City Council Moves Toward Height Limits
Marcia Higgins reviews the map showing the street frontage in the South University area as Christopher Taylor (background) proposes an amendment on street frontage.
Ann Arbor City Council Meeting Part I (April 6, 2009): At city council’s meeting Monday evening, there was a clear consensus among councilmembers that they wanted to amend the rezoning package for the downtown that had been recommended by the planning commission. The consensus was to include an absolute building height limit. The deliberations thus focused on the exact nature of the limit and where it would apply.
The outcome of those deliberations was that the final version of the rezoning package – which council will consider for a final vote on June 1, 2009 – will include a 180-foot height limit, roughly 16 stories, for the core downtown (D1) zoning. Exceptions include the South University character area, which was amended on Monday to be split into two different character areas – South U. 1 and South U. 2, to be zoned D1 and D2, respectively. In contrast to other areas zoned D1, South U. 1 is now proposed to have building heights capped at 150 feet.
The second exception to the 180-foot limit is the East Huron Street 1 character area – East Huron was also split into two different character areas last night, but is still zoned D1 in both. For the East Huron 1 area, which is the north side of Huron Street between North Thayer and Division, the building height limit is now also proposed be 150 feet. [Full Story]