Action Postponed on Hideaway Lane Project

A proposal to build 19 single-family houses on a 4.6-acre site on Hideaway Lane off Traver Road – near the city’s Leslie Park Golf Course – was postponed by the Ann Arbor planning commission at its Feb. 5, 2013 meeting. Commissioners followed a staff recommendation, citing the need to resolve several outstanding issues. The vote to postpone was 5-3, with dissent from Bonnie Bona, Kirk Westphal and Diane Giannola. The item came up late in the meeting – after 11 p.m., following a long discussion and public hearing on the controversial 413 E. Huron project.

The project is located on the site of a development that began in 2005 but was never completed – and the site plan for that earlier development has now expired. Currently, there are nine townhomes and one single-family home on the property, as well as infrastructure for additional development. The site is zoned R4A (multi-family dwelling district). The proposed new homes would all be two stories with either two or three bedrooms. The planned project proposal calls for spacing the houses 10 feet apart. Because the city’s zoning ordinance requires a minimum building spacing of 20 feet, the spacing modifications allowed under a planned project are being requested.

Outstanding issues include determining the project’s impact on the property’s natural feature and mitigation requirements. Traver Creek runs along the site’s western border. Also needed is preliminary approval from the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner.

The developer is listed as Trowbridge Homes of Hideaway LLC of Auburn Hills, Mich. [.pdf of aerial map showing Hideaway Lane location]

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: [link]