City Place Votes Retaken, Outcome Same

At its Oct. 24, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council reconsidered two votes taken at its previous meeting on Oct. 17 about the City Place matter-of-right project on Fifth Avenue south of William Street. The outcome of both votes was the same: approval.

One request from the developer was to waive a landscape buffer requirement that was introduced through an ordinance change made after the project was initially approved in 2009. The second request was for approval of changes to the buildings that included a new window on the upper floors of the north and south-facing sides, and a change from horizontal siding to simulated shingle siding on the dormer.

Both re-votes were prompted by Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), who had posed questions at the Oct. 17 meeting to which he did not feel he’d received adequate answers. One question related to fire exits for the upper floors of the development, which calls for demolition of seven existing houses to be replaced by two apartment buildings, separated by a parking lot.

The Oct. 24 meeting was scheduled initially by the council solely for the purpose of taking a second and final vote on a planned unit development, Heritage Row, for the same site as City Place. Heritage Row would have rehabilitated or reconstructed the existing seven houses and built three additional apartment buildings behind the houses. However, Heritage Row was pulled from the agenda on Oct. 21.

The site where City Place and Heritage Row have been proposed and the area further south near Madison Street have a long history. [timeline]

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.