On Aug. 4, the council approved a revision to the design –  the third story on all five buildings will be eliminated, dropping the number of dwelling units from 120 to 80.

The second Burton Commons resolution authorized by the council involves details of a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program that was previously approved. MHT Housing Inc., based in Bingham Farms, Mich., is a  nonprofit affordable housing provider that will now be a development partner. In addition, the PILOT will reflect the reduction in the number of units from 120 to 80. And finally, the PILOT requires the project to secure federal or state-aided financing – the original proposal included federal HOME funds from the city of Ann Arbor, but the revised one does not. The PILOT is based on the State Housing Development Authority Act and Chapter 19, 1:651 of the city code, and provides an exemption from all property taxes for the term of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) mortgage, for up to 50 years. The “payment” is a $1 service charge.

The third resolution authorized by the council involved footing drain disconnects required by the project. The removal of the third story from each building, reducing the number of units from 120 to 80, also reduced the number of footing drain disconnects from 26 to 17. The cost of disconnecting 17 footing drains is $200,000-$300,000. The council was asked to allocate five footing disconnect credits, thereby offsetting $60,000-$90,000 of the project’s cost.

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]