Changes to Arlington Square OK’d

At its Dec. 6, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor planning commission unanimously recommended approving changes to the supplemental regulations of a planned unit development (PUD) for Arlington Square. The two-story, 51,285-square-foot retail and office complex is located at 3250 Washtenaw Ave. – the southeast corner of Washtenaw Avenue and Huron Parkway. An 8,000-square-foot space in the complex, where Hollywood Video was formerly located, is vacant, and the owner would like to have the option of leasing the space to a restaurant or urgent care facility.

The current PUD zoning, which was approved in 1989, allows for certain C3 (fringe commercial) uses, but due to an increased need for parking that would be created, it does not allow for (1) restaurants with seating, (2) barber/beauty shops on the first floor, or (3) office uses on the second floor, with the exception of medical/dental offices. Changes requested to the PUD supplemental regulations would allow for urgent care and restaurant uses at the site, with no additional parking. No exterior changes are proposed.

There are nearly 200 parking spaces available at the site. To accommodate potential increased parking demand, the building’s owner – Nadim Ajlouny of Orchard Lake, Mich. – is offering to provide bus passes to all employees on the site and to provide an additional 14 enclosed bicycle parking spaces. Some commissioners expressed support for this alternative to more parking spaces, with Erica Briggs saying she hoped to see this kind of thing extended throughout the Washtenaw Avenue corridor.

A citizen’s participation meeting was held about the changes on Oct. 17, with nine people attending. According to a staff report, no concerns were raised at that meeting, and the planning staff hasn’t received any other feedback or concerns about the project.

The changes will be forwarded to the city council for approval.

This brief was filed from the planning commission’s Dec. 6, 2011 meeting in the second-floor council chambers at city hall, 301 E. Huron.