Archive for March, 2011

Ann Arbor city council meeting (March 7, 2011) Part 2: At its first meeting in March, the city council undertook extensive amendments to a licensing proposal for medical marijuana businesses that it began considering for the first time at its Dec. 6, 2010 meeting. However, at the early March meeting, the council ultimately decided to postpone again its initial vote on the licensing proposal, which will eventually require two votes by the council, if it is to be enacted.

The city council will again take up the issue of licenses for medical marijuana businesses at its Monday, March 21 meeting.

The council had previously heavily amended the licensing proposal at its Jan. 3, 2011 meeting as well as at its Feb. 7 meeting. The amendments made on March 7 put the council possibly in a position to make any final amendments, and to take its initial vote on the licensing proposal at its March 21 meeting. [.pdf of medical marijuana licensing proposal after March 7 amendments – "clean" version] [.pdf showing amendments undertaken at the March 7 meeting – "marked up" version]

Also at the March 21 meeting, the council is expected to extend the moratorium on use of property within the city for medical marijuana businesses – first enacted at the council’s Aug. 5, 2010 meeting. The initial moratorium was supposed to last only 120 days, but was subsequently extended at the council’s Nov. 15, 2010 meeting for another 60 days, and again at its Feb. 7, 2011 meeting an additional 60 days, until March 31, 2011. The council wants to coordinate the second and final vote on a medical marijuana zoning ordinance, which it passed initially on Oct. 18, 2010, with the vote on the licensing ordinance.

An additional medical-marijuana-related item, postponed from the March 7 meeting until March 21, is a proposal to enact a clear non-disclosure policy for information that the city might gather from people who have registered with the state of Michigan as medical marijuana patients and caregivers under Michigan’s voter-approved Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.

Part 1 of the March 7, 2011 city council meeting report – which deals with the non-medical marijuana issues on the agenda – was previously published as a separate article. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board meeting (March 17, 2011): At its regular monthly meeting, the AATA board voted unanimously to adopt a “Smart Growth” scenario as the basis for a countywide transit master plan (TMP). The transit authority has been developing the TMP over the course of a planning and public engagement process that began in the summer of 2010.

The final phase of that process included 20 public meetings in February, where three different scenarios were presented: Lifeline Plus, Accessible County, and Smart Growth. The three scenarios were nested subsets, starting with Lifeline Plus as a base, which would simply have expanded on existing services and focused on expanding services for seniors and disabled people throughout the county. Accessible County would have added fixed-route bus service to connect all the county’s urban centers. Smart Growth included all the features of Accessible County, as well as high-capacity transit along local corridors, plus regional commuter rail.

At Thursday’s meeting, board chair Jesse Bernstein characterized the TMP as a reflection of where the community wants to be 30 years from now. The entity that would be implementing the TMP, he stressed, would likely be organized under a different legal framework than the current AATA, which is an Act 55 transit authority, with a tax levied just in the city of Ann Arbor. The AATA board has actively discussed for at least the last two and a half years the idea of transforming the transit authority to a countywide funding source, possibly using Act 196.

The meeting included three other pieces of business: (1) approval of a contract for the AATA’s paratransit services; (2) acceptance of an auditor’s report on the AATA’s books from the previous fiscal year; and (3) approval of a contract for media services.

Also discussed, but not acted on, was a memorandum of understanding with the city of Ann Arbor for construction of a bus pull‐out on eastbound Washtenaw Avenue east of Pittsfield Boulevard. The bus pull-out is part of a larger project – a transfer center on the south side of Washtenaw Avenue at Pittsfield Boulevard, opposite Arborland mall – which will include a “super shelter.” The project is being funded with federal stimulus money granted to the AATA. The board was in favor of the agreement with the city, but was reluctant to vote on the memorandum absent a copy of the text of the memorandum itself. [Full Story]

The Detroit Free Press reports that the University of Michigan fraternity chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity has been closed due to hazing allegations. The allegations are based on a parent email describing the hazing process members were forced to endure, including paying for strippers and drinking regurgitated water with goldfish. UM policy protects against hazing, defined as “any action or situation, with or without consent of the participants, which recklessly, intentionally or unintentionally endangers the mental, physical or academic health of a student.” [Source]

University of Michigan board of regents meeting (March 17, 2011): At a meeting held in downtown Detroit’s Westin Book Cadillac hotel and designed to showcase UM’s partnerships with that city, Thursday’s meeting also included some harsh words from students protesting the selection of Gov. Rick Snyder as spring commencement speaker.

Richard Durance, an undergraduate who authored a petition against Snyder’s selection that was signed by more than 4,000 students, delivered it to regents on Thursday, saying that Snyder’s proposed cuts to K-12 and higher education make him an inappropriate choice. Zach Goldsmith, describing himself as the “angry senior” who organized protests earlier this week at the Diag, criticized regents for holding their meeting in Detroit, making it difficult for students to attend and voice their concerns.

After the public commentary, several regents defended the decision, which was made by UM president Mary Sue Coleman and did not require a vote of the board. Regent Larry Deitch said that although he’s a Democrat and personally doesn’t agree with some items in the Republican governor’s proposed budget, he endorsed the decision. And if students decide to protest at the April 30 event, he added, “that’s in the finest Michigan tradition, and we welcome it.”

Regents also heard presentations about three programs focused on Detroit: (1) the Semester in Detroit, a student-initiated program that has participants live, study and work in the city; (2) the Healthy Environments Partnership, a community-based participatory research effort that focuses on understanding and promoting cardiovascular health in Detroit neighborhoods; and (3) Revitalization and Business: Focus Detroit, a new program that’s connecting organizations in Detroit with students at the UM Ross School of Business.

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

And during public commentary – in addition to the calls for protest against Snyder – one of the speakers promoted this year’s TEDxUofM, to be held Friday, April 8 at the Michigan Theater from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The theme – “Encouraging Crazy Ideas” – was inspired by an August 2010 Forbes column written by UM president Mary Sue Coleman. [Full Story]

Julie Hinds of the Detroit Free Press writes about George Clooney’s filming of the “Ides of March,” in the context of possible cuts to tax incentives for the film industry: “On a chilly morning this week, preparations are under way for shooting George Clooney’s new political drama, “The Ides of March,” in Ann Arbor on the University of Michigan campus. Clooney plays Gov. Mike Morris, a candidate in a presidential primary, and is directing the movie. But another political fight has become a big concern among the cast and crew members from the region. This one is about the future of the state’s film incentives.” [Source]

In a letter to the city council dated March 18, 2011, fire chief Dominick Lanza makes clear that the personal reasons he gave earlier in announcing his resignation on Feb. 15, 2011 were not the only impetus behind his decision to leave the job: “Yes, I leave for personal reasons but had it not been for that it would be for the lack of support and the systematic destruction of your Fire Department.” Lanza started the job just last year on March 22.

In his letter, Lanza compares the city’s approach to fire protection to “playing baseball with a basketball team.” He specifically criticizes the possibility of transforming fire protection in Ann Arbor to a combined career firefighter and paid-on-call department, calling instead for regional cooperation as a way to be more cost effective.

By way of background, at a December 2010 city council budget retreat, the council discussed the possibility of moving to a combined paid-on-call department, and a fire protection services study was authorized by the council at its Feb. 7, 2011 meeting to explore that option. At the council’s most recent meeting, on March 7, 2011, the chair of the council’s labor committee, Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2), asked the city attorney to explore the legalities involved with a recent move by Allen Park, Mich. – that community had decided to send layoff notices to nearly its entire fire department.

In his letter, Lanza also refers to a 3% reduction in pay the firefighters union accepted last January in order to preserve 14 firefighter positions that had been planned for elimination. He objects to the characterization of that concession as only lasting for six months: “Your firefighters … have taken permanent pay cuts of 3% not for six months as reported but in perpetuity as well as an additional 1% pension contribution.”

The contract under which the firefighters are working – which was revised to make the 3% salary cut – expired on June 30, 2010. So for now, firefighters continue to work for 3% less than they made in 2009 before making the concession. [Full Story]

Fennville, Michigan – On Monday, I drove across Michigan to see a Class C regional semi-final basketball game, pitting tiny Schoolcraft High School against even tinier Fennville.

Both schools were undefeated – but that’s not why I was going. I was going to see the impact of a young man who would not be there.

Before I drove back, I also learned how quickly even a record-breaking basketball game can become utterly insignificant – and then, just a few days later, how the next game can matter so much.

Fennville is about 200 miles from Detroit, but it might as well be 200 light years. When you approach Fennville, you pass a sign declaring, “Hometown of Richard ‘Richie’ Jordan, Member of the 2001 National High School Sports Hall of Fame.”

You haven’t heard of Richie Jordan, who graduated almost 50 years ago and stands only 5-7. But everyone around here has, and down at the Blue Goose Café, they still talk about all the records he set in football, basketball and baseball. But the last few years, they’ve been talking about Wes Leonard. [Full Story]

At its March 17, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board voted unanimously to adopt a “Smart Growth” scenario as the basis of continued development of its transportation master plan (TMP). The Smart Growth scenario is the most ambitious of three scenarios the AATA has developed, which unfolded over the course of a planning and public engagement process that began in the summer of 2010.

Transit options in the three scenarios – which the AATA has labeled Lifeline Plus, Accessible County, and Smart Growth – are nested subsets, starting with Lifeline Plus as a base, which expands on existing services and focuses on services for seniors and disabled people. Accessible County extends services by adding fixed-route bus service to connect all the county’s urban centers. The Smart Growth scenario includes north-south and east-west commuter rail regional components, as well as high-capacity local transit options for corridors like Washtenaw Avenue and State-Plymouth.

Development of the TMP for countywide service has been identified by the AATA board as a necessary step to take before reorganizing the AATA as a transit authority for the entire county. In December 2009, the board held a special meeting to seek advice on various options for reorganization under Act 196 or Act 55. [Chronicle coverage "AATA Gets Advice on Countywide Transit"]

This brief was filed from the Ann Arbor District Library boardroom, where the AATA board holds its regular monthly meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link] [Full Story]

At its March 17, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board voted unanimously to award its contract for A-Ride and paratransit services to Select Ride Inc. Select Ride is the current provider of these services. The contract value is $2,793,481. The contract term is for one year from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012, with two one‐year additional renewal options.

A-Ride is a transportation service for people who are prevented from using AATA fixed-route bus service due to a disability. It’s provided with taxis, small buses or lift-vans.

The new contract differs from the old one by reducing the advance reservation booking window from two weeks to one week. The amount of time drivers are expected to wait (vehicle dwell time) was increased from two minutes to five minutes. Pricing of trips changed from an hourly rate to a flat per‐trip rate.

AATA has experienced reduced use of its A-Ride and paratransit services since implementing fare increases for that service in May 2009 (from $2 to $2.50) and May 2010 (from $2.50 to $3). AATA also attributes part of the decrease in use to the fact that the fare increases for A-Ride were coupled with elimination of fares to A‐Ride‐eligible passengers who chose to use the fixed‐route regular bus service.

This brief was filed from the Ann Arbor District Library boardroom, where the AATA board holds its monthly meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link] [Full Story]

At its March 17, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board voted to accept the auditor’s report for fiscal year 2010, which ended Sept. 30, 2010. The audit was performed by Rehmann Robson, which delivered a “clean opinion” on the AATA’s books.

Among the suggestions made by the auditor were: (1) to have the board sign off on a list of vendors/contracts greater than $25,000 – indicating that the AATA’s conflict of interest policy has been met – before the contract is executed; (2) that only the accounts payable accountant, or the controller – but not the payroll accountant – be able to distribute management and hourly paychecks; and (3) when a journal entry is made, it should be documented and reviewed by someone other than the person who prepared the journal entry.

The auditor also identified a need to make sure that Davis-Bacon Act compliance on construction contracts was systematically verified by AATA, even when that responsibility is delegated to a third party.

This brief was filed from the Ann Arbor District Library boardroom, where the AATA board holds its monthly meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link] [Full Story]

At its March 17, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board voted to award a one-year contract for media placement services to be provided by Orange Egg, a local Ann Arbor company. AATA expects to spend more than $100,000 under the contract, so it required board approval.

Orange Egg will identify the appropriate media for advertising, place the buys and handle the billing.

This brief was filed from the Ann Arbor District Library boardroom where the AATA board holds its monthly meetings. A more detailed report of the meeting will follow: [link] [Full Story]

At its March 17, 2011 meeting, the  University of Michigan board of regents approved a $39 million renovation of The Lawyers’ Club and the John P. Cook buildings – part of a larger expansion and renovation effort at UM’s law school. The project will entail complete renovation of the John P. Cook building, which was constructed in 1939, along with renovations of the dormitory wing of The Lawyers’ Club, which was built in 1924 and houses nearly 260 students.

The project’s design will be handled by Hartman-Cox Architects and SmithGroup. Regents will be asked to approve a schematic design for the project at a later date.

This brief was filed from the UM regents meeting, held this month at the Westin Book Cadillac hotel in downtown Detroit. A more detailed account of the meeting will follow: [link] [Full Story]

At their March 17, 2011 meeting, the University of Michigan board of regents voted to name The Lawyers’ Club dormitory in honor of Charles T. Munger, who gave the university $20 million toward renovations of the building, which houses about 260 students. The north Lawyers’ Club residences will be renamed The Charles T. Munger Residences in the Lawyers’ Club. The work is part of a larger renovation and expansion project of the law school, which includes a new academic building on the corner of State and Monroe streets.

Munger is vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, a holding company led by investor Warren Buffett. Munger studied mathematics at UM in the 1940s and received an honorary doctorate of laws degree from the university in 2010. He previously provided funding for lighting upgrades at the law school’s Hutchins Hall and the William W. Cook Legal Research Library, including its reading room.

This brief was filed from the UM regents meeting, held this month at the Westin Book Cadillac hotel in downtown Detroit. A more detailed account of the meeting will follow: [link] [Full Story]

A $6 million expansion of the University Hospital medical procedure unit (MPU) was approved by the University of Michigan board of regents at their March 17, 2011 meeting. The project will create additional prep/recovery bays, procedure rooms, and storage space, and expand the patient and family reception and waiting room. The work entails renovating 2,200 square feet of existing space, and expanding the current MPU location by roughly 4,000 square feet. The project will be designed by Niagara Murano, an architectural firm, with construction scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2012.

This brief was filed from the UM regents meeting, held this month at the Westin Book Cadillac hotel in downtown Detroit. A more detailed account of the meeting will follow: [link] [Full Story]

Another sign of spring – the city of Ann Arbor is opening the front 7 holes of Huron Hills golf course on Thursday, March 17 at 1 p.m. An email alert sent out on Thursday announced a variety of promotions, including setting fees for this first week at $7 for 7 holes. [.pdf file of Huron Hills flyer]

Ann Arbor city council special meeting (March 16, 2011): At a special meeting that had been announced at a city council work session two days earlier, the Ann Arbor city council voted to authorize signing a contract with the U.S. Department of Transportation related to a $13.9 million TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) II grant.

Announcement of the grant’s award to the city for the reconstruction of the East Stadium Boulevard bridges had come in October 2010. The bridge over State Street is in such poor condition that its southern two lanes were intentionally demolished in November 2009.

The council’s special session reflected an urgency to complete the contract. The council has a regular meeting scheduled next Monday, March 21 – just five calendar days after the special session – when the council could also have taken the necessary vote on the contract.

The urgency stemmed from the March 18 expiration of a continuing resolution (CR) passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 2. A CR is a mechanism for keeping the federal government operating, based on the previous fiscal year’s budget assumptions, until formal appropriations bills are passed by Congress. The federal budget procedure is essentially a two-step process in which the budget levels for each department are first set and signed into law, followed by appropriations bills that authorize spending the budgeted amounts.

Based on proposals brought forward in February by U.S. House Republicans, but ultimately not enacted, the current two-week CR would have eliminated TIGER II grants. And based on the political posturing that took place over the current CR, the Ann Arbor city council was taking the step of signing the contract as soon as it could, to allow the U.S. Federal Highway Administration to “obligate” the TIGER II grant funds for the bridges project under the current CR – as a hedge against the possibility that a subsequent CR might cut TIGER II funding.

Although the grant had previously been awarded, the funds are not secured until they are actually obligated, a process that includes various requirements – among them, signing the contract that the council authorized at its special session.

The council’s action enabled obligation of TIGER II funds only for the right-of-way phase of the project – which amounts to around $800,000. According to Congressman John Dingell’s office staff, they’d been informed by the Dept. of Transportation on March 15 that the $800,000 for the initial phase had just been obligated.

Based on the city of Ann Arbor’s timeline, obligation of the $13.1 million in TIGER II funds for the construction phase is expected in May. Construction on the project, which is estimated to cost a total of $23 million, is tentatively scheduled for October 2011.

A public information meeting on the status of the project is scheduled for Wednesday, March 23 from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Pioneer High School cafeteria. Pioneer is located at 601 W. Stadium – just down the street from the bridges. [Full Story]

Editor’s note: Calamities like the recent Sendai earthquake impose tragedy on a grand human scale. History will undoubtedly document countless individual acts of heroism and bravery amid that tragedy – ours is not a completely cowardly species. It takes a different sort of bravery simply to deal with the result of a private tragedy of your own making – just by trudging forward with your life the best you can. This week local history columnist Laura Bien looks back on a tragedy like that – caused by a poor personal choice of a pedestrian path.

Josef Panek walked north along the twin railroad tracks leading to the railyard at Depot Town. He was a slender man about 40 years old, dressed in work clothes and a cap and carrying a tin lunchpail. He was headed towards the Ypsilanti Paper Mill.

Thank goodness his brother at the mill had gotten him a job. Josef’s wife Anna was caring for four children, including the newborn Mayme, in their tiny apartment on Michigan Avenue. And after the 12-day trip over the Atlantic three months earlier in April of 1880 on the steamship Baltimore, their savings were gone. But what a thrill it had been to finally see the New York skyline. Despite his and Anna’s lack of English, he had managed to maneuver the family through the city’s bustle and clangor and continue overland and over water to Detroit and finally Ypsilanti.

The job at the mill wasn’t too bad. His brother had helped translate the foreman’s instructions, and the machinery wasn’t too complicated, though the work was tiring.

Josef entered the Depot Town railyard, where the twin rail lines fanned out into numerous tracks. He’d been lucky to find work, and this strange place shared a few things with Czechoslovakia after all. Josef glanced over at the greenery along the river. Even some of the trees were the same, and a couple were just beginning to turn color, just like home.

Ahead lay the Forest Avenue railroad bridge, where the track turned left and vanished behind riverside foliage. Abruptly a whistle shrieked and a train appeared. It was on Josef’s track. Josef scrambled to the next track, away from the approaching thudding and clanging. Possibly someone yelled a warning, in a language Josef didn’t know. He never heard, from the opposite direction, the other train.

He screamed, caught under the enormous wheels. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor park advisory commission meeting (March 15, 2011): A meeting packed with presentations also included a last-minute addition to the agenda: Resolutions recommending support of the city’s application for grants from the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources Trust Fund. The grants – for $300,000 each – would help fund the Ann Arbor skatepark and upgrades to the Gallup canoe livery and park.

The resolution for Gallup passed unanimously, but commissioner Sam Offen – without comment – cast a vote against the resolution for the skatepark grant.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, commissioner Gwen Nystuen suggested forming a committee to look more closely at the Fuller Road Station project – she felt that as stewards of the city’s parkland, PAC should take a more active role in examining the proposed parking structure, bus depot and possible train station. The project, a joint effort between the city and the University of Michigan, would be located on land that’s previously been designated as parkland, though it’s been leased to the university as a surface parking lot since the early 1990s. Nystuen did not put forward a formal resolution, and commissioners took no action on the idea.

The meeting included five presentations from various groups, including updates on the city’s two golf courses, the new Give 365 volunteer program, and a restoration project for a stretch of Malletts Creek near Huron Parkway. Commissioners also heard a proposal for a new Wednesday night farmers market, and got a mid-year financial report on the open space and parkland preservation millage. [Full Story]

At a special meeting that had been announced at a city council work session two days earlier, the Ann Arbor city council voted to authorize signing a contract with the U.S. Department of Transportation related to a $13.9 million TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) II grant. Announcement of the grant’s award to the city of Ann Arbor – for the reconstruction of the E. Stadium Boulevard bridges – had come in October 2010.

The council’s special session reflected an urgency to complete the contract. That urgency stemmed from the March 18 expiration of a continuing resolution (CR) passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on March 2. A CR is a mechanism for keeping the federal government operating based on the previous fiscal year’s budget assumptions, until formal appropriations bills are passed by Congress.

Based on proposals brought forward in February by U.S. House Republicans, but ultimately not enacted, the current two-week CR would have eliminated TIGER II grants. And based on the political posturing that took place on the current CR, the Ann Arbor city council was taking the step of signing the contract as soon as it could, to allow the U.S. Federal Highway Administration to “obligate” part of the TIGER II grant funds for the bridges project under the current CR – as a hedge against the possibility that a subsequent CR might cut TIGER II funding.

The agreement authorized by the council allows the Dept. of Transportation to obligate only $800,000 of the grant, which is to be used for the initial phase of the project – acquisition of right-of-way.

A public informational meeting on the status of the project is scheduled for Wednesday, March 23 from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Pioneer High School cafeteria.

This brief was filed from CTN television studios, where the council met due to ongoing renovations to city hall. A more detailed account of the meeting will follow: [link] [Full Story]

CNN’s Soledad O’Brien reports on the experience of Paul Fales, an Eastern Michigan University graduate who’s teaching in Japan and who survived Friday’s earthquake and tsunami there: “Outside, Paul asks to use my satellite phone to call his parents. He hasn’t gotten word to them, and he knows they must be worried. We agree and ask him to join us live on Anderson Cooper’s show ‘AC360°’. He agrees, and we call New York to tell Anderson’s producers that we will have a young American as a guest. The producer’s voice is disbelieving. … It turns out that Paul’s parents, Mary and Peter, have already been booked to be guests on Anderson’s show. They have been desperate to find their son … [Full Story]

The site plan for a new mixed-use development at the former Georgetown Mall on Packard Road – which has been vacant for about two years – was unanimously recommended for approval by the Ann Arbor planning commission at its March 15, 2011 meeting. Called Packard Square, the project consists of 230 apartments and 23,790-square-feet of retail space in a single building. The plan will be next considered by the city council for final approval.

The project includes a 144-space parking garage underneath the apartment building, and 310 surface parking spaces. A total of 44 carports are proposed along the two main drives from Packard Road to the rear of the site. Fifty-four bicycle parking spaces will also be provided. The apartment complex will include indoor recreational amenities and services, an outdoor pool and courtyard. Also as part of the project, the developer has agreed to pay a contribution of $50,000 to the city, in lieu of providing a dedicated area of parkland on the project site.

A brownfield plan to remove contaminated soils and dewater the site is currently under review.

This brief was filed from the boardroom in the Washtenaw County administration building, where the planning commission is meeting due to renovations in the city hall building. A more detailed report will follow. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor public market advisory commission meeting (March 10, 2011): A nighttime farmers market in Ann Arbor is in the works as a pilot program to start on Wednesdays in July.

Market manager Molly Notarianni is proposing a producers-only market from 4:30-8:30 p.m., operating as a separate entity from the existing Saturday and Wednesday daytime markets. The significance of having a separate application process is that it would eliminate the seniority system that exists at the other markets. The seniority system makes it difficult for new vendors to get spots in those markets.

Members of the city’s public market advisory commission seemed generally supportive of the idea – they’ll likely weigh in officially at their meeting in May.

The group also discussed revisions to the market vendor application form – including a proposed requirement for lease verification.

The commission is still short two members, a situation that has presented some challenges in the last few months. All three current members need to attend in order to achieve a quorum, and scheduling difficulties have led to cancellation of several of their monthly meetings. The March meeting was rescheduled from Tuesday to Thursday of last week – because of that change, the meeting was not broadcast by Community Television Network (CTN).

Openings remain on the commission for the category of: (1) a market shopper; and (2) someone who lives or works in the Kerrytown district, where the market is located. Applications are available on the market’s website. They must be sent to the mayor, who makes nominations that are then voted on by the city council. [Full Story]

The Ann Arbor planning commission, at its March 15, 2011 meeting, unanimously recommended approval of a site plan for a single-family house at 215 N. Fifth Ave. – formerly the site of the Bessenberg Bindery, which has moved to the Thomson-Shore Inc. facility in Dexter. The plan calls for tearing down the building and constructing a two-story, single-family, owner-occupied house with an attached two-car garage. The garage will be accessed from the public alley on the west side of the site. Architect Dick Mitchell was on hand to describe the design.

The project requires a site plan because the single-family house is on property that’s not zoned solely for residential purposes. It’s zoned D2 (downtown interface) and is located in the Old Fourth Ward Historic District. The Ann Arbor Historic District Commission has already reviewed the site plan and issued a certificate of appropriateness at its Feb. 10, 2011 meeting. The project will next be voted on by city council for final approval.

This brief was filed from the boardroom in the Washtenaw County administration building, where the planning commission is meeting due to renovations in the city hall building. A more detailed report will follow. [Full Story]