Timeline: Ann Arbor Fourth/Fifth Avenue

Draft of Timeline for Key Events in Ann Arbor Development

Jan. 15, 2008: City Place conditional rezoning – planning commission recommends denial.
May 20, 2008: City Place PUD (planned unit development) – planning commission recommends denial.
Sept. 4, 2008: City Place PUD – planning commission recommends denial.
Dec. 15, 2008: Historic District Study Committee – city council rejects resolution to establish study committee for Germantown neighborhood.
Jan. 5, 2009: City Place PUD – city council denies project on a unanimous 0-10 vote.
April 21, 2009: City Place MOR (matter of right) – planning commission recommends approval on 6-3 vote.
June 1, 2009: City Place MOR – city council postpones it due to inconsistencies in drawings provided on city’s website. [Errors attributed to city staff.]
June 15, 2009: City Place MOR – city council sends it back to planning commission due to technical errors with drawings provided at the planning commission’s April meeting. [Errors attributed to city staff.]
July 7, 2009: City Place MOR – planning commission recommends denial on 5-1 vote to approve (needed 6 votes for approval).
July 20, 2009: City Place MOR – city council postpones until January 2010, to give the developer the opportunity to pursue a revised PUD. A condition was that the developer could bring back the matter of right project with 35-days notice.
Aug. 6, 2009: Historic District Study Committee – city council establishes study committee plus a moratorium on demolition for a two-block area, including the proposed site of City Place, but not The Moravian.
Aug. 11, 2009: City Place “Streetscape PUD” (a revised version of de Parry’s project) – receives planning staff initial review.
Aug. 12, 2009: City Place “Streetscape PUD” – introduced to neighbors to comply with the neighbor participation ordinance.
Aug. 17, 2009: Historic District Study Committee – city council revises language of moratorium to include all forms of work, including demolition.
Aug. 30, 2009: City Place “Streetscape PUD” – application for project was not accepted by city planning staff.
Sept. 8, 2009: Historic District Study Committee – members appointed.
Sept. 21, 2009: City Place MOR – city council approves the project, but it cannot move forward because of the moratorium on demolition passed, together with the historic district study committee.
Sept. 21, 2009: Historic District Study Committee – first meeting of the committee.
Sept. 30, 2009: Historic District Study Committee – committee meets.
Oct. 12, 2009: City Place “Streetscape PUD” – de Parry gives update on “Streetscape PUD” at public meeting held at Conor O’Neill’s.
Oct. 14, 2009: Historic District Study Committee – committee meets, expands area of research.
Nov. 4, 2009: Historic District Study Committee – committee meets.
Dec. 1, 2009: Historic District Study Committee – committee meets, contemplates recommendation to expand area of recommended district, 3-3 vote.
Dec. 14, 2009: City Place “Streetscape PUD” – project now called “Heritage Row” and de Parry gives update at public meeting held at the Ann Arbor District Library.
Jan. 5, 2010: The Moravian – the planning commission approves the project.
Jan. 12, 2010: Historic District Study Committee – committee meets, consensus for smaller district.
Feb. 16, 2010: Historic District Study Committee – committee meets.
March 1, 2010: The Moravian – the city council approves at it at first reading.
April 5, 2010: The Moravian – the city council rejects it at second reading.
May 3, 2010: Heritage Row – the city council approves it at first reading.
May 5, 2010: Historic District Public Hearing.
May 17, 2010: Historic District Study Committee – committee meets, adopts final report.
June 7, 2010: Heritage Row – the city council postpones it at second reading
June 21, 2010: Fourth/Fifth Avenue Historic District – city council approves it at first reading
July 6, 2010: Fourth/Fifth Avenue Historic District – city council rejects it at second reading.
July 6, 2010: Heritage Row – the council reconsiders Heritage Row but rejects it again.
July 6, 2010: Fourth/Fifth Avenue Historic District – bid by Carsten Hohnke to reconsider historic district fails.
July 6, 2010: Heritage Row – Carsten Hohnke abandons bid to reconsider Heritage Row a second time at the same meeting.
Dec. 6, 2010: Heritage Row – failed bid by Sandi Smith to get revised version of Heritage Row reconsidered
Feb. 7, 2011: Heritage Row – city council offers partial waiver of filing fee if developer brings back revised version of Heritage Row within 90 days.
March 25, 2011: Heritage Row – public participation meeting held on revised version of Heritage Row
Sept. 9, 2011: News emerges that the developer has sold project and new owner will build City Place.
Oct. 3, 2011: Heritage Row – city council votes to reconsider Heritage Row, postponing a decision on first reading until Oct. 17 and scheduling an extra meeting for Oct. 24 when the second vote could take place.
Oct. 3, 2011: City Place – city council votes to allow developer to sequence offsite utilities work simultaneously with construction work in consideration of his willingness to entertain more discussion on Heritage Row.
Oct. 17, 2011: Heritage Row – city council approves it at first reading.
Oct. 17, 2011: City Place – city council votes to waive landscaping requirements and to allow certain changes to elevations (windows and siding).
Oct. 21, 2011: Heritage Row – developer withdraws project from consideration.
Oct. 24, 2011: Historic District Study Committee – the council rejects a proposal to appoint a new historic district study committee for the area that includes the site of City Place/Heritage Row.
Dec. 7, 2011: City Place – Ann Arbor’s zoning board of appeals (ZBA) votes to reject an appeal made by nearby neighbors of the City Place project. The appeal challenged two decisions made by the city council and one made by the city planning manager.
December 2011: City Place – site work begins. Construction is expected to be complete by the summer of 2012.