413 E. Huron Gets Postponed
On a unanimous vote taken around 3 a.m., the Ann Arbor city council decided to postpone all remaining action items on its agenda until its May 6 meeting, including the site plan application for 413 E. Huron – a proposed 14-story, 216-apartment building at the northeast corner of Huron and Division streets.
From the site plan application for 413 E. Huron. Critical root zones of landmark trees are shown by the dashed circles. The root zones were a focus of much of the questioning by councilmembers on March 18, and was a focus of public commentary on April 15.
The project was presented to the council as a “by right” project, which means that in the judgement of the city planning staff, it met all the zoning requirements.
The council’s action to postpone all remaining action items took place during deliberations on revisions to the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority ordinance, which was also postponed through the action.
The duration of the meeting was due in part to 45 speakers during the public hearing on the DDA ordinance, and 51 speakers on the 413 E. Huron site plan.
The council had previously postponed a site plan decision on April 1, 2013 and on March 18, 2013. The consideration of the site plan came after the council had considered and postponed, then finally voted not to impose a possible moratorium on site plan applications in the D1 (core downtown) area.
Instead the council voted on March 18 to give the planning commission direction to review the city’s D1 zoning. The scope of that review and a deadline of Oct. 1 was given at the council’s April 1 meeting.
A new public hearing on the project was started at the April 1 meeting, and held open so that it could resume on April 15. That public hearing will continue on May 6.
Images for the proposed 413 E. Huron project, at the northeast corner of Huron and Division. On the left is an early rendering provided by the developer. On the right is an updated version presented to the city council on March 18, 2013.
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]