Archive for July, 2013

Voters in Ann Arbor’s Ward 2, Precinct 8 (2-8) will cast their ballots in future elections at the First United Methodist Church on Green Road. The city council action to change the location from the St. Paul Lutheran School came at its July 1, 2013 meeting.

According to a letter sent to the city earlier this year by school principal Brad Massey, the decision to stop offering St. Paul Lutheran Church and School as a polling place to the city was based on “recent events affecting the safety of school children.” [.pdf of April 16, 2013 letter]

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 … [Full Story]

The appointment of Jeremy Peters to the city planning commission has been confirmed by the city council in action taken at its July 1, 2013 meeting. Peters works in creative licensing and business affairs with Ghostly Songs. Peters had been nominated at the council’s June 17 meeting. Tony Derezinski had originally been slated at the June 3 meeting to be nominated for re-appointment, but his name was never put forward by mayor John Hieftje.

Also confirmed by the council were the appointments of Eric Jacobson to the local development finance authority (LDFA) board and Jan Davies McDermott to the economic development corporation board.

Also at the council’s July 1 meeting, Hieftje nominated Russ Collins for re-appointment to the board of the … [Full Story]

New rules on speaking times and agenda setting will need to wait another meeting until they apply to meetings of the Ann Arbor city council. At its July 1, 2013 meeting, the council decided to postpone a vote on the new rules until its next meeting, on July 15.

Highlights of the proposed rules changes include adding public commentary to council work sessions. But public speaking time would be reduced from three minutes to two minutes across all types of public speaking – general commentary, public hearings, and reserved time. A “frequent flyer” rule would prevent people from signing up for reserved time at the start of a meeting two meetings in a row.

The total time that each councilmember could speak … [Full Story]

Kerrytown Place – a proposed development on North Main Street – has received an initial approval from the Ann Arbor city council for its requested rezoning. The initial action came at the council’s July 1, 2013 meeting.

Kerrytown Place is a project that Tom Fitzsimmons is planning to build on the site of the former Greek Orthodox church on Main Street. The rezoning would be from PUD (planned unit development district) to D2 (downtown interface base district). The 18-unit townhouse development that Fitzsimmons is planning to build is much smaller than The Gallery, for which the PUD zoning had originally been approved at the request of a different owner.

The city planning commission gave a unanimous recommendation of approval at its … [Full Story]

A rezoning request for 2271 S. State St. that would have allowed the owner to sell cars on the parcel has been denied by the Ann Arbor city council. The action took place at its July 1, 2013 meeting.

The council was asked to give initial approval to a rezoning of 2271 South State St. from M1 (limited industrial district) to M1A (limited light industrial district). The city planning commission vote on the recommendation was taken at its May 21, 2013 meeting. That vote came out 1-8, with only Eric Mahler supporting it. So the planning commission’s recommendation was for denial.

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. … [Full Story]

Land use is frequently a dominant theme of Ann Arbor city council meetings – and the July 1, 2013 meeting agenda fits that pattern.

The council will be giving final consideration to an ordinance change that expands the definition of “sidewalk” – to include any sidewalks the city has formally accepted for public use. The change has implications for owners of property adjacent to several “cross-lot paths” in the city – which are on the meeting agenda for acceptance for public use.

One consequence of the definition change is that those property owners will not be responsible for the repair of those paths – because the paths will be eligible for sidewalk millage repair funds. But the adjacent property owners would become responsible for clearing snow from the paths.

Also related to land use on the meeting agenda are rezoning requests associated with two proposed developments. Up for an initial vote is the rezoning from PUD (planned unit development) to D2 (downtown interface) for the parcels on North Main and Fourth Avenue where Kerrytown Place is planned. The 18-unit townhouse development is much smaller than The Gallery, for which the PUD zoning had originally been approved.

Also up for initial consideration is a rezoning request for 2271 S. State St., where the owner would like to be able to sell automobiles. The planning commission recommended denial of that request, in part because that land use was not felt to be consistent with the draft South State Street corridor plan. At its July 1 meeting, the council will also be asked to adopt that corridor plan.

The re-establishment of a citizens advisory committee on changes to R4C zoning in the city also appears on the meeting agenda. The origins of that committee date back to 2009. The reconstitution of the 12-member committee comes as the planning commission has recommended changes to R4C zoning that the council will be weighing – to decide if ordinance language should be drafted to reflect those changes.

Another committee with its origins in 2009 is set to be reconstituted at the council’s July 1 meeting, but it’s not related to land use. The council will be asked to re-establish a “mutually beneficial” committee to work through recommendations to changes in the city ordinance that regulates the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority’s tax increment finance (TIF) capture. The council has already given initial approval to some ordinance changes. Committee members will be working with their DDA counterparts with a two-month window of time – because the council has postponed final action on DDA ordinance changes until Sept. 3.

The council will also be asked to take an initial vote on a video privacy ordinance, having postponed that initial vote several times previously.

And finally, Ward 2 will not have a city council primary election a month from now, but it appears on the agenda in connection with polling places. The Precinct 2-8 polling location will be changed for all future elections to the First United Methodist Church on Green Road.

Details of other meeting agenda items are available on the city’s Legistar system. Readers can also follow the live meeting proceedings on Channel 16, streamed online by Community Television Network.

The Chronicle will be filing live updates from city council chambers during the meeting, published in this article “below the fold.” The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. [Full Story]