was meant to address concerns about record-keeping and the need of a patient to contact someone about the product they were provided. Record-keeping requirements in subsections 6:419 (5) and 6:419 (10) were also eventually added to the discussion and moved as part of the same amendment, with revisions made along the way. As amended and approved by the council, the material read:

6:419. Conduct of Business at Cultivation Facility or Dispensary.
…
(4) All marijuana delivered to a patient shall be packaged and labeled as provided in this chapter. The label shall include:
(a) a unique alphanumeric identifier for the person to whom it is being delivered;
(b) a unique alphanumeric identifier for the cultivation source of the marijuana;
(c) that the package contains marijuana;
(d) the date of delivery, weight, type of marijuana and dollar amount or other consideration being exchanged in the transaction; and,
(e) a certification that all marijuana in any form contained in the package was cultivated, manufactured, and packaged in the state of Michigan.
(f) the warning that:
THIS PRODUCT IS MANUFACTURED WITHOUT ANY REGULATORY OVERSIGHT FOR HEALTH, SAFETY OR EFFICACY. THERE MAY BE HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE INGESTION OR USE OF THIS PRODUCT. USING THIS PRODUCT MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS. DO NOT DRIVE OR OPERATE HEAVY MACHINERY WHILE USING THIS PRODUCT. KEEP THIS PRODUCT OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN. THIS PRODUCT MAY NOT BE USED IN ANY WAY THAT DOES NOT COMPLY WITH THE MICHIGAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACT OR BY ANY PERSON WHO DOES NOT POSSESS A VALID MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENT REGISTRATION CARD.
(g) The name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number of an authorized representative of the dispensary whom a patient can contact with any questions regarding the product.
(h) The name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number of at least one governmental or non-profit organization that may be contacted by a patient who has concerns about substance abuse of drugs, including marijuana.
(5) All of the required labeling information, including coded patient and caregiver information shall be maintained and available for inspection at a cultivation facility or dispensary for no less than 180 days one year after dispensing.
…
(10) A cultivation facility or dispensary shall keep records of the caregivers from whom they receive marijuana in any form, and shall make the records available to the City in a health emergency upon request to promote health, safety and welfare, or to otherwise verify compliance with this chapter.

Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) wanted to know what the rationale was for the alphanumeric coding. Smith explained that it would be a way for dispensaries to create a code to allow tracing of product origin without using the codes provided by the state. If it turned out to be necessary to find someone who grew or delivered some particular product, you’d be able to find them.

Briere indicated that they’d learned that the state would not release any information to the city based on Michigan Dept. of Community Health codes unless it’s related to a criminal investigation, so the previous version of the ordinance would not help in the event of a health emergency.

Margie Teall (Ward 4) wanted to know about the requirement that a “certification” be required that the product originated in Michigan. Briere answered by saying that would have to be figured out – it might wind up just being an assertion.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) expressed some irritation at the timing of some of the information, saying it had come at the “eleventh hour.” He wanted to hear comments from the city attorney on possible effects on the ability of the police to enforce the law. City attorney Stephen Postema indicated that it’s not new that the state won’t give out information related to registry numbers. The issue, he said, is what kind of record-keeping the council wants dispensaries to have. He didn’t have a problem with the changes. But Postema said that it’s more than just a health issue – the state’s statute intends that there be a close relationship between the patient and the product, he said. He then advocated for enabling the licensing board to look at dispensary records in order to ascertain that the product is grown in Michigan.

Briere noted that even if the city had registry card numbers, the state would not confirm that a number is an authentic registry card number.

Derezinski said he was interested not just in the health issue but also the origin of the product. He wanted to make sure the numbering system would allow for the board to verify that the product was being grown in Michigan. He wanted to know if the board would be able to do spot checks or if the process would be driven by complaints. Postema again advocated for the council to require that records be turned over not just in the event of an emergency, but also to verify that the product originated in Michigan.

Smith suggested adding 6:419 (5) to the amendment on the floor at the time.

Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) wanted to know what the rationale was for maintaining the records only 180 days. Smith indicated that just a few hours earlier, there was a draft that indicated 30 days, but she’d be willing to think about an even longer period.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) worried about having just a single unique identifier – perhaps there should be some way of cross checking. Smith indicated that patients would know what their own unique identifier is – they could give it to someone else if they wanted that person to pick up their medication for them.

As he scanned down the other sections, Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) wondered about the idea of site visits – would the licensing board be visiting dispensaries? He said he was leery of having inspections conducted, because it would put city staff in positions they might not want to be in or qualified to handle. He wanted to know what other communities are doing in this regard. Postema indicated that few other communities were trying to enact any ordinances and were instead continuing to “punt,” in some cases by extending moratoria for another two years. Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township had developed some legislation, Postema said.

Postema continued by picking up on Smith’s comment about someone picking up another person’s medication for them. There needs to be some additional thought about ensuring that the product goes to a qualified patient, Postema said.

Derezinski indicated he was troubled by questions about when the information on the coding would have to be made available. Briere noted that this was dealt with in subsection (10), and that the council was then discussing just (4) and (5) – would he like (10) to be added to the discussion? Derezinski agreed he wanted it to be added.

At that point, Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) suggested including (10) to the same amendment – which deals explicitly with conditions on which the coded information would need to be made available. Taylor made the suggestion that instead of a medical emergency, more general conditions could result in a request to produce records: “… upon request to promote health, safety and welfare, or to otherwise verify compliance with this chapter.”

Rapundalo indicated his support for the additional language. He asked if the 180 days could be extended to a full year – that was accepted as a friendly amendment.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) wondered how the record-keeping for labeling information – for example, “that the package contains marijuana” – would be handled. Briere explained the logic was that you would just run off two labels, and put one on the package and stick one in a book.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the labeling and record-keeping amendments as revised during deliberations.

Medical Marijuana Licensing – Amendment on License Renewal

The last amendment introduced was one that dealt with how licenses get renewed.

6:417. Application Requirements for New Annual License or Renewal of Existing License; License Requirements for New License and for Renewed License
…
(8) A license issued under this chapter shall expire one year after the date of issuance. To renew an existing license, the licensee shall submit an application in the same manner as is required to apply for a new license no sooner than ninety (90) days before the expiration date and no later than sixty (60) before the expiration date.

Briere explained that the language had been developed in response to concerns expressed in the community that with an annual license renewal, a dispensary might have to compete with everyone else who wanted a license. She had not been able to come up with language that made clear that existing license holders would not compete for renewal of their license with others who wished to obtain a license for the first time.

Postema said it would not be his expectation that a dispensary with a license would have to compete in that way. Rapundalo noted that it was an important issue, because the city had seen what could happen when an extra liquor license became available a few years ago – it was confusing to determine who might have had a grandfathered-in request. Mayor John Hieftje stressed that the renewal of a license for a dispensary would not be automatic.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) felt that appropriate language to afford first-in-line status could be drafted by the time of the second reading of the ordinance.

Final outcome: The council voted unanimously to give initial approval to the marijuana licenses. The second and final votes on its medical marijuana business licensing proposal and its medical marijuana zoning ordinance are scheduled for council’s April 19, 2011 meeting. The moratorium on the use of property in the city as a medical marijuana dispensary or a medical marijuana cultivation facility was extended from March 31, 2011 to June 30, 2011.

[.pdf of medical marijuana licensing ordinance as amended on March 21, 2011]

Medical Marijuana Non-Disclosure Policy

Before the council for consideration was a policy on non-disclosure of certain information, like names and birth dates for patients and caregivers, that might be collected in the course of the zoning and licensing process for medical marijuana businesses. The non-disclosure policy had been discussed, but postponed, at the council’s March 7, 2011 meeting.

The resolution had originally been introduced by Sabra Briere (Ward 1) in the context of the council’s current work on zoning and licensing ordinances for medical marijuana businesses – legislation that has not yet been given final approval by the council. [.pdf of original draft resolution]

Because the medical marijuana licensing ordinance that received initial approval that same evening ultimately did not include the collection of any personal information, Briere – who’d sponsored the resolution – indicated she wished to withdraw it.

Outcome: No council action was taken, as the resolution was withdrawn.

Non-Renewal and Renewal of Liquor Licenses

The council considered two resolutions regarding liquor licenses – one for renewal and one for non-renewal. At its previous meeting, the council had authorized the appointment of Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) as a hearing officer to entertain appeals – a move that was made over the objection of Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2), Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) and Sabra Briere (Ward 1). The appointment of Derezinski as a single hearing officer had come as an amendment to the original council resolution that night, which had called for the council’s liquor license review committee to serve as a hearing board.

Since appointment as hearing officer, Derezinski has handled two non-renewal recommendations. The city’s intent to pursue non-renewal of a liquor license for Studio Four – located at 314 S. Fourth Ave. – had been based on non-payment of taxes, but they’d since been paid, Derezinski reported at Monday’s meeting. So that license was now being recommended for renewal.

Derezinski’s finding of facts concerning The Fifth Quarter, however, included more than 89 calls for police service at the establishment between Jan. 1, 2010 and Oct. 25, 2010, and reports of fights among patrons, and between Fifth Quarter staff and their patrons. [The club is located at 210 S. Fifth Ave.] The report included one occasion on which 25 officers from Ann Arbor police department, University of Michigan department of public safety, and the Washtenaw sheriff’s office had monitored crowds exiting the establishment and had needed to arrest several people for disorderly conduct.

Outcome: In separate votes, the council voted unanimously to recommend renewal of Studio Four’s liquor license, over dissent from Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) and Sabra Briere (Ward 1), and unanimously to recommend non-renewal of The Fifth Quarter’s license.

Applications to MDNRE

Before the council were two items concerning applications to the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment (MDNRE) – the city’s own applications, and an application that Washtenaw County is making.

MDNRE City Applications – Skatepark, Canoes, Boats

For two of the MDNRE grants – for improvements to the Gallup livery and park, and for the proposed skatepark at Veteran’s Memorial Park – the city is applying to MDNRE’s Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. For the third grant, the city is applying to MDNRE’s Waterway Grant-in-Aid program to upgrade the boat launches at Gallup and Argo parks.

The city’s park advisory commission recommended approval of the applications at its most recent meeting. ["PAC Supports Grants for Skatepark, Gallup"]

MDRNR City Apps – Skatepark, Canoes, Boats: Council Deliberations

An amendment offered by Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) prioritized the skatepark project over the Gallup renovations – based on the opportunity to leverage $400,000 of matching funds from the county, which will expire unless the skatepark’s construction is under contract by Jan. 1, 2012.

The amendment came after clarification with Sumedh Bahl, the city’s community services area administrator, that just two of the applications are ranked by the city in the application process – those for the skatepark and the Gallup canoe livery. Both are for $300,000 from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. The other grant, to improve boat launches, is from a different source – the Waterway Grant-in-Aid fund.

In the course of deliberations, Mike Anglin (Ward 5) wanted to know if it were possible to apply to the waterway fund for the canoe liveries – which would eliminate the need to rank the skatepark against any other project. Bahl said it was not possible.

Hohnke’s reasoning was that the skatepark grant could ultimately mean the transfer of a $1 million asset from the Friends of the Skatepark to the city. But if it doesn’t happen this year, the matching grant funding – from the Washtenaw County parks & recreation commission – won’t be available. An application for improvements to the Gallup canoe livery, on the other hand could be applied for next year, reasoned Hohnke.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) wanted to know what it would mean to “prioritize” the applications. It’s simply a matter of designating one as the preferred application, explained Bahl. Bahl pointed out that there’s precedent for communities with two applications to have both of them approved.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) – who serves as one of two ex officio city council representatives to the city’s park advisory commission (PAC) – noted PAC was very interested at its last meeting in seeing the Gallup canoe livery project go forward. They were anticipating those improvements being useful in the context of the increased canoe traffic that may result from construction of the Argo Dam bypass, which is due to start construction this season. He later stressed that PAC had itself not expressed a priority ranking of Gallup canoe liveries versus skatepark.

Taylor wanted to know if prioritization of the skatepark would significantly reduce the chances of receiving the grant to improve canoe liveries – and if so, what the negative impact would be. Bahl responded by saying that it’s not just a matter of increased boat traffic, but also the safety for pedestrians and the boats. The turnaround for taking canoes from Gallup back up to Argo is logistically challenging. There are also accessibility improvements planned as part of the project.

Taylor drew out the fact that the Gallup canoe livery project is a $750,000 project – the city’s share would be $450,000. Taylor summed up his thinking by saying that a $300,000 grant for the livery would give the city roughly half a project, whereas the $300,000 for the skatepark would mean that they are pretty much “all the way home.” Based on that, he was willing to support prioritization of the skatepark.

Mayor John Hieftje said there’d been an unexpected “bonus” of sales of gas and oil leases into the state trust fund, so it had more money in it now than anyone could remember. He said if the council didn’t accept Hohnke’s amendment, it would essentially leave the prioritization to the state.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) wanted to know if the canoe livery improvements would be revenue positive – she noted that as far as she understood, the skatepark would not generate revenues. Bahl confirmed that the improvements at the canoe liveries would generate additional revenue – through more boats and more programming.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) indicated he’d be supporting the prioritization, pointing to the chance to leverage funds from the county. He said his understanding was that grant applications that had matching support were generally stronger than other applications. Kunselman noted that a lot of money had already been invested in canoeing recently, whereas there’d been no corresponding support for skateboarders – it was their turn.

Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) indicated that he’d support the amendment, but said it would be a hard choice if it came down to it. He said he didn’t want to dismiss the idea that there’s a need for the canoe livery improvements. For him, the county’s match was the crucial point, and he would be willing to cross his fingers that both projects would receive funding.

Outcome on priority amendment: The council voted to approve the prioritization, over dissent from Sandi Smith (Ward 1).

Outcome on approval of applications: The council voted unanimously to approve the three grant applications.

MDNRE: County Application – Land Acquisition

The city council had received a recommendation from Ann Arbor’s greenbelt advisory commission (GAC) to send a letter of support for an application from Washtenaw County to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund. Through its natural areas preservation program, the county hopes to secure funds from the state to help purchase a parcel in Ann Arbor Township now owned by a subsidiary of Domino’s Farms.

At its most recent meeting, GAC had recommended that the city council consider a letter of support, after Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5), the council’s representative to GAC, had cautioned against GAC’s sending such a letter before confirming that the county’s application would not dilute the city’s own chances to win grant funding. [Chronicle coverage: "Greenbelt, County Look to Partner on Farms"]

During brief deliberations, Hohnke mentioned his earlier concern about the possibility that the county’s application could dilute the city’s own chances for its grants. But he had clarified with city staff that the source of the grant money comes from two separate state funds – one for parks improvements and one for land acquisition.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the letter of support for Washtenaw County’s grant application.

“Transformer Plaza”

Before the council for consideration was authorization of a transfer of $90,000 from its parks memorials and contributions fund to the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority.

During a council break, Susan Pollay, executive director of the DDA, shows Sabra Briere her book. (Photo links to close-up of book cover. Kudos to readers who can guess before clicking through what Pollay is reading these days.)

The money will be used by the DDA for the design and construction management of improvements to a plaza near the Forest Street parking structure. Because of the number of DTE Energy transformers that are situated near the plaza, it’s known in some circles as Transformer Plaza.

The $90,000 figure stems from the $50,000 and $40,000 contributions made to the parks fund by the 601 S. Forest and Zaragon I developments, respectively, which are located in the vicinity of the plaza. As part of any site plan review process in the city of Ann Arbor, developers are asked to make a donation of land so that new residents have access to adequate open space. But the city also accepts cash donations in lieu of land contributions.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) noted that the residents of the South University area would be pleased – it’d been discussed a lot. Mayor John Hieftje said the project had been in the pipeline a long time.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the transfer of funds.

Millers Creek

Scott Dierks gave a presentation to the council on the background for the Millers Creek improvement plan, which the council was asked to adopt by resolution later in the meeting. Dierks introduced himself as representing the Huron River Watershed Council, as a member and volunteer. He described Millers Creek as one of six creeksheds in the city, covering about 2.5 square miles in the vicinity of Plymouth and Huron Parkway. The creekshed drains to the Huron River.

He traced the origin of the improvement plan back to 1992 as a grassroots effort by Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM). ERIM had reached out to the HRWC and to the landscape design firm Peter Pollack & Associates. That eventually led to a Pfizer-funded effort in 2003-04, to develop an improvement plan, which made specific recommendations in light of current and future land use in the creekshed. The plan was approved by the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Millers Creek watershed improvement plan is still used as an example of good watershed planning by the EPA, and is accessible through the EPA’s website, Dierks said.

He listed off some specific accomplishments that have grown out of the plan: 56 rain barrels installed; 6 rain gardens installed; 2 detention pond retrofits, including Thurston Pond, which help control stormwater runoff on around 36 acres; planting of oak savannah; and 500 feet of bank stabilization along Huron Parkway.

The resolution before the council, Dierks said, formalizes the work that has already been done and would serve three purposes: (1) acknowledge the plan, which will guide development in the Millers Creek watershed; (2) help designate the watershed as a county drain; and (3) continue to facilitate relationships between creek groups, the University of Michigan, the city, and the neighborhood.

During council deliberations, Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) – in whose ward the creekshed is located – complimented those who’d done the long and hard work on the plan. He noted that he’d served on the action team that had worked on the plan in the earlier part of the decade. The city’s planning commission had approved the plan back in 2006, he said. What had been missing was the formal adoption by the city council. He pointed to the designation of Millers Creek as a county drain as a priority when that opportunity presents itself – the designation as a drain would allow it to be eligible for grant funding, he said.

Outcome: The council unanimously adopted the Millers Creek improvement plan.

Sakti3 Development District Hearing Set

The council was asked to vote to set a public hearing on establishing an industrial development district (IDD), which could lead to tax credits for Sakti3.

The company is a University of Michigan spin-off focused on advanced battery technology, headed by Ann Marie Sastry. The IDD would be established for just under an acre of land, located at 1490 Eisenhower Place. Sakti3 is reportedly considering an investment of $2.4 million in new equipment and hopes to hire five additional people.

The hearing will be held at the council’s April 4, 2011 meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. in the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall at 100 N. Fifth Ave. [Previous Chronicle coverage mentioning Sakti3: "No Secret Sakti3 Wants Its Batteries in Cars" and "Lutz Rides Current Motors Potential"]

During brief deliberations, Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) said that Sakti3 is an incredible business, saying that it represents the future and is cutting edge.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to set the hearing on establishing an industrial development district.

City Administrator Hiring Plan

Before the council for consideration was a resolution calling on the mayor to appoint a five-member city council committee, which is to include the mayor, to handle the search process to find a replacement for outgoing city administrator Roger Fraser. Fraser announced his resignation at the council’s Feb. 28, 2011 working session. At the end of April, Fraser will leave the city to become a deputy treasurer for the state of Michigan.

The resolution charged the search committee with providing a recommendation to the council at its April 19 meeting for an interim city administrator. At that meeting, the committee is also expected to present a plan for a selection process to hire a permanent administrator. The plan is to provide for internal as well as external candidates.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) and Mike Anglin (Ward 5) share a laugh before the March 21 meeting.

Mayor John Hieftje led off council deliberations on the resolution by saying it was gracious of Fraser to stay on through the end of April. He thanked mayor pro tem Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) for putting together the resolution. He said he hoped to finish the hiring process before the end of the summer, if not in mid-summer.

Hieftje announced that the following councilmembers would serve on the committee: Sabra Briere (Ward 1); Christopher Taylor (Ward 3); Marcia Higgins (Ward 4); and Tony Derezinski (Ward 2). Higgins will chair the committee. Hieftje indicated that the committee members had not been chosen by seniority, but rather to get a good mix of experience and perspective. He stressed that the committee would only make recommendations and that the whole council would need to approve all the decisions.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) asked that when the plan is presented to the council, they get a cost impact analysis for various options for doing the search.

Derezinski described himself as bringing “a lot of baggage” to the committee, having been involved in some searches for the superintendent of schools. He also said he’d been through the process when the Eastern Michigan University board of regents had chosen Bill Shelton as president. He described it as a unique dynamic. The two main functions of the city council are to hire and fire the city manager and to approve the city budget, but it’s not often that the council has the opportunity to do it. [The council also hires and fires the city attorney.]

Derezinski said his bias was to seek expertise from professionals who help with searches, like Colin Baenziger & Associates or the Michigan Municipal League [.pdf of Michigan Municipal League executive search services description]. He said there’d need to be full and robust discussion by the whole council as well as the public. He described it as “a balance” between adhering to the requirements of open government and the interest by some candidates in maintaining confidentiality in the early stages of a search.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to appoint the search committee.

Schedule Change for Passover

The council considered a resolution to revise its regular meeting schedule for the year by changing its second meeting in April to Tuesday, April 19. The shift was prompted by observation of Passover, the week-long Jewish festival and holy day – its start is celebrated at sundown on Monday, April 18. The council has been holding its meetings recently in the Washtenaw County administration building, due to renovations at city hall. But they are expected to have returned to their chambers on the second floor of city hall for the April 19 meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m.

During deliberations, Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) questioned why they are moving the meeting, given that Passover lasts a whole week. Mayor John Hieftje indicated he had no explanation. City administrator Roger Fraser indicated that it was a suggestion from the city staff, based on previous city council practice. He noted that it would affect the planning commission’s meeting as well. [The planning commission typically meets on Tuesdays, but during the week of Passover its meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 21.] Hieftje allowed he was not an expert in this area. He said he was interested “only in taking the correcting action here.” Sabra Briere (Ward 1) provided the insight that the first night of Passover is considered especially important.

Outcome: The council voted to change its calendar due to the Passover holiday, with dissent from Marcia Higgins (Ward 4).

Council OKs Property Transfer to Avalon

Before the council for consideration was a resolution to approve the transfer of property at 1500 Pauline from the Washtenaw Affordable Housing Corp. (WAHC) to Avalon Housing. The council also approved the release of WAHC from all terms of their $700,000 federal HOME loan, $300,000 federal CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) loan and Housing Affordability Agreement.

The nonprofit Avalon is currently managing all of WAHC’s properties as part of a consolidation, described as a “merger,” that began two years ago. At its Feb. 22, 2011 meeting the city council approved a site plan for the 1500 Pauline property, allowing Avalon to construct 32 dwelling units and 39 surface parking spaces. The plan includes demolition of four existing apartment buildings – known as the Parkhurst Apartment complex – containing 48 units.

The new construction would include six new buildings totaling 53,185 square feet. Five of the buildings would include one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and three-bedroom townhomes. The sixth building would be a community center with a playground. The project won a recommendation from the city’s planning commission at that body’s Jan. 20, 2011 meeting.

Outcome: Without comment, the council voted to approve the transfer.

Street Task Force: “Have a Heart, Give Smart”

The council heard a presentation from its street outreach task force, which the council appointed at its Sept. 20, 2010 meeting and charged with developing cost-effective recommendations for addressing the issue of downtown panhandling and the needs of those who panhandle. [Previous Chronicle coverage: "Ann Arbor Task Force Consults Panhandlers"]

The report was given by two members of the task force – Maggie Ladd, executive director of the South University Area Association, and Charles Coleman, a project coordinator with Dawn Farm.

Highlights of the report included recommendations that: (1) the city council revise the city’s ordinance on solicitation to prohibit panhandling in additional locations; (2) the police chief increase police attention downtown during the busiest hours of the week; (3) the city’s community standards division increase their interaction with the public; and (4) the mayor’s downtown marketing task force take an expanded role working with residents, merchants and service providers. The task force report describes an educational campaign to advise downtown visitors and University of Michigan students about options they have besides giving money to panhandlers, a campaign with the slogan “Have a Heart, Give Smart.” [.pdf of street outreach task force report]

During her communications time, Sabra Briere (Ward 1), chair of the task force, told her council colleagues that a revision to the city’s ordinance on solicitation would be presented to them for consideration at their April 4, 2011 meeting.

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: 415 W. Washington Update Scheduled

Mayor John Hieftje noted that last year, the council had approved a three-way collaboration between the city, the Allen Creek Greenway Conservancy, and the Arts Alliance to work on a plan for the future of the city-owned lot at 415 W. Washington. He allowed that a report was owed to the council about progress on that project, and there’d be a half hour presentation at the council’s April 4 meeting. [By way of background, the resolution establishing the collaboration specified: "RESOLVED, That a progress report be delivered to City Council at the first meeting in February, 2011." Chronicle coverage: "City Restarts 415 W. Washington Process" ]

Comm/Comm: Increased Public Accessibility for Meetings

During his communications time, city administrator Roger Fraser mentioned that the city council’s meetings would now be available streamed live over the web: CTN Channel 16 Live. Previously, the city has provided access to archived coverage of public meetings through Community Television Network’s video-on-demand service: Ann Arbor Public Meetings Archive. [CTN also provides live broadcasts of the meeting on its cable TV community access channel.] The accomplishment of the live streaming came relatively quickly after Fraser had first mentioned the possibility at the city council’s Feb. 14, 2011 work session on the budget. From Chronicle coverage of that session [emphasis added]:

Community Television Network

Included in the impact sheets was one for CTN, which Fraser indicated was not part of the general fund, but which is also trying to meet reduction targets. The impact sheet indicates an expenditure for a capital investment of $97,431 – to transition to an appropriate digital format. The new format, said Fraser, would allow for live streaming on computers instead of on television.

Comm/Comm: DDA-City

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) gave the council an update on progress of discussions between two committees – one from the city council and another from the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority – to reach agreement on a new contract under which the DDA would continue to manage the city’s public parking system. The committees have been meeting weekly, he said, and had reached the point of discussing contract language. He said they are making good progress and would be able soon to bring forward a document that could form the basis of a spirited, but fruitful, conversation. [As of the meeting on the morning of March 21, the DDA and the city's committees are still not in agreement on what the percentage of gross parking revenues should be that the DDA pays to the city, or on the specifics about the contract's term. For background on these discussions, see Chronicle coverage: "Parking Money for City Budget Still Unclear"]

Comm/Comm: Labor Report

In January, Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2), the chair of the council’s labor committee, indicated that he would be using the council communications slot on the agenda to give updates on the status of labor negotiations. Since that time, he has done that on several occasions. On Monday, he announced that he wanted to respond to some statements in an article that had appeared about a week before in a publication called AnnArbor.com.

Rapundalo said he’d already conveyed his responses to the author of that article, but that he would not be commenting on the author’s “vivid prose,” which described Rapundalo’s reaction to a report that he’d been looking at. [From the article's opening line: "It's early on a Friday morning and Ann Arbor City Council Member Stephen Rapundalo is shaking his head, a look of distaste frozen in his eyes."]

Rapundalo began by addressing the reporting of some background material provided in the article, which Rapundalo said portrayed some confusion with respect to the purpose of the state’s Act 312 statute.

Rapundalo stressed that Act 312 had not taken away the right to strike by police and fire personnel provided in exchange for compulsory arbitration. [From the AnnArbor.com article: "When it was put in place in 1969, it was seen as a solution to a problem: By sending disputing parties to arbitration, cities could avoid public safety strikes, and police and fire personnel would be guaranteed an arbitrator would consider their requests."] Instead, Rapundalo pointed out, the Public Employment Relations Act 336 of 1947 already prohibited strikes by public sector employees. He quoted the act: “A public employee shall not strike.”

Later, in 1969, the legislature passed Act 312, which Rapundalo then quoted to show again that the right to strike was already prohibited when Act 312 was passed: “It is the public policy of this state that in public police and fire departments, where the right of employees to strike is by law prohibited, …”

Rapundalo also took issue with any implication from statements reported in the article that the city had not bargained in good faith in prior negotiations. Rapundalo said the city had based its negotiations on the economics of that time, noting that economic conditions had changed, even in a very short time period. Today’s economic reality is different, he said, and the city is now negotiating based on current conditions.

Rapundalo then took issue with statements attributed to a representative of the Ann Arbor Police Officers Association (AAPOA) about reduction in health care benefits. Rapundalo stressed that the city had not asked and was not asking for reductions in health care benefits. Health coverage is not the issue, he stressed, but rather employee contributions to their own health coverage and retirement.

Rapundalo took issue with the statement by AAPOA reported in the article that expressed a willingness of the union to continue their 2009 contract, without any wage increases. If the union thinks that forgoing a wage increase is a fair sacrifice, Rapundalo contended, then they really haven’t been paying attention to what’s been going on around the rest of the state and the country. Other unions have given up longevity bonuses, uniform allowances and retirement plan contribution matches, he said. The “step increases” based on years of service that are a part of the current police contract, together with other features of the contract, will result in a 3.5% increase in costs in FY 2012 compared to the current fiscal year, Rapundalo said – when other groups’ costs are going down.

Rapundalo also disputed a claim by AAPOA that exposure to radon in the city hall building resulted in greater need for health care by its members, and that their health care plans should be left in place. Rapundalo stated that there’d been no demonstrable link between conditions in the building where they’d been previously housed and any increased need for health care. If there were such a link, Rapundalo concluded, it would be covered under a worker’s compensation claim, not under the city’s health care plan.

Comm/Comm: Digital Cities Award

Robert Blake, regional vice president for government and education at AT&T, presented Dan Rainey, the city of Ann Arbor’s IT director, with the 6th place Digital Cities Award for cities in its category for the survey – those with populations from 75,000-124,999.

Though it's not part of his day-to-day responsibilities as head of the city's IT department, Dan Rainey was wrangling cable at the start of the city council meeting. The meeting was held at the Washtenaw County administration building boardroom, where council is meeting temporarily due to renovations at city hall.

The top cities for that category – in order of ranking, including ties – were: Pueblo, Colo.; Olathe, Kan.; Lee’s Summit, Mo.; Roseville, Calif.; High Point, N.C.; Independence, Mo.; Simi Valley, Calif.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; Arvada, Colo.; Roanoke, Va.; Schaumburg, Ill.; and Berkeley, Calif.

Blake noted that it was the third year in a row that Ann Arbor had been included in the top ten. This year the ranking was especially meaningful, he said, because it was based on a new scoring system that is based on actual results. Among the specific initiatives cited by Blake were: a shared data center with Washtenaw County and adoption of cloud technology; use of in-car digital video in police cars; online water consumption data for consumers; and the city’s use of Facebook and Twitter.

Comm/Comm: Police Incident

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) related how a resident of his ward had called in a report to the police about something and had wound up being cited for a violation, which had caused the person to become very upset. Anglin described how the situation had resolved itself with an apology from the police, and concluded that in this town, you can fight city hall. Anglin portrayed the episode as reflecting positively on the police department.

Comm/Comm: Palestine

Henry Herskovitz addressed the council with two items he said he thinks will help promote peace in Palestine: (1) passing a human rights resolution for the cessation of military aid to Israel; and (2) his group’s forum to be held on March 29 at 7 p.m. at the Mallets Creek branch of the Ann Arbor District Library. He told the council that they might think it was risky to challenge the local Jewish community, but he gave them an example of a food co-op in Olympia, Wash. that had passed a boycott of Israeli goods, and had become stronger as a result of it.

Herskovitz told the council that he’d joined the Olympia food co-op and and showed them a picture of himself standing in front of the co-op. He told councilmembers that standing for social justice can, in fact, have an impact. He quoted Rosie the Riveter from World War II: “We can do it!” He asked council members to “shed past acrimonies” and to attend the Mallets Creek forum on March 29.

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

Next council meeting: Monday, April 4, 2011 at 7 p.m. in the city council chambers on the second floor of city hall at 100 N. Fifth Ave. [confirm date]