Currently, a city ordinance requires that all development plans subject to public hearings, currently under review, be displayed in city hall, in a location accessible to the public, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 7 days prior to those public hearings. At the above-reported meeting, the planning commission voted unanimously to severely restrict the public’s access to the complete and up-to-date plans after business hours by eliminating this requirement. It must now go to City Council where I hope they will immediately reject it.

For those who’ve never been confronted with a controversial development issue in their neighborhood, this may not seem like a big deal, but it is. Our neighborhood has successfully fought off two very inappropriate developments and are currently fighting a third. Time after time, we’ve watched developers and their architects stand up and thank the planning staff for the “countless hours” of work and meeting time they have put in on helping the developers/architects improve their proposals.

The public’s time with staff is far more limited and is often rushed. The neighbors are treated courteously, but more like an obligation than a real stakeholder. If one wants unlimited access to the files and plans, then one must pay a fee for copies and wait for days while they are prepared. Many of my neighbors work full-time day jobs and are not free to come to city hall during the work day anyway.

Secondly, since we are not experts, we have found that our best defense against these inappropriate developments is to hire consultants to help us navigate plans, city ordinances, and legal technicalities. Some of these experts have offices in Metro Detroit so they were unable to visit City Hall during the day unless we were to assume the financial burden and pay their travel time.

This is an unfair burden to place on the public, when all staff has to do is keep the drawings current and make sure we can get to them after-hours.

It’s really not that difficult to have a set of plans on a wheelchair-accessible table in the lobby of city hall. When revisions are received from the developer, take the elevator down there and put the new plans in the set. Simple.

While I think the 24-hour requirement is perhaps a bit extreme, this amendment is so vague and weak that it only requires staff to make an attempt at putting plans somewhere in City Hall. It doesn’t even require that plans be up-to-date, merely rubber-stamped with a note that tells one to go to the planning office for the latest version (not open after 5pm). Citizens and their consultants should have after-hours access to the same plans that the developers and staff do.

Online staff reports, often only posted a couple of days before hearings, are no substitute for physical access to actual drawings. For one thing, they are not scalable (architectural term meaning that an architect’s scale or ruler can be used to measure dimensions on the drawings).

Further, the staff reports never include ALL documents submitted by developers, and often include computer-generated renderings or Photo-Shopped images (not required submittals) made by developers to sell positive features and hide negative ones. (Unfortunately, the planning commission often uses these unmeasured, and unvetted renderings to base their decisions–but that’s another matter entirely.) Full physical access to required drawings is imperative for the public, and restricting this access to business hours is only limiting the public’s ability to intelligently respond to proposals.

An online file of all documents related to the development, scanned and posted as they arrive, would be a good tool for all sides, too, but as a welcome addition to public access, not a substitute for physical access to the architectural drawings.

Many of the issues in R4C neighborhoods could have been addressed in the 18 YEARS since the Central Area Plan was adopted, yet the City has dragged its feet, or done nothing at all. Last year a committee was finally appointed to look into it, but it took 8 months to seat them. They met a few times, but it’s now been months since the last meeting. In the time since this committee was formed, and our recent battles have given substantial zoning deficiencies the light of day (thanks to our access to the plans), planning commission and council could have easily adopted some minor revisions to the ordinances that would close loopholes and clarify vague items. For example, they could have clarified building height measurement, defined dormers, reconciled dwelling unit and housekeeping unit definitions, and numerous other minor items.

Instead, this zoning ordinance amendment is being pushed quickly through the system based on an procedural issue that only came to light (thanks to us) about 9 months ago. Eighteen years and counting to sort out the underlying zoning problems, but only 9 months to act to restrict the public’s access to information because staff simply failed to keep the plans up-to-date?

I hope others will join me in asking city council to reject this ordinance amendment so as not to further impair the public’s access to information. We need more and better access, not less!