Archive for August, 2011

Ann Arbor planning commission meeting (Aug. 16, 2011): Two zoning-related requests on South State Street received mixed responses from planning commissioners, amid calls for a formal study of that corridor.

One request was the first tied to the city council’s recent approval of zoning regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries. The operator of Treecity Health Collective, a dispensary at 1712 S. State, asked that the location be rezoned from O (office) to C1 (local business). In June 2011, the council approved amendments to the city’s zoning ordinances that prevent medical marijuana dispensaries from operating in office zoning districts. Rather than relocate the dispensary, the operator was asking for the zoning change. The property is located on the west side of State, south of Stimson.

While expressing sympathy for the operator, commissioners recommended denying the rezoning request, noting that the master plan calls for an office district in that area. It will now be forwarded to the city council for final action.

The commission considered a separate request for nearby parcels on the opposite side of South State, where the new Biercamp Artisan Sausage and Jerky opened about a month ago. The property – 1643 and 1645 S. State St., south of the Produce Station – is in Ann Arbor Township, and requires both annexation and zoning. The commission recommended approval of annexing the land, but postponed a decision on zoning. Biercamp owners are hoping for commercial zoning, which would allow them to expand the retail component of their business. The city’s master plan currently calls for light industrial zoning in that section.

In discussions for both Treecity and Biercamp requests, some commissioners pointed to the need for a comprehensive study of the South State Street corridor. Such a study has been planned, but earlier this year the city council voted against funding a consultant to conduct the work.

In other action, commissioners recommended annexing several Scio Township parcels that are located in a recently expanded well prohibition zone related to the Pall/Gelman Sciences 1,4 dioxane underground plume. Pall is paying for the hook-ups to city water and sewer, according to city planning staff.

Commissioners also recommended approval of a site plan at 3590 Washtenaw Ave., at the southwest corner of Washtenaw Avenue and Yost Boulevard. The plan calls for building a 9,500-square-foot, single-story addition to the existing 15,769-square-foot retail building that currently houses the Dollar Tree. It’s in the spot where Frank’s Nursery formerly operated, along the same stretch that’s part of the Reimagining Washtenaw Avenue project.

Wendy Rampson, the city’s planning manager, gave several updates to the commission. Among them, she noted that four projects previously approved by the city council are now asking for two-year extensions on their site plans: (1) The Gallery planned unit development (PUD) on North Main, at the site of the former Greek Orthodox church; (2) the 42 North residential development at Maple and Pauline; (3) the Forest Cove office building on Miller; and (4) the Mallets View office building on Eisenhower. Those requests are being reviewed by city planning staff.

During his communications from city council, Tony Derezinski, who also represents Ward 2 on council, mentioned that a final meeting for the R4C/R2A advisory committee is tentatively set for Sept. 21. He noted that the 21st is also Saint Matthew’s Feast Day, which he quipped might help the group finish up the project.

One member of that advisory committee is former planning commissioner Jean Carlberg, who received a resolution of appreciation from the commission at the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting. Her term ended June 30 – she served on the commission for 16 years. [Full Story]

NPR’s Weekend Edition includes an interview with Chris Leinberger, a University of Michigan professor of practice in urban and regional planning, about what happens to neighboring areas when anchor stores like Borders bookstore close. When asked if there’s an upside to urban stores like Borders closing, Leinberger says: ”Actually yes, because most of the national chains led by chains like Target and Safeway and Whole Foods are all experimenting and implementing urban formats. So, Targets, most of the major grocery chains understand that walkable urban places are very successful, much more profitable than their drivable suburban places. And believe it or not, even Wal-Mart – I’ll believe it when I see it, of course – but even Wal-Mart’s experimenting with urban stores.” [... [Full Story]

Editor’s note: At its July 18, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council made a formal decision to offer the job of city administrator to Steve Powers, who is currently county administrator in Marquette County, Michigan. Since then the employment contract with Powers has been finalized. He starts work in about three weeks, on Sept. 15.

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A post on the Daily Kos suggests that the Ann Arbor-based Borders bookstore chain, which went out of business earlier this summer, deserved a federal bailout. “Companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ran this country into the ground; yet our government jumped in to save them. Giving taxpayer dollars to negligent for-profit corporations became national policy. Borders Bookstore is no Angelic organization operating exclusively for the public good. But the American public certainly have an interest in the distribution of books and other media. Public Libraries are increasingly cash strapped and many local libraries cannot afford to purchase new books and technology. Less access to books is bound to negatively impact society.” [Source]

Ann Arbor city council meeting (Aug. 15, 2011): One connection among multiple items on the council’s agenda was the era when they originated, back in the mid-2000s.

The city council originally gave its approval to the selection of Village Green as the purchaser of the city-owned First and Washington lot back in 2006. To make up for the fact that the First and Washington deal has not yet been finalized, on Monday the council approved a $3 million inter-fund loan from its pooled investment fund. The money is needed to pay construction bills for the city’s new municipal center.

A year earlier, in 2005, the city received a recommendation from a blue-ribbon task force to change the composition of the board of trustees for its retirement system – to a mix on the board that is less heavily weighted towards members who are beneficiaries of the system. And on Monday, the council approved the Nov. 8 ballot language that will ask voters to change the city charter, which specifies the composition of the board.

A year before that, in 2004, the city council gave direction to city staff to develop an ordinance that would regulate idling vehicles. On Monday, the city council formally received – but took no action on – a resolution from its environmental commission recommending a draft anti-idling ordinance.

Likely dating back even earlier was an agenda item that addresses a point of ongoing friction between the city and the University of Michigan: reimbursement for the costs associated with traffic control during home football games. On Monday, the council approved a resolution that sets Aug. 25 as a deadline for completing a contract that reimburses the city for those costs. Otherwise, the city administrator is directed not to provide the signs and signals operations during home games.

In other business, the council gave final approval to the reapportionment of the five city wards, which will take effect after the Nov. 8 election. The council also set the application fee for medical marijuana business licenses at $600. The city’s medical marijuana licensing legislation, approved in June, takes effect later this month. Mayor John Hieftje also announced nominations for four of the five slots on the newly-established medical marijuana licensing board.

The mayor also announced nominations to the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority board. Joan Lowenstein and John Mouat were nominated for reappointment, while Gary Boren, recently elected as chair of the board for the coming year, was not.

At the meeting, the DDA was also highlighted during public commentary by the owner of Jerusalem Garden, a restaurant adjacent to the construction site of the Fifth Avenue underground parking structure, which the DDA is managing. The restaurant has seen revenues drop during construction. He reiterated some of the points he’s made previously when addressing the council and the DDA board, and this time called on the council to think about how to apply lessons learned from the current situation in the future.

Economic development was also part of the council meeting in the form of a resolution the council passed that urges the Washtenaw County board of commissioners to levy a tax to fund economic development. The tax is based on Act 88 of 1913 and does not require voter approval.

The proposed Fuller Road Station maintained a presence during council proceedings in the form of public commentary, as well as a reminder from the council to the mayor that he’d previously indicated a council work session would be scheduled on the project. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor park advisory commission meeting (Aug. 16, 2011): During a three-hour meeting on Tuesday, park commissioners walked down several topical trails in what PAC chair Julie Grand aptly described as a “super-packed” agenda.

Commissioners approved a resolution recommending a change to the scope of work at the Argo headrace – a change that will add a new entrance to the soon-to-be-reconstructed waterway from Argo Pond to the Huron River. The modification to the project was linked to an offer from DTE to pay for a whitewater section that’s part of the overall project, which freed up city funds for the new entrance. A state permit needed to start the reconstruction is expected to be received by Aug. 23.

A second resolution introduced at Tuesday’s meeting urged the city council to incorporate design of a trail system – including the county’s Border to Border (B2B) trail – into the Fuller Road area in advance of building the proposed Fuller Road Station. Two members of the Washtenaw Bicycling & Walking Coalition were on hand with suggestions for where trails might be located to bypass the busy intersection of Fuller Road, Maiden Lane and East Medical Center Drive.

The topic of trails also emerged tangentially during a presentation by PAC vice chair John Lawter on dog parks. Some people walk their dogs off leash on park trails and in other park areas, violating Ann Arbor’s ordinance requiring dogs to be leashed. The exception is in the city’s two dog parks, on the north and south edges of town.

Lawter suggested that Ann Arbor might find other ways to let dogs off leash, either by creating another traditional dog park that’s more centrally located, or designating certain hours for dogs to be off leash in specific parks. PAC might form a subcommittee to explore options for a new dog park, and for how to increase enforcement of existing dog-control ordinances. Such an effort might uncover more data points like those Lawter provided in his presentation, which included the pounds of poo collected annually at Swift Run dog park.

Data collection has also been part of developing the city’s first urban forest management plan. Oliver Kiley of JJR, the consultant leading this project, updated the commission on the effort. Possible outcomes include a recommended maintenance plan, protections for mature trees, targets for new tree plantings, and proposals for relevant ordinances and zoning. The discussion among commissioners led to concerns over whether the city is prepared for something similar to the emerald ash borer – which decimated thousands of trees in the city over the past decade and chewed up the city’s forestry budget for several years.

The urban forest management plan will be among the 26 city plans in a sustainability framework being developed, focused on “triple-bottom line” goals of economic vitality, environmental quality and social equity. The commission was briefed on this project in preparation for a Sept. 27 joint meeting of the park, planning, energy and environmental commissions. The goal of that meeting is to start prioritizing goals from these existing city plans. [Full Story]

A working session of the Washtenaw County board of commissioners – scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 18 – has been cancelled. It had been one of five working sessions added to the board calendar earlier this year, designed to focus on the 2012-2013 budget. The previous board working session, set for Aug. 4, had also been cancelled.

Thursday’s working session was to focus on the planned consolidation of dispatch operations between the county and the city of Ann Arbor. [See Chronicle coverage: "Ann Arbor, Washtenaw: Joint 911 Dispatch?"] According to commissioner Yousef Rabhi, chair of the working session, the sheriff’s office needed more time to prepare the presentation, and none of the presentations scheduled for upcoming working sessions … [Full Story]

The New York Times reports on how efforts to cut health care costs will likely curb that industry’s job growth. The article quotes Doug Strong, CEO of the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health System, who reports that even though the health system is adding roughly 560 jobs with its new children’s and women’s hospitals and an expanded emergency department, in the future the system will need to deliver care with fewer people at less cost. “I think that is what the nation is asking of all of us.” [Source]

The University of Michigan has issued a crime alert – a female student reported being grabbed while walking down Thompson Street at Kennedy Drive at about 1:50 a.m. on Aug. 18. She broke free and was not injured. The suspect is described as a black male in his late 50s, 5’7″-5’8″, thin build, clean shaven, bald or with very short hair, wearing a green shirt, dark-colored pants, and a white or light-colored baseball cap. Anyone with information should call the UM Dept. of Public Safety at 734-763-1131. [Source]

 

At its Aug. 16, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor park advisory commission unanimously passed a resolution recommending that planning for a trail system – including the county’s Border to Border (B2B) Trail – be incorporated into plans for the proposed Fuller Road Station. The resolution was drafted by commissioners Gwen Nystuen and Tim Berla, and will be forwarded to the city council.

Among other things, the resolution states that detailed plans for the design and funding of the trail system, including the B2B Trail through Fuller Park and the connecting links on all sides, should be approved by PAC and city council prior to action on the Fuller Road Station project. The resolution calls for trail improvements to be completed prior to or … [Full Story]

In the first such request to the Ann Arbor planning commission following the city council’s approval of zoning regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries, the owner of Treecity Health Collective, a dispensary at 1712 S. State, asked that the location be rezoned from O (office) to C1 (local business). The owner also asked that the area plan requirement for that location be waived.

However, at their Aug. 16, 2011 meeting, planning commissioners recommended denial of the requests, based on a staff recommendation, stating that C1 zoning is not consistent with adjacent zoning, land uses and the city’s master plan.

The Treecity Health Collective opened in 2010. This summer, the Ann Arbor city council approved amendments to the city’s zoning ordinances that prevent … [Full Story]