Top: Example of a cross-lot walkway, leading from street to school. Middle: Sidewalk that was cut flush funded by the city’s sidewalk repair millage. Bottom: Recommended detention ponds in Eisenhower Park near the proposed Scio Church sidewalk.

Yet these existing and future slabs of concrete are themselves a constant topic of confusion and controversy: Who’s responsible for repairing the busted slab in front my house? Who’s supposed to shovel snow off the sidewalk in the winter?

Sidewalks also connect up to other equally important if also dull components of local governance – like stormwater management and public art.

So here’s a quick rundown of some specific sidewalk-related issues that the Ann Arbor city council will be considering.

The council’s agenda for Monday, Oct. 7, includes an item on the definition of sidewalks. If an existing walkway meets the definition of a “sidewalk,” then the city bears responsibility for its repair for the duration of the sidewalk repair millage. All other things being equal, the adjacent property owner would be responsible for snow removal in the winter.

The Oct. 7 agenda item focuses on walkways that aren’t really on the “side” of anything – walkways that connect a street to a park or school, or that connect two parallel streets. The city calls them “cross-lot” walkways. If such walkways were added into the definition of “sidewalk” – as the city council is contemplating – then the city would be responsible for repair. That’s a result welcomed by property owners. But it would put the burden for snow removal on those property owners – a less welcome result. That was the sentiment that led the council to postpone final consideration of a change to the definition of “sidewalk” three months ago, on July 1, 2013.

So on Oct. 7, the council will be asked to consider a different approach to that definitional change – one that would allow the so-called “cross-lot” paved pathways to qualify as sidewalks under the city’s ordinance, but not trigger a winter maintenance requirement for adjacent property owners.

The fresh look would mean that the council’s possible action on Oct. 7 would be considered only an initial approval of the ordinance change. Final enactment of the change would require a second vote at a subsequent council meeting. If approved, the ordinance would allow cross-lot paths to be repaired under the city’s sidewalk repair program – funded through the five-year millage approved by Ann Arbor voters in November 2011. That program is noticeable to residents in the form of pink markings that appear on sidewalk slabs – an “R” for replace and a “C” for cutting an out-of-alignment section so that it lines up flush with the next slab.

The millage can pay for repair or replacement of existing slabs of sidewalks, but not for the construction of new sidewalks. So that millage money isn’t available to build a new stretch of sidewalk along the south side of Scio Church Road (or to fill in a smaller gap on the north side) – a section of sidewalk that residents have petitioned the city to build. The petition for a sidewalk there is based on several considerations, including a desire to connect to amenities west of I-94, like the Ice Cube, Wide World of Sports and the Ann Arbor District Library’s Pittsfield branch. It’s also seen as a pedestrian safety issue, because the lack of a sidewalk on one side of the road could induce pedestrians to cross the road at places where motorists don’t expect pedestrians to cross.

The city council authorized $15,000 of general fund money for the study of alternatives along that stretch – alternatives that were presented at a meeting held on Sept. 18 at Lawton Elementary School and attended by about two dozen people. Next up for the city council, likely on Oct. 21, will be a request for a design budget, so that costs of the project can be estimated with more precision.

Among the alternatives that were considered, but not pursued in much detail, was construction of a pathway through Eisenhower Park. That’s where the Washtenaw County water resources commissioner is now recommending that a pair of detention ponds be constructed – to help mitigate overland flooding in the area. That recommendation was presented to a group of about 80 neighbors on Sept. 30 – also held at Lawton Elementary School.

And a fence that that might need to be constructed along the proposed Scio Church sidewalk – to prevent people from falling down the steep incline – received a glancing mention at a recent meeting of the Ann Arbor public art commission. A proposal to fund a public art project that would be integrated into the fence was tabled by the commission at its Sept. 25, 2013 meeting.

Cross-lot Sidewalks

The city council had given initial consideration to the change in the definition of a sidewalk at its June 3, 2013 meeting. When the final decision came before the council on July 1, 2013, councilmembers heard from residents like John Ohanian and Miranda Wellborn Eleazar, whose properties abut cross-lot walkways.

Under the ordinance change the council considered that evening, the city’s sidewalk repair millage could be used to fix any defects in the slabs – but Ohanian and Wellborn Eleazar would have to shovel the walkway during the winter. That concern led to a postponement by the council until Oct. 7.

This cross-lot path was described by John Ohanian at the city council’s July 1, 2013 meeting as one that he’d become responsible for shoveling if the city adopted the change in the definition of sidewalk.

This is the path – looking east from Frederick and Middleton into Greenbrier Park – that abuts Ohanian’s property.

This is the cross-lot path that the Eleazars would become responsible for shoveling, if the change to the definition of sidewalk is adopted.

The cross-lot path that leads from Roon the Ben in the Turnberry neighborhood to the ballfields for Scarlett-Mitchell schools. A pending ordinance change could eventually place responsibility for capital repairs on the city, but give adjacent property owners the responsibility of shoveling snow.

On Oct. 7, the council will be asked to consider a revised approach to these cross-lot walkways. The ordinance would still be changed to include them in the definition of a “sidewalk” – so repairs could be paid for with sidewalk millage money. But the ordinance change would not assign responsibility for snow clearance to the adjacent property owners. The staff memo accompanying the Oct. 7 ordinance proposal estimates that the total city cost for repairs and snow clearance for 34 cross-lot walkways would be $7,000 – $5,100 for plowing and $1,900 for repair.

The 34 cross-lot walkways that would be affected by the ordinance change would need to be accepted by the city for public use, in order for the ordinance language to apply. That’s a companion resolution the council will also need to approve.

Because the change to the ordinance is substantively different from the approach the council had previously given initial approval, any action taken on Oct. 7 by the council would be considered another initial approval, according to the staff memo. For the ordinance change to be enacted, it would need a second, final vote by the council at a subsequent meeting.

Construction of New Sidewalks

As part of the current fiscal year 2014 budget approved on May 20, 2013, the city council included $75,000 for a sidewalk gap prioritization study.

But before and after the adoption of the budget, the city council approved money related to specific gaps – for an alternative study or actual design work. The council has made such allocations on three occasions in the last year, starting on Nov. 19, 2012. That’s when the council approved $15,000 for an alternatives analysis of a stretch along Scio Church Road, west of Seventh Street and east of I-94.

Purple indicates stretches of Scio Church Road where no sidewalk exists.

Residents who live on and near Scio Church had submitted a petition asking for the construction of a sidewalk along the south side of the road. That petition prompted the city council allocation of money for an alternatives analysis.

For some of the other specific sidewalk projects, the council allocated a design budget. For Scio Church Road, the alternatives analysis comes first, because the design won’t be straightforward – due to the physical challenges involved, related to the sloping terrain.

In fact, those physical challenges were cited by city senior project manager Liz Rolla at the Sept. 18 Lawton Elementary School meeting as one possible reason why the sidewalk gaps exist along that stretch. One resident, who described herself as new to the area, asked for a nutshell explanation of why, on the south side of the road, there’s a sidewalk heading west until halfway between Delaware and Churchill, “and then there’s nothing.”

In addition to the physical challenges, Rolla ventured that when the sidewalks were constructed, the perceived need for pedestrians to go west all the way to I-94 and beyond was not as great. Facilities like the Ann Arbor Ice Cube, Wide World Sports Center and the Pittsfield branch of the Ann Arbor District Library, she said, were from her perspective relatively new – but for her kids, they seem like they’d been there forever. Those facilities create a need for pedestrian travel westward.

One resident at the meeting traced the problem to the city’s failure to install proper sidewalks when the land was annexed from Pittsfield Township, citing the city’s requirements that regulate how public sidewalks and driveway entrances are constructed. He was reluctant to see just the gap on the south side of Scio Church addressed, reasoning that the city should provide sidewalks on both sides of the street.

An outcome of the Sept. 18 meeting is that the staff will request that the city council provide money for a design budget – for both sides of Scio Church, including the shorter gap on the north side of the street. That request is supposed to be on the council’s Oct. 21 agenda, according to the staff summary of the meeting. [.pdf of Sept. 18, 2013 staff summary of Lawton Elementary School sidewalk meeting]

The sentiment of the attendees at the Sept. 18 meeting was that – while they very much wanted to see sidewalks constructed to eliminate the gap – they were reluctant to see what they viewed as unreasonable costs imposed on adjacent property owners, who would bear some of the project’s cost. That cost is typically imposed by the city through a special assessment of properties that front the sidewalk. Because much of the south side of Scio Church, where the proposed sidewalk would be constructed, is adjacent to city parkland or the rear of cul-de-sacs, few property owners would be special assessed.

Lawton Elementary School sidewalk meeting on Sept. 18, 2013.

One resident who attended the Sept. 18 meeting, and whose property would be special assessed, indicated he had not signed the petition, nor had he known about it: “The funding of this is a very, very big deal to me,” he said. “This is money that I’m hoping that my son can use to go to college. A portion of that would have to go to this project if this property is assessed.”

Rolla and city engineer Nick Hutchinson, who also attended the meeting, stressed throughout the discussion that the numbers they’d provided should not be seen as the amounts that residents would have to pay – because the estimates were only very rough, and not all elements of the project would be subject to special assessment. Retaining walls, for example, would likely not be assessed, Hutchison indicated.

Another factor reducing the potential burden to local property owners is the possibility that federal surface transportation funds could be used to offset part of the cost. But Hutchinson stressed that even if the city was successful in obtaining such federal funds – which are administered through the state of Michigan – a 20% local match would still be required.

Residents at the meeting appeared sensitive to the potential financial burden that just a few residents might have to bear. The resident who had organized the petition to the city reported that he got the feeling from talking to the neighborhood that there are ways to share the burden of the assessment – either formal or informal ways among those who wouldn’t ordinarily be special-assessed. Speaking for himself, he said, “I’m eager to do it.” Another resident chimed in, quickly: “I was just going say the same thing. I am perfectly willing to chip in,” she said. “I definitely want sidewalks,” she continued. “Me, too!” added another. “Yes, I am in favor of that as well,” another resident said.

Rolla told attendees that the preliminary conversation with the city attorney’s office had indicated that a formal arrangement of those neighbors – people contributing to the sidewalk who wouldn’t ordinarily be specially assessed – would best be done through a single point of contact for a group of property owners, like a neighborhood association.

The dollar figures that residents reacted to were the following for the three numbered alternatives – as the option of building a pathway through Eisenhower Park wasn’t pursued in any detail. Even the staff’s preliminary consideration led to the conclusion that the park path option would be cost prohibitive.

0. Build Path through Park
   Challenges: Slope issues (Americans with Disabilities Act); it would require removal of many
   trees; it’s isolated with no streetlights; requires crossing of creek.
   Cost: Cost prohibitive. Not pursued.
1. Pedestrian Crossing Island near Churchill
   Estimated cost: $56,000
   Funding mechanism: In the past, pedestrian islands have been funded in conjunction with major road reconstruction projects, safety funds, street millage, MDOT. Not specially assessed to residents.
   Responsibility for snow shoveling: City of Ann Arbor
2. Fill-in North Side Gap
   Requires: Grading, retaining wall, tree removal.
   Rough estimated cost: It’s about 370 feet long, with estimated cost of $90,000, which means about $245 per lineal foot.
   Funding mechanism: In the past, this type of project is funded by special assessment to fronting properties or installed by the property owner.
   Responsibility for snow shoveling: Property owners who have property that fronts the sidewalk.
3. Extend South Sidewalk to Maple
   Requires: Grading, retaining wall, tree removal, replacement of guardrail, addition of curb and gutter and fence.
   Rough estimated cost: It’s about 2,000 feet long, with estimated cost of $360,000, which is about $180 per lineal foot.
   Funding mechanism: In the past, special assessment has been used, but only a few of the properties along the stretch could be special assessed, as the rear of cul-de-sacs would not be subject to the assessment. Federal surface transportation funds could be used, requiring a 20% local match.
   Responsibility for snow shoveling: Property owners who have property fronting the sidewalk (corner lots). This does not include cul-de-sac lots with no connection to the sidewalk. The city would plow the sidewalk where no other adjacent property owner is responsible

Next up for the city council, on Oct. 21, will be a request for a design budget, so that costs of the project can be estimated with more precision.

Detention Ponds, Art

The project extending the Scio Church sidewalk to Maple Road includes a fence – to keep pedestrians from falling down the embankment. That fence was the subject of deliberations by the Ann Arbor public art commission at its  Sept. 25, 2013 meeting.

The art commission tabled the proposal. [.pdf of AAPAC's intake form for the Scio Church fence] Typically the city would, at this kind of site, install a standard kind of chain link fence. But Craig Hupy – the city’s public services area administrator – had previously told the public art commission that there might be an opportunity for something more creative, if AAPAC wanted to explore that possibility. The AAPAC budget for the tabled fence enhancement was recommended to be between $40,000 and $80,000 from the remaining Percent for Art street funds.

Those funds won’t be replenished after they’re spent, because the city has ended the Percent for Art approach to funding public art. In the future, public art funding will come from partnerships, fundraising and any money that the city council allocates to “enhance” capital projects. The remaining Percent for Art funds are supposed to be spent on projects that are tied thematically or physically to the funds of origin.

Although the Scio Church fence art project was tabled on Sept. 25, the city’s public art administrator, Aaron Seagraves, told art commissioners he could put together a more detailed proposal for AAPAC’s October meeting.

The end of the sidewalk near Maple, where the fence and a guardrail would need to be reconstructed, received comment at the Lawton Elementary School meeting of Sept. 18 – in connection with a pair of potential detention ponds in the adjacent Eisenhower Park. The Washtenaw County water resources commissioner is recommending that the ponds be constructed there as part of recommendations for mitigating flooding in the area.

At the Sept. 18 meeting, one resident suggested that the earth that would need to be excavated to create the detention ponds could be used to help soften the angle of the slope from Scio Church Road down into the park, possibly helping to meet the challenge of sidewalk construction there. The same resident expressed desire for the sidewalk construction to be coordinated with the detention pond construction, so that the city does not construct a new sidewalk, fence and guardrail, and then tear it out to gain access to Eisenhower Park for the detention pond project.

While the sidewalk construction project could be undertaken in late 2014, the detention pond probably entails a longer timeline. The final report from the upper Mallets Creek stormwater study isn’t due until early 2014. And from that point, the recommendations would need to be adopted into the city’s capital improvements plan, which is the purview of the city planning commission. And after that, the city council would need to decide whether to approve funding allocations for any or all of the recommended projects. [For previous coverage of that project, see: "County Gets Info on Flooding, Shares Options"]

Those recommendations, however, have been developed and modeled. They were unveiled at a meeting on Sept. 30, 2013 – also held at Lawton Elementary School. Although the three proposed stormwater facilities were described as “alternatives,” project manager Harry Sheehan, who’s managing the project in the water resources commissioner’s office, indicated that all three projects are being recommended:

Proposed Pioneer High School detention pond. Cost estimate: $1.2 million. Surface area: 2.8 acres. Total volume: 400,000 cubic feet.

Proposed Lawton detention pond. Cost estimate: $5.15 million. Surface area: 1.1 acres. Total volume: 280,000 cubic feet.

Proposed Eisenhower Park detention ponds. Cost estimate: $2.1 million. Surface area: 2.5 acres. Total volume: 470,000 cubic feet.

At the Sept. 30 meeting, the effect of each project on the mitigation of flooding was presented as modeled for the March 15, 2012 storm, which had resulted in significant overland flooding in the Landsdowne neighborhood.

In the animated .gif below, which loops continuously, the first frame indicates the March 15, 2012 flooded areas in black. The next three frames show the modeled cumulative effect of adding each of the proposed stormwater detention facilities. That is, the maps show what the flooding would have been like, if the proposed stormwater detention facilities had been in place on March 15, 2012.

Maps by Spicer Group, the engineering consultant for the upper Mallets Creek stormwater study. Scans and animation by The Chronicle.

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Ann Arbor city storm drain in action. (Chronicle file photo)

The meetings are part of a study of the Upper Malletts Creek watershed, being conducted by the office of the Washtenaw County water resources commissioner under an agreement with the city of Ann Arbor. The year-long study is supposed to culminate in a final report due to the Ann Arbor city council in February 2014. Water resources commissioner Evan Pratt was on hand at the meeting, along with other members of the project team.

In response to direction from a citizens advisory group that’s been formed for the project, the team used the March 14 meeting to introduce residents to the basic toolkit for stormwater management techniques. The general stormwater management practices described at the meeting – without trying to analyze which solutions might be appropriate for specific locations in the area – ranged from increasing the number of catch basins in streets to the construction of underground detention facilities.

At least 60 residents attended the meeting, and seemed generally receptive to the idea that some money might actually be spent on infrastructure projects to reduce flooding in their neighborhood: “If you want me to sign up for you breaking up my street and putting [stormwater management infrastructure] in there, just give me a consent form and I will sign it tonight!”

The project team is also still in a phase of gathering information about specific experiences that residents have had with past flooding problems. And the same technology platform – an online mapping tool – can be used by residents for logging future flooding events. For help in using a smart-phone app, one attendee volunteered her grandson “for rent” to other residents. Members of the project team also indicated they welcomed information submitted in any format – including letters, face-to-face conversation and phone calls.

But it was a missing follow-up phone call – expected from one resident who’d attended the first meeting on Jan. 29 – that indicated some continuing frustration about the city’s footing drain disconnection (FDD) program. The frustrated resident’s experience had been that after an FDD program sump pump was installed in his basement, he’d started having problems with a wet basement – problems he hadn’t experienced before. Project manager Harry Sheehan, with the county water resources commissioner’s office, extended an apology for the missed communication and an offer to arrange a site visit.

The FDD program removes a building’s footing drain connection to the sanitary sewer system and redirects that stormwater flow to the system designed to handle it – the stormwater system. The FDD program, which has been somewhat controversial, is not the focus of the Upper Malletts Creek study. But residents got an assurance that the additional volume of rainwater that goes into the stormwater system – as a result of the FDD program – would be accounted for in all the modeling that’s done as part of this study.

Meeting Overview, Context

This report begins with a legislative overview, and a summary of the introductory remarks from the March 14, 2013 meeting.

Overview: Precipitating Events, Funding

An arrangement for the Washtenaw County water resources commissioner to study the Upper Malletts Creek area was authorized by the Ann Arbor city council at its Oct. 15, 2012 meeting. The $200,000 cost of the study is to be paid for with city funds already held by the county water resources commissioner’s office.

The area to be studied, outlined in the agreement between the city and the water resources commissioner, included “the Malletts Creek Drain Drainage District in the Churchill Downs and Lansdowne sub-watershed areas.” Potential improvements mentioned in the agreement include detention, pipe upsizing, and green infrastructure.

Negotiations on that agreement with the water resources commissioner stemmed from a council resolution approved at its Aug. 9, 2012 meeting. That resolution directed city staff to start negotiations with the county to conduct the study.

The staff memo accompanying the council’s Oct. 15, 2012 resolution mentioned the heavy rains on March 15, 2012, which resulted in street flooding in that part of the city. The city council heard complaints from the public at its meetings after the flooding. A map of historical flooding in the city – obtained by The Chronicle through appeal of an initially-denied request made under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act – shows that respondents to a survey conducted in the mid-1990s reported they’d experienced street flooding in the same areas that the flooding occurred in the spring of 2012.

Residents at the March 14, 2013 meeting wanted to know how big the March 15, 2012 storm was – from an historical perspective. They noted that on Scio Church Road there was water running through the yard, which hadn’t happened in the previous 20 years.

Ron Hansen, a Spicer Group engineer who’s working on the project, said that given the magnitude of the flooding, it was a very historic event. For many people, it was the most significant flooding they’d ever seen. But he’d heard from other people who said they’d had numerous floods over the last 20-30 years. The rainfall amount on March 15, 2012 was in the range of 1.7 or 1.8 inches in a two-hour period, Hansen reported. That doesn’t mean that the intensity over every house was the same as the intensity measured by the rain gauges, he allowed. And it was in the springtime, when the ground doesn’t absorb as much water – so you get more runoff.

Some frustration about the number of studies that have been done over the years was expressed at the March 14 meeting. And water resources commissioner Evan Pratt led off his introductory remarks at the meeting with an acknowledgment of that sentiment, noting that some attendees might be thinking, “Oh no, another study!”

Overview: March 14, 2013 Meeting Intro

Pratt asked for a show of hands of the roughly 60 residents in attendance – for those who’d attended the Jan. 29 meeting. From that he concluded that there were enough new attendees that it would be worth reviewing some of the information presented at that meeting.

He told the residents that they were in the right place if they wanted to stay engaged and help the project team work toward figuring out some real improvements that could be made so they didn’t have the same problems that they’d experienced last year on March 15, 2012, when there was so much flooding in the streets and in the yards.

Evan Pratt, Washtenaw County water resources commissioner.

Pratt allowed that he’d only been water resources commissioner for a few months, but told the group that he had been working on residential flooding issues for about 25 years. [Pratt was elected in November 2012 and took office at the start of 2013.]

One thing he’s learned in that experience, Pratt said, is that the residents at the meeting still know more than he and the consultants do about the problems in their neighborhood. His team is still trying to understand where the problems were and how bad they were on March 15, 2012. He ventured that they had a pretty good handle on it from previous data collected, supplemented by information collected at the Jan. 29 meeting – but the project team is still collecting information. He also offered to arrange that evening to visit anyone’s property if that’s what they wanted.

He ventured that those in attendance would like to head home and say, “Man, we’re done! I understand exactly how everything’s going to get fixed and there’ll never be water in the yard or in the street!” That’s not something he could promise that night, or at the end of the study, he allowed. But the project team would figure out some positive solutions so that if it rains again like it did a year before, residents wouldn’t see the same severity of the problem.

Besides Pratt, other members of the project team introduced at the start of the meeting included employees of the Spicer Group, the engineering consulting firm hired for the study: Ron Hansen, a professional engineer and surveyor; Tim Inman, who works with GIS mapping; and Steve Roznowski, a design engineer.

Handling communications, website and media work on the project are Josh Hovey, a vice president of Truscott Rossman and Lauren Zdeba, an account executive with the same firm. Hovey noted that the location of the meeting, Lawton Elementary, was Zdeba’s old elementary school – so she’d grown up in the neighborhood. [Responding to a query from The Chronicle about the school's mascot, Zdeba confirmed it was the Lawton Leopards. "Our rivals were the Dicken Dolphins!" she said, referring to the elementary school in the neighborhood just to the north.]

Project manager for the Upper Mallets Creek study is Harry Sheehan, with the water resources commissioner’s office. Also on hand at the meeting were city of Ann Arbor employees Cresson Slotten and Jennifer Lawson. Slotten is an engineer and manager of the city’s systems planning department, while Lawson is water resources manager with the city.

In his remarks toward the start of the meeting, Sheehan said the goal of the project is to manage stormwater better and reduce flooding: ” … essentially what we’re looking to do is take a look at what happened on March 15, 2012 and provide solutions to make the effects of that storm much more manageable.”

Overview: Stormwater Management Toolkit

Ron Hansen, engineer with the Spicer Group, described how the goal of the engineering study is to develop a recommended plan that could be implemented to reduce the probability of flooding.

Ron Hansen with the Spicer Group.

The study would eventually identify the estimated cost of the recommended actions and weigh that against the benefit, he said. “It would nice to say we’re going to build a system that is so big that it’ll never flood again, but the reality of it is that would be cost prohibitive. When it comes to rainfall, there’s always the bigger and badder storm.” There’s always a chance of flooding, he said.

He also stressed that the solutions to be recommended should not adversely impact downstream property owners. The goal is not to push the problem downstream, but rather to manage the water within the study area, so that the flooding problems within the study area could be addressed without creating new problems downstream.

The goals are also to implement solutions that maintain or improve water quality, he said. Some of the solutions, he continued, would involve “hard engineering” approaches like installing new pipes. Other approaches are “softer” – such as installing rain gardens and infiltration-based systems. The key is to maintain and enhance water quality, he said. The recommendation should also be sustainable for the longer term – which means that it should be low maintenance.

Hansen then walked the March 14 attendees through a range of options for stormwater infrastructure:

• catchbasin enhancements
• street maintenance
• clean/repair existing drainage infrastructure
• enhance/modify existing detention management
• construct new surface stormwater detention
• construct new underground stormwater detention
• upsize/enhance storm sewer capacity
• bio-retention/rain gardens

He noted that they’d begin with low-cost options, like evaluating catch basins in streets, allowing that these might have a low impact as well.

He also described high-cost options like building underground detention facilities – which he described as big underground concrete boxes – or tearing up streets and backyards. He thought it was likely that some of that type of work might be called for, but the question is where to implement those solutions. And the location and type of facility would depend on the outcome of the engineering analysis and modeling of the study.

Along with the “hard engineering” approaches, Hansen indicated that “softer” approaches – like rain gardens – would be included in the options as well. Softer approaches would be included more than likely in addition to, not instead of, some of the harder engineering approaches, he said.  He drew laughs from the audience when he said: “My gut feeling is you can’t solve this problem with rain gardens.”

Geographic Area of the Study

Harry Sheehan oriented the audience to the area of the study – the northwestern portion of Mallets Creek. He pointed out how I-94 crosses through the area of study. He ventured that most of the attendees at the meeting that night were probably from the city of Ann Arbor, but pointed out that the Mallets Creek watershed, and the area of the study, goes quite a ways past I-94, into the townships. It reaches all the way to The Uplands, he said, west of I-94 and up toward Stadium Boulevard, and in the upper righthand corner of the study area is part of the Pioneer High School property.

Malletts Creek “smart map” showing the study area.

The blue line is Mallets Creek, Sheehan said. Describing Malletts heading upstream (from east to west), Sheehan note that at Landsdowne the creek is open water. But after it crosses 7th Street, it’s a piped system – continuing between Moorhead and Delaware, and across Churchill. It then makes a bend and goes through some backyards on the other side of Churchill Downs near Steeplechase, then goes through Churchill Downs Park. That’s where it opens up, he explained. There are two tributaries that split up in Churchill Downs Park – one of them goes north and one of them goes west, down by the Ice Cube and the Pittsfield branch of the Ann Arbor District Library.

Within the study area, the project team has mapped out areas of known flooding, based on previous information, but also based on information gathered at the first meeting on Jan. 29, Sheehan said.

He pointed out that while there had clearly been problems in the southeastern portion of the study area, that was not the only location.

Sheehan also pointed to problems that had been logged on Chaucer Court and up by the service drive on Scio Church Road. There were clearly a lot of locations to look at, he said.

All the red dots on the “smart map” reflect problems reported to the project team at the Jan. 29 meeting, he said. That first public meeting on Jan. 29 was spent primarily collecting that kind of information from residents who attended, Sheehan said. The information would be used to create a model that accurately represents the events of March 15, 2012, and that can be manipulated to model solutions to managing the stormwater.

From the audience came a request that Sheehan define “flooding” – as it was including in the annotations on the map where problems had been identified. As a definition of flooding for the purposes of the study, Sheehan offered: “If the piped system is overwhelmed or surcharged, and the water exits the piped system onto the street and the yards, or if … the water is not able to get into the system.”

By way of additional background, the Washtenaw County online GIS mapping system includes a number of different layers, including aerial photography, topography, flood plains and drains. The following images derive at least in part from that system.

Study “smart map” overlaid on 1940 historical aerial photography. (Illustration by The Chronicle.)

Malletts Creek topographical map.

Malletts Creek historical map

Geographic Area: West of I-94, Detention Ponds

Ron Hansen responded to a question from a resident about the part of the study area that’s west of I-94. The resident wondered if the drainage from that area were eliminated, would it reduce the flooding in the triangle of Scio Church Road, Main Street and I-94?

Hansen said he didn’t have the exact answer to that. The resident gave some further background for his question, noting there’s not a lot of open land within the city limits to create stormwater detention facilities. Even if the school yard at Lawton Elementary were torn up, “that wouldn’t give you what you want,” he ventured. But on the other side of I-94 there’s a lot of open land, he said. He asked if the project team was considering underground detention or detention ponds for that area. On the opposite side of I-94 is one place where those kinds of projects could be undertaken, he felt. The resident ventured that imminent domain would have to be invoked for many of the possible sites, because they’re on private land.

Harry Sheehan allowed that if you remove water from the system or you delay its entry into the system, that will have an impact. So large-scale stormwater facilities and large-scale rain gardens – which is to say, wetlands – are something that could be contemplated in the area west of I-94. Whether eminent domain would have to be used wasn’t clear, he continued, pointing out that there is some public right-of-way and land that can be purchased. There are also some smaller pockets within the city boundary, he pointed out, such as the area just north of Churchill Downs up by Scio Church Road, where the open channel of the creek runs.

The audience member followed up by saying he was a big fan of detention ponds – because he lives next to one, which is bounded by Scio Church, 7th Street and Greenview. Most of the runoff in the neighborhood runs off into that detention pond, he said. During the dry season, the pond level is down and during the rainy season it’s up. The detention pond controls the water in his immediate neighborhood, so he felt the same solution would work in many others. Hansen added that detention could be feasible, but the concept of diverting or shutting the water off is not too feasible – because if you diverted the water coming from west of I-94, that would push it onto somebody else’s property.

Responding to a question about how many acre-feet of detention ponds would be required, Hansen said that’s one of the questions the project team is studying. The goal is eventually to be able to answer all the questions like that – but they wouldn’t be able to provide answers that evening. The final report on the project will be done in February 2014. It will take time to calculate the acre-feet. It’ll take time to identify where feasible stormwater detention facilities could be placed.

Right now the team is still partly in the information-gathering phase, Hansen explained. The team is also starting to do its modeling and monitoring work. After that is done, the team will begin the preliminary analysis phase. At that point they’ll be able to make statements like: If we put 20 acre-feet of detention at this location, here’s the level of service you’d get. That answer is still a few months in the future, he cautioned. He described five or six additional neighborhood meetings that would take place from now through February 2014.

Stormwater Improvements Funding

Residents at the March 14 meeting wanted to know if funding would be forthcoming and when it would be forthcoming.

Stormwater Improvements Funding: Utility Fees, CIP

Harry Sheehan indicated that the funding stream for the city of Ann Arbor is set by the stormwater utility rate that shows up in your water bill. His own stormwater utility bill is about $25 a quarter, he said. In the city’s capital improvements plan (CIP), Sheehan explained, the first two years are budgeted. The funding from the stormwater utility fee would come as projects are defined in connection with the Malletts Creek study and placed in the CIP over the course of the next few months. Within the CIP, projects are prioritized, he said, and those that are prioritized for the first two years of the CIP would be budgeted.

The number of projects that are programmed in the first two years of the CIP are those than can be afforded with funds from the current stormwater utility, Sheehan said. It’s been possible to double the amount of projects undertaken, because the city and county use the state’s revolving loan fund, and some grant money that goes along with that. A couple of projects that will include stormwater management components are already budgeted in the neighborhood within the current two-year CIP cycle: Scio Church Road from 7th to Main Street; and 7th Street from Scio Church Road to Greenview.

From the funding summary of the CIP [both projects are scheduled for funding in FY 2016]:

UT-ST-14-13 Scio Church Storm Sewer Improvements (Main to 7th) $750,000
UT-ST-14-22 S 7th (Greenview to Scio Church) $650,000

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For other projects, Sheehan described how deeper soil borings can be done to find out exactly where the groundwater is, relative to the surface, and to locate any sand seams.

By way of additional background on groundwater, it’s measured on a regular basis at the Ann Arbor municipal airport. In the last 10 years, it’s shown a rising trend – something that factored into a recent discussion by the city’s park advisory commission on issues like the location of a tennis court in Windemere Park. Daily measurements from 1963 through 2012 are available on the USGS website. [Google Spreadsheet and interactive graph]

Groundwater levels measured at Ann Arbor municipal airport since 1963.

Sheehan described collecting video data from the storm sewers and capturing flow data, so it can be determined how much water needs to be stored at different locations throughout the neighborhood.

Stormwater Improvements Funding: Street Projects

Earlier in the meeting, Sheehan had pointed out that the road right-of-way represents an opportunity for stormwater management. Streets have a useful life, and when they have to be reconstructed, that’s a chance to increase the size of the detention and conveyance system underneath the street, he explained.

Harry Sheehan, environmental manager with the Washtenaw County office of the water resources commissioner.

If that kind of stormwater improvement is part of a street reconstruction project, Sheehan explained, it can earn the project additional points in the priority rating system used in the city of Ann Arbor’s capital improvements plan (CIP). If a street needs to be reconstructed because the road surface needs to be replaced – which is typically why a street would be replaced, he noted – it will be placed in the CIP. But if there’s utility work that needs to be done as well, that accelerates the street project within the CIP.

Underneath the roadway, Sheehan said that improvements would be made by installing larger-sized pipes or underground storage – similar to what would ordinarily be found in porous pavement systems. If there’s water coming under the street from another neighborhood, you might not be able to store it all, he said, but you might be able to put in some swirl concentrators to remove some of the pollutants in the water. Those are the kinds of stormwater management systems that would be deployed under roadways.

Responding to a follow-up question from the audience, Sheehan described how anytime there is a street reconstruction project, the different components of the project are funded by their respective funds – street reconstruction, sanitary sewer work, drinking water and stormwater. Only the part of a street reconstruction project that can be associated with stormwater management is paid for out of the stormwater utility, Sheehan explained.

Stormwater Improvements Funding: Can Money Be Spent?

An additional follow-up question focused on the city policy for expenditures on stormwater improvements: Was it the case that money was not being spent on stormwater improvements in this part of town, because they were considered speculative investments – and for that reason they weren’t going to get done? The question was prompted by an Ann Arbor Chronicle report of a May 11, 2011 briefing that systems planning engineer Cresson Slotten had given the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority’s partnerships committee. In that briefing, Slotten had explained that the basic utility rates could not fund replacement of utility systems before they’d reached the end of their useful life – things like upsizing water mains to support future development.

Cresson Slotten, manager of the city of Ann Arbor’s systems planning unit.

Sheehan gave an assurance that money is being spent every day on stormwater improvements. A project is being done right now on Traver Creek, he said. Four road projects are planned for this construction season in the city that have stormwater management components, he pointed out. It’s not accurate to say that money is not being spent on stormwater improvements, Sheehan said.

The response from the questioner was that it’s music to his ears to hear that stormwater utility money can actually be spent on stormwater improvements: “If you want me to sign up for you breaking up my street and putting something in there, just give me a consent form and I will sign it tonight! You can put it in my backyard – you can put it anywhere you like!”

Stormwater Management Codes

At the March 14 meeting, Cresson Slotten – an engineer and manager of the city’s systems planning unit – was challenged by a resident to describe what the city has done to keep more rainwater from “washing down into this neighborhood.” The resident wanted to know: What have you done? What laws have you put in place?

Slotten explained that in terms of ordinances, rules and regulations, Chapter 63 of the city code is the part that deals with stormwater management. The chapter overall deals with soil erosion, Slotten explained, but a key piece of soil erosion is stormwater and stormwater management. He reported that the first piece of Chapter 63 was put in place in 1979, but since that time, it’s gone through a tremendous evolution. In the 26 years Slotten has worked for the city, he said, it’s been revised at least five times.

By way of illustration, Chapter 63 includes different requirements for on-site stormwater detention, depending on the amount of impervious surface in the project:

Sites proposed to contain:
(i) Impervious surfaces greater than 5,000 square feet and less than 10,000 square feet require retention/infiltration only of the first flush storm events.
(ii) Impervious surfaces equal to or greater than 10,000 square feet and less than 15,000 square feet require retention/infiltration only of the first flush and detention only of bankfull storm events.
(iii) Impervious surfaces equal to or greater than 15,000 square feet require retention/infiltration of the first flush, and detention of bankfull, and 100-year storm event. Detention facilities designed for the 100-year storm event shall include a sediment forebay.

Slotten explained that when a new project is proposed – a new office plaza or a new subdivision – the project must include the required stormwater management facilities to hold the water and to slow it down. To illustrate, he described a little neighborhood on the north side of Scio Church Road for which he’d done the stormwater review back in 1988 or 1989. It was a development with about a dozen single-family homes. A certain amount of stormwater detention was required on the site, he said. The amount of impervious surface was calculated – for the driveways, the roof area, and the little road. From that amount of surface, the required stormwater detention was calculated. Responding to a question from the audience, Slotten said it was not “just a guess” but rather had been calculated out by engineers.

Slotten also noted that in the townships, similar rules apply. Washtenaw County also has a set of stormwater regulations, he said, which the city has now adopted. The resident who’d prompted Slotten’s description of the regulations ventured: “These rules don’t work.” Slotten responded by saying that’s why they continue to evolve.

Footing Drain Disconnect (FDD) Program

From the audience at the March 14, 2013 meeting, some questions arose about the city of Ann Arbor’s footing drain disconnect program.

FDD Program: Background

The city of Ann Arbor has separate sanitary and stormwater conveyance systems.

Where rain goes: 70% runs off, and 23% soaks in, becomes part of underground flows or is absorbed by vegetation. It’s the remaining 7% of the rainwater that causes a problem for the sanitary sewer system – because the sanitary system is not designed to handle that kind of volume. (Diagram from the city of Ann Arbor.)

However, during construction of new developments before 1980, footing drains – permeable pipes buried around the perimeter of a foundation, roughly at the depth of a basement floor – were frequently connected directly to the sanitary sewer pipes. Those connections were convenient to make, because the footing drains and the sanitary sewers are buried at roughly the same depth.

However, during very heavy rains, that configuration leads to a volume of stormwater flow into the sanitary sewer system that it’s not designed to handle. That can cause two problems.

First, near the point where the extra water is entering the sanitary system, it can cause raw sewage to back up through the floor drains of basements.

Second, farther downstream at the wastewater treatment plant, the amount of water flowing into the plant can exceed the plant’s capacity. That can result in only partially-treated wastewater being discharged into the Huron River.

It was wastewater discharges into the river that led the city to agree to an administrative consent order with the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to establish a way to offset the impact of new connections to the sanitary system required by new developments.

Footing drain disconnect (FDD) priority area in the southwest of Ann Arbor. Other priority areas, where nearly all the disconnections have been completed, lie in the northeast part of the city. The area of study for the Upper Malletts Creek study overlaps a large part of the FDD priority area. (Diagram from the city of Ann Arbor.)

That program essentially requires developers who are building projects that place additional burdens on the sanitary sewer system to pay for a number of footing drain disconnections elsewhere in the city, according to a formula. A city council resolution from Aug. 18, 2003 authorized the consent order with the MDEQ.

The footing drain disconnect program was targeted initially in five neighborhoods that accounted for about half of all reported basement sewage backups.

Since implementation, 2,538 footing drains have been disconnected, including nearly all of the houses in three of the five neighborhoods. In the two other areas, between 55% and 60% of footing drains have been disconnected.

The city council decided on Sept. 17, 2012 to suspend temporarily the footing drain disconnect program.

And at its Feb. 4, 2013 meeting, the city council authorized a roughly $1 million study of Ann Arbor’s sanitary sewer flows – meant to assess the impact of the decade-long footing drain disconnect program. The point of the study is to see how well the FDD program has worked: Has it had more impact or less impact than expected? Have residents’ preferences changed with respect to how they’d like to see the issue addressed?

The decision to suspend the FDD program came in the context of complaints from residents in the area of the current Malletts Creek study – about overland flooding in spring of 2012 as well as earlier.

The FDD procedure includes the installation of a sump to collect water from the footing drains – which previously fed into the sanitary system – and a pump to move the water from the sump to the stormwater system. And in some cases, the pumps were reportedly not able to keep up with the influx into the footing drains. In other cases, the discharge of the pumps reportedly exacerbated the overland flooding.

FDD Program: Increased Challenge for Stormwater Management?

Responding to a question from the March 14 audience, Ron Hansen said the impact of FDD is being considered as part of the Upper Mallets Creek study. He couldn’t, at this point, say if the FDD program is impacting the stormwater system. He hoped to be able to provide more information at upcoming meetings.

Evan Pratt also responded to the question, saying that regardless of what you think of the FDD program, there’s a sense that if the stormwater pipe is already full, then the water volumes associated with the FDD program don’t really matter – whether it’s a small or large amount that’s being pulled out of the sanitary system and put into the stormwater system. If the pipe is already full, then all of that FDD amount – whatever it is – will not fit into the stormwater pipe, Pratt said. He assured the audience that the study would calculate the FDD amount, and the design of improvements would consider how much water is getting moved from the sanitary system into the stormwater system. “That will absolutely be considered,” he concluded.

Responding to a follow-up question, Pratt indicated his understanding was that the city of Ann Arbor had placed a moratorium on the FDD program. But he noted that a certain number of disconnections had already been done under the FDD program. Pratt said the project team would work hard with the citizens advisory committee to get a clear consensus on the calculated amount of additional FDD water that’s being pushed into the storm drain – over and above what comes off the surface runoff. The design improvements will need to account for that amount, too. Like Hansen, Pratt indicated that he couldn’t at this point say if it’s a huge number or a little number – but in general he didn’t feel like it was an amount that should overwhelm the system.

Related to that, Pratt noted that there was overland flooding in the area before the FDD program was implemented in the early 2000s. It’s the project team’s understanding that during heavy rains in 1971, for example, water flowed down Churchill and Wiltshire streets. But he allowed that the additional FDD flow into the stormwater system was a legitimate concern: If the pipes are full, then any amount of water makes the problem that much worse.

FDD Program: Developer Mitigation

Cresson Slotten of the city’s systems planning unit was called on by a resident in the audience to explain the FDD credit system for developer offset mitigation. Slotten responded by explaining the formula for the developer mitigation program. The formula requires that for every 1,000 gallons of additional sanitary sewer flow a new development might cause, that amount plus 20% – or 1,200 gallons – has to be mitigated by performing footing drain disconnection elsewhere in the city.

Although some dissatisfaction was expressed with the amount of detail provided about the credit system, the resident seemed content to leave the issue for another time.

FDD Program: No Follow-up Phone Call

One resident at the March 14 meeting expressed concern about his experience with the FDD program. Since an FDD sump pump had been installed, he said, his basement gets wet even with routine rainfall. He’d attended the Jan. 29 meeting, and talked to a number of people who’d assured him they’d make a follow-up call: “You know who I heard from? Nobody.”

Harry Sheehan recalled talking with the resident, saying that he’d spoken to the resident and to three other people. He’d wanted to get the resident’s address, to compare it to the database of complaints logged before the FDD program was started. That database goes back to the early 1950s.

Flooding complaint map plotting data as far back as the 1950s. Each black dot is a complaint that was logged about water.

Sheehan said if he’d told the resident he’d follow up with a phone call, that was Sheehan’s error. He’d just wanted to see if there was a complaint prior to the FDD program for any of the four addresses that fit the category of apparently new wet basement problems arising after the FDD program. None of them had a history of prior complaints, Sheehan reported.

Sheehan also recalled talking to the resident about having an engineer come out to the resident’s property. If the resident still wanted to have an engineer come out, Sheehan still wanted to do that. Sheehan apologized for not making the follow-up connection. The resident responded: “You’re going to have a pretty big problem if you don’t call me and my basement floods. I’ve been struggling with this too long, and every meeting I come to I get madder and madder.”

Next Steps?

The project team described next steps, but residents were also interested in finding out if there’s anything they could do immediately to help improve the situation.

Next Steps: Immediate

Some residents wanted to know what could be done right now. Evan Pratt acknowledged that any projects that eventually could be implemented would not be started now, or even in February 2014, when the report was due. As he’d walked through some of the areas of the neighborhood, he’d thought that in some places maybe a big landscape berm could work, but he wasn’t really sure if that would be a good idea.

Harry Sheehan described the March 15, 2012 storm as a 10-year storm in engineering terms. And he said that as the days go by, this area is getting out of a window when rain might be falling on partially frozen and saturated ground. Still, residents wanted to know what they could to mitigate damage, if a similar storm were to strike this year.

Sheehan told residents there were a limited number of things that could be done. If a catch basin on the street is blocked, for example, that could be cleared. He told residents that if they weren’t able to do that themselves, to give his office a call.

Next Steps: Study Process

Sheehan described some of the next steps, including soil borings and flow monitoring, knocking on doors and collecting additional information.

Upper Malletts Creek study timeframe.

Soil boring data, including groundwater levels, will be collected as soon as the weather warms up a bit, Sheehan said. The information collected to date will then be compiled into a draft alternatives analysis to put out to residents and the citizens advisory committee. “It will be rough, but it will be more spelled out than what you’re seeing here, which is just categorical management practices.”

More numbers will be crunched based on reaction to that draft analysis. At that point, a revised draft will be created that will be roughly 90% complete. That version will include some associated costs and expected impact of the improvements. Another public meeting will take place to discuss that draft, he said. After that, a draft of the final report will be made and a public meeting will be held to get feedback on the report. A final report will be made by February 2014, and a public meeting will be held on that final report before it’s forwarded to the Ann Arbor city council.

Sheehan stressed that feedback can also be provided along the way by email if people get tired of attending the public meetings.

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Left to right: Sandi Smith (Ward 1) and former councilmember and planning commissioner Jean Carlberg. (Photos by the writer.)

Five significant items had been added: (1) a proposal to suspend temporarily the footing drain disconnection program in one area of the city; (2) a proposal to waive temporarily the city’s living wage requirement for certain nonprofits; (3) a proposal to establish a sidewalk gap elimination program; (4) a resolution on dealing with proceeds of city-owned land sales that competed with one already on the agenda; and (5) reconsideration of allocating $60,000 for a transit study – funding that the council had rejected at its previous meeting.

The first two items were added on Friday, Sept. 14. The second two were added the day of the meeting (Sept. 17), with the fifth item added at the council table. Of the added items, the council approved only one – to suspend temporarily the footing drain disconnect program. The rest were  postponed, withdrawn or voted down.

Postponed was the resolution added by Mike Anglin (Ward 5) to establish a committee of city officials and 10 residents – two from each ward, to be selected by councilmembers for respective wards – to address the issue of city-owned parcels in downtown Ann Arbor. The citizen committee to be established by Anglin’s resolution would study the available options for use of proceeds from the sale of downtown city properties.

Also postponed was the resolution that Anglin’s proposal was essentially challenging, which was brought forward by Sandi Smith (Ward 1). Smith wants to direct the proceeds from city-owned land sales to the city’s affordable housing trust fund. Her idea – which she first floated to her council colleagues in an email written in late August – enjoyed the support of nonprofits, as well as the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority board and the Washtenaw County board of commissioners.

While Anglin’s resolution was postponed until Oct. 1, Smith’s was referred to the council’s budget committee and postponed until the council’s Oct. 15 meeting.

Also postponed was a requested $60,000 contribution to fund further study of a transportation connector – for the corridor running from US-23 and Plymouth southward along Plymouth to State Street and farther south to I-94. The outcome of this phase is to identify a preferred choice of technology (e.g., bus rapid transit, light rail, etc.) and the location of stations and stops. The council had voted down the proposal at its Sept. 4 meeting, but it was brought back for reconsideration on Sept. 17, only to be postponed until Oct. 15. The $60,000 is meant to be the city’s share of a $300,000 local match for a $1.2 million federal grant that has already been awarded.

Withdrawn was the proposal to waive a requirement of the city’s living wage ordinance for those nonprofits that receive funding from the city to deliver human services. The ordinance has a provision for a hardship waiver, but states that a nonprofit must submit a plan for eventual compliance within three years. No nonprofits had submitted such plans, meaning that the council’s resolution would have amounted to an attempt by the council to amend the living wage ordinance through a simple resolution, which it cannot do. When the council reached the item on the agenda, it was withdrawn, with an indication that an ordinance revision would be brought forward to a future meeting.

Also at the Sept. 17 meeting, the council heard about an item related to nonprofit funding for human services that will be brought forward on Oct. 1: a request to continue the two-year pilot program for coordinated funding. That news came during a presentation from Mary Jo Callan, head of the city/county office of community and economic development.

Voted down was a plan to initiate a 5-year program to eliminate sidewalk gaps in the city. Councilmembers voting against the resolution pointed to the fact that the city’s non-motorized transportation plan takes a comprehensive approach to identifying such gaps. They feared that people might mistakenly believe that certain gaps would necessarily be filled through this program, and raised concerns about equity. The resolution sought to identify independent funding sources to pay for such projects – the city’s strategy in the past has been to levy special assessments on owners of property adjoining the sidewalks.

The footing drain disconnect program was the only one of the late additions to the agenda on which the council took final action. In the general vicinity of the Lansdowne neighborhood, where some houses have already had sump pumps installed as part of the disconnect program, residents have reported that during heavy rains, the overland stormwater flows and the sheer volume of water in the city’s stormwater system prevent sump pumps from being effective. At an Aug. 22 neighborhood meeting, residents had called for a moratorium on the program. That’s essentially what the council’s resolution did.

Flooding was also a topic included in other council business that had been placed on the agenda through the regular agenda-setting process. The council approved an update to the city’s hazard mitigation plan. It will allow the city to receive already-approved federal funds for demolishing two out-buildings located in the floodway at the city-owned 721 N. Main property.

Also related to emergency preparedness, the city council authorized the purchase of a light rescue vehicle that can be used by firefighters to respond to medical calls. Because its staffing requirement is just two firefighters instead of three, the use of the vehicle would allow response to medical calls without diminishing as much of the department’s response capability for fire calls.

The council also gave final approval to rezoning of an Eden Court property to public land.

Land Sale Policy

The council was asked to consider two resolutions related to the sale of city-owned land. One had been brought forward by Sandi Smith (Ward 1), who first outlined the idea to other councilmembers in an email written three weeks prior to their Sept. 17 meeting. It involved directing the proceeds from city-owned land sales to the city’s affordable housing trust fund.

A second resolution had been added to the council’s agenda the morning of Sept. 17 by Mike Anglin (Ward 5). Anglin’s resolution called for establishing a committee of 10 residents – two from each ward, to be selected by councilmembers from each ward – plus other city officials to address the issue of city-owned parcels in downtown Ann Arbor.

Anglin’s resolution was not specific about how the committee was supposed to address the issue or in what timeframe.

Land Sale Policy: Anglin’s Resolution

At the start of the meeting, Anglin’s resolution was moved ahead of Smith’s on the agenda – at Anglin’s request, because he felt that if Smith’s resolution were approved it would render his own resolution moot.

The citizen committee to be established by Anglin’s resolution would study the available options for use of the proceeds from selling downtown city properties.

Councilmember Mike Anglin (Ward 5). In the foreground is his wardmate, Carsten Hohnke.

The resolution included language like “a transparent process to gather citizen preferences for use of the City land in the DDA district, including whether to sell or lease the land to the private sector.” So it appeared to be an attempt to establish in some sense a parallel process to one that the DDA has undertaken at the previous direction of the city council, under the moniker of Connecting William Street. That process focuses on five city-owned parcels in the area bounded by Ashley, Liberty, Division and William streets. For Chronicle coverage of a recent presentation on the project to the city’s planning commission, see “Planning Group Briefed on William Street Project.”

Anglin’s resolution was moved ahead of Smith’s, over Smith’s objection.

Land Sale Policy: Public Commentary

Thomas Partridge called on the council to support affordable housing, affordable transportation and jobs. He also called for access to free and low-cost education from pre-school through graduate school. Ann Arbor should be known as the education city and as standing for progress in political, social and economic areas, he said. The city needs to give great attention to voter access, for the disabled and seniors and others who have transportation challenges. The council needs to give greater attention to the homeless in the city. He contended that in one stroke, the council could wipe out homelessness for 2012 and for all time.

Ingrid Ault introduced herself as a Ward 1 resident and spoke in support of Smith’s proposed policy on the sale of public land. She was speaking as a member of the housing and human services advisory board (HHSAB), which has the purpose: “To make recommendations to the City Council, City Administration and the Office of Community Development regarding policies and programs to address the needs of low income residents of the City of Ann Arbor. To monitor the implementation of the City’s housing policy and the creation of a City Housing Coordinator to oversee, carry out and coordinate these policies.” It’s a community goal to provide services that meet the basic human needs of impoverished and disenfranchised residents to maximize the health and well-being of the community, she said. In 2004, the goal of adding 500 rental housing units was established. Since that time, 322 units have been added, but 100 units were lost with the demolition of the downtown YMCA building and 79 units were converted to market rate units. That’s a net gain of just 156 units, leaving the community short of its goal of 500 units, she said. It’s time to take the community’s housing goals seriously.

The Ann Arbor Housing Commission had received 18,000 applications for 1,400 vouchers – which means the need clearly exceeds capacity, Ault said. HHSAB unanimously endorsed the resolution, Ault said. Public land is an asset, and when assets are sold, they should be reinvested in the community, she said. It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the economical thing to do. She cited a study that showed for every dollar invested in nonprofits, a return of $12-14 in non-local funds was received.

Jean Carlberg told the council it was nice to be back. [She previously served on the city council, representing Ward 3.] She told the council she was there as a board member of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance (WHA). The main task of WHA is to deal with homelessness, she said. Over the last year, over 700 singles called the housing access line, saying they were in a housing crisis. Over 600 adults and 900 children in families called the housing access line. The most efficient way to help people is to prevent them from becoming homeless, Carlberg said.

Dave DeVarti spoke in favor of Sandi Smith’s resolution on proceeds of land sales being deposited into the city’s affordable housing trust fund.

But currently, the community doesn’t have the housing it needs, in order to re-house people who’ve lost their housing. WHA can’t find units in Ann Arbor at rents low enough, Carlberg reported. The cost that accrues to the community from not being able to keep people in stable housing is tremendous, she said. For example, without stable housing, children sometimes have to change to a different school district – because they have to move to stay with another family member or friend, she said.

David DeVarti told the council it was great to be there for the last council meeting of the summer, and wished them a happy Rosh Hashanah.

He told the council he supported the land sale policy. When it was in effect previously, it had helped create affordable housing, he said.

It’s a continuing challenge to maintain a diversity of housing options. But when the city needed a couple of million dollars for the financing plan for the new police/courts building, he reminded the council, the policy was rescinded. But now that project has been built and is in use. So it’s time to restore the policy to once again commit ourselves to the support that affordable housing requires, DeVarti concluded.

Land Sale Policy: Anglin’s Resolution – Council Deliberations

Anglin led off deliberations by noting that the city is currently contemplating the use and the possible sale of city-owned downtown property. In the interest of transparency and the public’s ownership of the property, Anglin felt like the public should be the first group consulted. He contended that he’s seen the city defend the property rights of private owners, but not be as aggressive about defending the public’s rights with respect to publicly-owned land.

He reviewed how every councilmember would get a chance to appoint someone to a 10-person committee. [The proposal is in some ways reminiscent of Anglin's bid to establish a citizen's committee back on Feb. 1, 2010 in connection with the 415 W. Washington property. That committee would have been open to any citizen who wanted to participate.] The committee would also have access to the resources of the city staff.

Anglin apologized for the late timing of the item’s addition to the agenda. He felt it would lead to a much more open discourse.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) said that when she saw the email come through that morning from Anglin about the addition to the agenda, she found herself confused. There are not clear-cut deliverables, she observed. She asked Anglin if the committee was supposed to decide how to use land or how to allocate funding? Anglin responded by saying the purpose was to get a diverse set of potentials. If the meetings of the committee result in a conclusion that it’s a good idea to sell a piece of property, that would be given as a suggestion to the council. He called it “parallel to and in conjunction with” the DDA’s Connecting William Street process.

Briere responded by saying that one of the issues Anglin’s resolution talks about is DDA boundaries. If the idea is to look at just the five parcels within the bounds of the Connecting William Street process, that’s one thing, she said. But if the idea is to look at the DDA district as a whole, that’s another.

Briere wondered if Anglin’s committee was intended to be a standing committee that would meet perpetually as part of an ongoing process. She repeated, “I’m really confused.” Anglin said the intent was for each councilmember to choose a person from their ward that they felt would be “the most passionate person about the downtown.” The committee would set its own parameters about how to proceed. By establishing a committee, Anglin said, the council was asking for public input, but was not trying to direct the public by giving them a limited set of choices.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) also indicated she was confused. She noted that the city council had given a directive to the DDA to look at city-owned properties in a specific area, which it’s now implementing as the Connecting William Street process. That process, she observed, has a subgroup of citizens that has been directing it. They’ve conducted 17 different community meetings on the process of examining what could happen on the five city lots. She wondered how Anglin’s committee improves on the process that’s already been undertaken and how it relates to that process in a meaningful way.

Anglin said the committee he’s proposing would decide that issue for themselves. He had heard concerns that the First and William Street lot was not included in a discussion of Connecting William Street. [One reason that the parcel is not included is that the future of First and William was decided through a council resolution passed on July 6, 2009.] Anglin weighed in on the idea of citizen committees as contrasted with committees of stakeholders. He felt that such stakeholders reflected a preconceived idea, and he hoped that the citizen committee would not do that. He hoped they would work diligently. He didn’t see such a committee as conflicting, but rather as an adjunct to the Connecting William Street process. The committee would have the same resources available to it as the CWS group, he said.

Mayor John Hieftje said he sees some merit in Anglin’s idea but wanted to see it postponed until some additional clarity could be achieved. He felt there might be some way to have the two groups working together.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) said he appreciated Anglin bringing it forward, but wanted some additional time to contemplate it. So he moved to postpone the resolution until Oct. 1.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) described Anglin’s resolution as being prompted by Smith’s resolution about the sale of city land. So she wanted to see the council act on Anglin’s resolution that night. She disliked the fact that the resolution had been added that same day. She felt that the council did that kind of thing too much.

Anglin appreciated the council thinking of a postponement. He described the resolution as laying out in some broad brushstrokes how committees might be established in the future. He indicated he was not opposed to a postponement, and allowed that the resolution could be fleshed out more clearly. Hieftje indicated his support for a postponement. He stressed that there’s no initiative before the council right now to sell any property.

Left to right: Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) and Dave DeVarti.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) said it’s interesting that the council is having a discussion about how to use the proceeds of city-owned land. He felt it’s important to broaden the discussion beyond affordable housing or beyond just the sale of the old YMCA lot. He took to heart Hieftje’s observation that there’s no pending sale, so the council was entertaining a lot of discussion about something it was not contemplating doing anytime soon. He wanted to see a community discussion that went beyond the DDA and said that Anglin was on the right track. He felt that Smith’s resolution is focusing the discussion on one aspect of what could be done with the proceeds of city land – to support affordable housing. However, Kunselman allowed that 10 people on a committee might be a little too broad.

In light of Anglin’s willingness to see the proposal postponed, Lumm indicated she’d support postponement. She supported the idea in principle, and observed that there was a real estate committee when she had previously served on the council, which she felt worked well.

Outcome: The council postponed Anglin’s resolution until the council’s Oct. 1 meeting.

Land Sale Policy: Smith’s Resolution

The policy on the disposition of land sale proceeds has a long history dating back to 1996. A previous policy of directing proceeds of city-owned land sales to the affordable housing trust fund was rescinded by the council in 2007. More detailed background is provided in previous Chronicle coverage: “City Council to Focus on Land Sale Policy.”

The ease with which the previous policy was rescinded in 2007 factored into the council’s deliberations.

The key resolved clause of Smith’s resolution read:

Resolved, That proceeds from the sale of public land in the City of Ann Arbor be directed first to reimburse any funds expended relating to the disposition of the property. Of the remaining proceeds, if the property is in the Downtown Development Authority District 5% are to be directed for public plaza or open space creation, renovation or improvements within the DDA District; 10% are to be directed to any project designated in the City’s Capital Improvement Plan, and 85% are to be directed to the Ann Arbor Housing Trust Fund, all regardless of budget year.

Resolutions urging the city council to adopt such a policy were approved by the board of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority at its Sept. 5, 2012 meeting and by the Washtenaw County board of commissioners later that same day.

Land Sale Policy: Smith’s Resolution – Council Deliberations

Sandi Smith led off deliberations on her own resolution by reviewing some of the history of the affordable housing trust fund. She noted that there’d been no city contribution to the fund since 2009. Besides the city’s general fund contribution, an additional source of revenues had historically come from developers who offered payment in lieu as requirements of planned unit development (PUD) proposals.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) touched base with city administrator Steve Powers before the meeting.

However, with new downtown zoning adopted by the city council – known as A2D2 – such PUDs will be few and far between, by design. While she supports diversity in the downtown, she felt that a good strategy would be for the sale of properties downtown to fund affordable housing outside the downtown.

The affordable housing trust fund will allow leveraging of state and federal funding, she said. With no policy in place, the proceeds from the sale of city-owned land would simply go into the general fund. She argued that it’s prudent and wise to reinvest in long-term assets. She asked her city council colleagues to join the DDA and Washtenaw County boards in supporting the resolution.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) said he applauded the aim of the resolution, having served as the council’s liaison to the Ann Arbor Housing Commission. He wanted to know how the proposal jived with the Connecting William Street work going on right now with the DDA. Does Smith’s proposal affect that?

Smith characterized the two as only tangentially related. The Connecting William Street process is to assemble information about the city-owned parcels in a way that could eventually be used to bring them to market – whether that’s in a year or in a decade. The process is about finding out what the community’s values and wishes are. Smith said her resolution affects what the city does with the proceeds. That’s a question worthy of a robust discussion, she added: What do we do with that money, if and when it becomes available?

Derezinski ventured that obviously the sale of all the parcels would not happen at one time. The city doesn’t know what kind of offers might come in. He ventured that decisions about the use of the property could affect the amount of the proceeds from the sale of the land. Smith allowed that’s the case. If the city puts heavy restrictions on a property, that would affect the sale price, she said. An equally interesting policy discussion would be: What could the DDA do with TIF contributions, as contrasted with lowering the potential sale price of the land?

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) asked for clarification about the intended scope of the resolution. Smith replied that there’s no direction in the resolution about what happens in the event of a sale of city-owned land outside the DDA district. That was intentional, she said, because she’d reviewed the findings of the real estate committee back in the mid-1990s and found that of the parcels defined as “excess,” very few were still available.

Lumm also asked about the 10% of the net proceeds that Smith’s resolution specified for projects in the city’s CIP (capital improvements plan). Smith told her she imagined that would be determined by staff or council at the time of a sale.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) said he couldn’t support the resolution. Going back to “the old way” won’t get us more affordable housing units, he contended. While he’d heard talk about leveraging money, time and time again he kept seeing it fail. He felt that something different should be tried. He also felt the council was ahead of itself – because no property was currently contemplated for sale. The old policy had been repealed in 2007, he noted, when he’d served his first stint on the council – and it was so easy to do, he noted. It only took six votes to rescind the previous resolution. It’d be easy to repeal any policy the council might establish now, because the future is so unknown.

Kunselman allowed that he would support the resolution if all of the proceeds were designated to support the Ann Arbor Housing Commission (AAHC) – because that property is already owned by the city, and that’s where he knows there’s a need. As support for the fact that the AAHC has needs, he alluded to a housing commission property on Platt Road that wasn’t mowed over the summer. He said the council needs to be visionary and think of something different.

Lumm agreed that the city’s record on creating affordable housing units isn’t good. She noted that the DDA’s resolution of support doesn’t specify the numerical percentage, but simply specifies that some percentage would be allocated from land sales. She indicated she might support something along the lines of 10-20%, but not 85% as Smith’s resolution stipulated.

Mayor John Hieftje said he was interested in making sure that any debt was paid off that’s associated with city-owned land. He noted that any policy would be only as strong as a six-councilmember majority, so it would be an advisory resolution. He could support some significant percentage, but stressed that the city might have great capital needs. He cautioned that the city was not yet out of the woods for the greatest recession in history.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) felt that the issue fell under the purview of the council’s budget committee, so she proposed postponing the matter until the council’s Oct. 15 meeting, with a referral to the budget committee.

Kunselman said he’d support the postponement and referral to committee.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) felt it made a lot of sense to postpone, and encouraged the budget committee to think about a funding stream that might be identified that is less susceptible to six votes of the council.

Margie Teall (Ward 4) agreed with Hohnke that it’s a basic budget question. She said she’d support a greater percentage allocation than Lumm, something well over 50%. She supported the postponement and referral to the budget committee.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) and Christopher Taylor (Ward 3).

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) supported the postponement but cautioned against “make work.” He noted there were no sales imminent, and no current piles of money that the council had to decide on. What the council does now will not exert any control or have bearing on the actions of future councils. He said he fully agreed that the proceeds of land sales should be reinvested in assets, not in operating expenses. But what the council says in 2012 in a non-binding resolution will have little bearing on a council in 2015, he concluded.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) indicated agreement with many of the things that had been said. She had thoughts about possible amendments to reflect her own concerns, one of which was that the scope of the resolution was restricted to the DDA district. She was content with referral to the council’s budget committee.

Smith indicated she would support referral to the budget committee, saying that the council needs to maintain the focus on affordable housing – whether that’s through the affordable housing trust fund or the Ann Arbor Housing Commission.

Outcome: The council postponed Smith’s resolution until the Oct. 15 meeting, referring the question to the city council’s budget committee in the meantime. The council’s budget committee consists of Higgins, Briere, Lumm, Anglin and Taylor.

Connector Transit Study

Brought back for reconsideration at the council’s Sept. 17 meeting was a resolution to fund continued study of a transportation corridor from the northeast of Ann Arbor to the city’s southern edge.

The council had failed to approve a requested $60,000 appropriation from the city’s general fund at its Sept. 4, 2012 meeting.

The 4-5 vote on the budget item on Sept. 4, which required an eight-vote majority on the 11-member body, reflected a strategic move by some councilmembers – who wanted to be on the prevailing side, which by council rules would have allowed them to bring the item back for reconsideration.

The city’s $60,000 is supposed to help the study move ahead with an alternatives analysis. The corridor runs from US-23 and Plymouth southward along Plymouth to State Street and farther south to I-94. This alternatives analysis phase of the study is to result in a preferred choice of technology (e.g., bus rapid transit, light rail, etc.) and identification of stations and stops.

Margie Teall (Ward 4) moved for reconsideration of the connector study funding.

The city’s $60,000 is a portion of $300,000 in local funding that has been identified to provide the required match for a $1.2 million federal grant awarded last year to the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority for the alternatives analysis phase. The breakdown of local support is intended to be: $60,000 from the city of Ann Arbor; $150,000 from the University of Michigan; and $90,000 from the AATA.

In November 2011, Michael Ford – CEO of the AATA – had updated the AATA board on the possible timeline for the alternatives analysis. He said that phase would take around 16 months.

A feasibility study for the corridor costing $640,000 has already been completed. That initial study concluded that some type of improved high-capacity transit system would be feasible – which could take the form of bus rapid transit, light rail transit, or elevated automated guideway transit. That study had been funded through a partnership with the city of Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, University of Michigan and the AATA. Chronicle coverage of that feasibility study includes: “Transit Connector Study: Initial Analysis“; “AATA: Transit Study, Planning Updates“; and “Washtenaw Transit Talks in Flux.”

Connector Transit Study: Reconsideration

The move to reconsider the connector study decision came at the start of the Sept. 17 meeting, during the segment designated for agenda approval. The motion was made by Margie Teall (Ward 4), who voted with the prevailing side (those opposing it) on Sept. 4.

Teall’s motion was met with complaint from Jane Lumm (Ward 2), who felt that the item should have been added to the agenda ahead of time.

Responding to Lumm, mayor John Hieftje claimed that it had to be added at the meeting itself – a claim that was supported by city attorney Stephen Postema, who cited the council rule pertaining to motions to reconsider previous questions, highlighting “at the same or the next regular meeting” for special emphasis:

RULE 12 – Consideration of Questions
When a question has been taken, it shall be in order for any member voting with the prevailing side to move a reconsideration thereof at the same or the next regular meeting; but, no question shall a second time be reconsidered.

[In the past, however, the council has used placeholder items to reserve a spot for a motion to be made. As an example, an item reserving a spot for a motion to suspend the council's rules, a motion to reconsider and the main question – the Heritage Row PUD – was placed on the council's Dec. 6, 2010 agenda as part of the regular agenda-setting process, prior to the meeting. Another approach to giving notice of intent to reconsider an item would have been to add the item –  12-1084 – through the council's regular agenda-setting process for Sept. 17. Then precisely at the point when the council reached 12-1084 on the agenda, the mayor as presiding officer could have asked for a motion to consider the item, as is required for any item on the agenda. That potential motion, if made by someone who voted on the prevailing side, would have been the required motion for reconsideration, thus conforming with the council's Rule 12 on when such motions are to be made and who can make them.]

Connector Transit Study: Council Deliberations

Deliberations were scant. Sandi Smith (Ward 1) indicated she wanted to postpone the item, because she had remaining questions and noted that Eli Cooper, the city’s transportation program manager, was not available that night.

John Hieftje observed that Cooper was not available due to a religious holiday [Rosh Hashanah]. Hieftje asked councilmembers to send in their questions well in advance of Oct. 15, and not wait until the last minute. Jane Lumm (Ward 2) asked that the additional information – which Hieftje had said Cooper could share with the council – be provided to the council as soon as possible.

Smith’s move to postpone was met with parliamentary skepticism from Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), who noted that it had already been defeated previously. City attorney Stephen Postema assured him that the question was in front of the council properly – so what the council did with it at this point was up to the council. [The council had the full range of options in front of it for dealing with the resolution. Once it's reconsidered, it's as if the previous action had never taken place.]

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to postpone the issue until its Oct. 15 meeting – after bringing the resolution back for reconsideration at its Sept. 17 meeting.

Nonprofits

Two issues affecting nonprofits were on the agenda. One related to a possible exemption from the city’s living wage ordinance. The other related to the coordinated funding approach that the city participates in to allocate money to nonprofits that provide human services.

Nonprofits: Living Wage

Added to the council’s agenda on Friday, Sept. 14 before the Monday, Sept. 17 meeting was a resolution related to an exemption from the city’s living wage ordinance for certain nonprofits – those that provide human services.

Left to right: Jane Lumm (Ward 2) and Mary Jo Callan, head of the city/county office of community and economic development.

The living wage is defined by city ordinance Chapter 23, Section 1:815, and was increased slightly earlier this year in order to conform with the ordinance. The new wage was set at $12.17/hour for those employers paying health insurance and $13.57/hour for those employers not paying health insurance.

The city ordinance applies to the wages that must be paid by companies that have contracts with the city worth more than $10,000. Passed in 2001, the ordinance initially stipulated in that year that workers of vendors holding contracts with the city had to pay their employees a minimum of $8.70/hour if the contractor provided employee health care and $10.20/hour if not. But the ordinance provides a mechanism for increasing the living wage based on federal poverty guidelines.

The resolution originally on the Sept. 17 agenda was an apparent attempt to invoke an exemption provided in the ordinance that allows the city council to grant an exemption from the wage requirements, if the city council determines that:

…the application of this Chapter would cause demonstrated economic harm to an otherwise covered employer that is a non-profit organization, and the City Council finds that said harm outweighs the benefits of this Chapter; provided further that the otherwise covered non-profit employer shall provide a written plan to fully comply with this Chapter within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed three years, and the City Council then agrees that granting a partial or complete exemption is necessary to ameliorate the harm and permit the non-profit organization sufficient time to reach full compliance with this Chapter.

However, the city council’s agenda item did not name any specific nonprofit employer or provide any written plans submitted by nonprofits for eventual compliance with the ordinance. A request made by The Chronicle under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act for such plans was turned down – because no such plans had been submitted. It appears that the resolution would have amounted to an attempt to change the city ordinance through a simple resolution, which is not a legal way to proceed.

In any case, Ann Arbor’s living wage ordinance does not appear to be consistent with the most recent case law in Michigan. A Michigan Supreme Court order from April 7, 2010 left in place an unpublished court of appeals opinion that found a Detroit living wage law to be unenforceable.

When the council reached the item on the agenda, Sandi Smith (Ward 1) noted that while the issue identified in the resolution is significant, the resolution did not resolve the problem, because it would not change the ordinance. She indicated she’d work with the housing and human services advisory board and have an ordinance change ready for the council’s next meeting – on Oct. 1. However, she wanted to withdraw the resolution from consideration that evening.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) noted the council previously had debated the idea of exempting nonprofits, and a process was put in place to provide an accommodation for that. She questioned the urgency at this point in time.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) responded to the question of urgency, saying there’s a nonprofit that isn’t receiving its funding from the city, because it can’t currently meet the living wage requirement. The housing and human services advisory board, on which she and Smith serve as city council representatives, had received a presentation on that, Lumm said.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) expressed concern that the council was picking winners and losers. Given that the resolution had been withdrawn, councilmembers ended their discussion.

Outcome: The resolution was withdrawn so it could undergo further review by the city’s housing and human services advisory board.

Nonprofits: Coordinated Funding

Mary Jo Callan, who heads up the city/county office of community and economic development, led off her update to the council by passing out a list of successes she believes the program has achieved in the first two years of the coordinated funding approach. Those included:

• Identification of agency capacity concerns
• Single program description & program budget
• Reduced number of contracts
• No required board resolution
• Single reporting procedure and timeline
• Auto-disbursement of payments regardless of funder
• Grantee feedback mechanism
• Volunteer reviewer feedback mechanism
• Enhanced communication between funders & increased understanding of needs

Callan described the approach as one that brings together local funders: Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, United Way of Washtenaw County, the city of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, and the Washtenaw Urban County.

The purpose of coordinated funding is to create a public/private partnership to focus on key areas, she said, to create increased coherence in investing in nonprofits.

The process has three parts: planning/coordination ($310,000), program operations ($4.4 million), and capacity-building ($225,000). Planning and coordinating assesses what the needs are in the community, and what the best practices are to inform the funding. Program operations is the part that the city has historically funded, she explained – shelters, after-school programs, counseling programs and the like. That’s where most of the investment is made. Capacity building contributes to the health of the nonprofit sector, Callan said, but also helps individual nonprofits be in a better position to meet the needs of the community.

The six priority areas targeted by the coordinated funding process, with the lead agencies, are: (1) housing and homelessness – Washtenaw Housing Alliance; (2) aging – Blueprint for Aging; (3) school-aged youth – Washtenaw Alliance for Children and Youth; (4) children birth to six – Success by Six; (5) health – Washtenaw Health Plan; and (6) hunger relief – Food Gatherers.

The total process puts $4.935 million into local human services nonprofits, so it’s the most substantial source of nonprofit dollars in the community, Callan said. The bulk of that goes into program operations.

When she’d approached the city a year and a half ago to embark on a coordinated funding process, she’d described the projected benefits. Essentially, if you read down the list, every one of the benefits is being accomplished, she said.

One of the highlights Callan drew out was the fact that it’s the first time the community has invested explicitly in planning and coordination. About coordination, Callan said: “It’s not free and it’s not easy.” Unless you have someone whose sole focus is planning and data and best practices and bringing people together, the funding doesn’t come together in a coherent way, she said.

A full outcome report will be available later in the fall, Callan said.

As a result of the coordinated approach, the funders had learned a great deal about the community, Callan told the council. What happened previously is that a nonprofit would approach one of the funders and share a little bit of an issue, but not necessarily want it shared more widely, because they were afraid. What the coordinated funding approach had allowed is for some key agencies to approach the group of funders in a way that’s supportive and helpful instead of punitive. It also allows the funding investments to be better informed, Callan said.

What’s been learned so far from the planning and coordinating effort is that there are key areas of need. Nonprofits can share in administration. She said there’s not a lot of duplication of services – for example, there are not too many shelters. But there is a lot of duplication at the level of overhead. Rather than saying we need fewer nonprofits, Callan said, the idea is to say: Can you share back-office support? She reported more interest in that.

Callan also indicated there’s been interest in planning for executive director transitions. She noted that it’s happened twice since the coordinated funding approach was started. When an executive director leaves, they take a huge piece of the organization with them, Callan explained. She said that nonprofit leaders had been approached with the idea that it’s okay if you’re planning to leave, but “don’t just leave.” The funders might be able to engage with the nonprofit’s board to help create a smooth transition, she said. That way the nonprofit is not destabilized.

Callan also indicated that additional program capacity needs to be added to the eastern side of Washtenaw County.

On the horizon, Callan said, the funders are working with a national level external evaluation firm – paid for by a private funder. The private funder had expressed an interest in investing in the coordinated funding approach, but wanted the program to undergo a formal evaluation process. For the policy makers who had supported the coordinated funding approach, they’d be getting the best evaluated initiative they’d seen in a while, Callan ventured. But the promise to nonprofits had been that they would not spend existing resources to figure out if the coordinated funding approach was a great model.

So a private entity had approached the office of community and economic development and said: If I like what I see, I want to become an investor in coordinated funding. An additional hoped-for benefit for coordinated funding was that it would stimulated additional resources, and this is an example of that, Callan said.

Next steps would include asking the city council to consider an extension to the third year for program operating funds as part of the coordinated funding process. She reminded the council that the planning and capacity building happen every year, but the program operation funding is on a two-year cycle. She told councilmembers they’d be asked to extend that by one year. That way, nonprofits would not need to reapply – but she allowed it would be dependent on the availability of funds in the city budgeting process.

The extension by one year would allow for the evaluation process to finish – which she felt would be done by January and would be available in January and February. It would also allow a better opportunity to provide the outcome data on the program so far.

Outcome: This was an informational item and did not require a council vote.

Sidewalk Gap Program

The council was asked to approve a resolution that would establish a five-year program to replace sidewalk gaps in the city of Ann Arbor. The resolution had been added to the council’s agenda by Mike Anglin (Ward 5) via an email sent to the city clerk on the morning of the Sept. 17 meeting.

From the city’s non-motorized transportation plan:

The plan identifies over 75 missing [sidewalk] segments along the major roadways. These areas are confronted with a number of challenges that have prevented sidewalks from being constructed. Steep grades, e.g., hills and ditches or swales as well as vegetation including trees and shrubs are often times found where a sidewalk gap exists. Although the Plan defines the gaps and recommends they be filled, staff has to define the improvement and develop projects for the construction of the sidewalks. At this time there is no cost estimate to complete the sidewalk system and that effort will need to take place as an essential first step. Once the cost to complete the system is known funds will need to be secured. City code requires that properties along a corridor where a sidewalk or non-motorized path is to be located participate in the cost of the improvement to the extent that the property benefits from that improvement.

The resolved clause of Anglin’s original resolution read:

RESOLVED, That City staff will develop a 5-year program to fill sidewalk gaps;

RESOLVED, That City staff shall engage the public and give priority to school walk zones;

RESOLVED, That funding for the program shall come from Act 51 funds; and

RESOLVED, Staff shall present its program to Council during the FY14 budget cycle.

The memo to council offering city staff perspective cautioned against allocating Act 51 money to fund the program:

Act 51 funds cannot be used for “stand alone” sidewalk projects. The work would have to be done as part of a road improvement project. Saying Act 51 will fund the program without knowing the total cost of the program is risky. Act 51 is what is used for street maintenance (snow plowing, pot hole repairs, some street sweeping, traffic sign maintenance, signal maintenance and upgrades). The sidewalk program could take a significant amount of funds. Additionally, I would think it would be desirable for attorney’s opinion on funding as it relates to special assessment. Sidewalks have been built using special assessment funds, developer investments or grants. Is there an equity issue by leaving the special assessment process/ contributions out?

Sidewalk Gaps: Public Comment

Kathy Griswold expressed her support for the program to eliminate sidewalk gaps. She said it was important to balance the interests of special groups against the “silent majority.” She pointed to a location on the side of Geddes Road that was in need of attention.

Sidewalk Gaps: Council Deliberations

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) described the proposal as emerging from a variety of community interest groups. He noted that the proposal gives priority to school walk zones. He felt that was important due to the decrease in school bus service, which meant that children are walking farther to school. He described the proposal as giving the effort to eliminate sidewalk gaps a “shot in the arm.”

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) proposed a friendly amendment that instead of specifying Act 51 as a source of funds, the clause on funding should be changed to read: “Staff shall present options for funding this program during the FY 2014 budget cycle.”

But Anglin wanted to include a mention of Act 51 in the resolution.

City administrator Steve Powers cautioned against specifying Act 51 as a source of funds for eliminating stand-alone sidewalk gaps. He didn’t want to mislead anyone. Hearing that from Powers, Anglin agreed to Briere’s amendment.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) wondered if the city didn’t already have a plan for eliminating sidewalk gaps – the city’s non-motorized transportation plan. Craig Hupy, the city’s public services area administrator, told Hohnke that the non-motorized plan identifies the locations of gaps, but it’s not exhaustive. There are locations lacking sidewalks that are not part of the non-motorized plan, he said. It’s the larger gaps on the more heavily traveled streets that are included in the plan, Hupy said.

Hohnke ventured it would it be fair to conclude that on approval of the resolution, the city staff would be integrating the non-motorized plan with a larger program. Hupy allowed that was true, but told Hohnke that a gap in knowledge had been identified – as to where all the sidewalk gaps are in the city. Hupy didn’t have confidence the city has a complete picture of where the gaps are.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3).

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) raised the equity issue, by noting that over the last year, residents of Ward 1 have been talking about Newport Road. Various options of bike lanes or sidewalks had been considered, she said. A real obstacle was the fact that the residents who live along Newport would likely be the funders of the improvement – through a special assessment – whereas the residents who live behind those residents would be the actual beneficiaries. After some back and forth with Hupy, Smith indicated she wouldn’t support it due to the equity issue.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) said he values the sidewalks in his neighborhood and he thought the equity issue was an important one. But he criticized the resolved clauses on the resolution as indefinite. He proposed a wholesale replacement of all the resolved clauses with the following:

Resolved: The city administrator is hereby directed to provide a report to the city council prior to Sept. 15, 2013 regarding the feasibility and if appropriate, the methodology for filling sidewalk gaps throughout the city of Ann Arbor.

The goal of the resolution is to develop a plan and explore whether the plan is feasible. He felt that this resolution was a cleaner way of going about it.

Margie Teall (Ward 4) questioned the long lead time. Taylor said it was his understanding that this was an appropriate timeframe, based on his conversation with city staff. Teall alluded to an ongoing conversation with neighbors on Scio Church Road, who were hoping for something to move quicker than that. Taylor ventured that if the report were done earlier, then it’d be done earlier.

Hupy told Teall that he didn’t see that night’s resolution as conflicting with the project that might be developed for Scio Church Road.

Mayor John Hieftje said he had doubts that the equity issue can be surmounted. Residents had made significant expenditures through special assessment by the city. On one occasion, a special allowance was made, but residents still paid, Hieftje said.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) said she had liked the part in the friendly-amended original resolution that referred to the budget cycle.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) asked Powers what the budget projections were – he recalled a deficit was being projected for next year. Powers noted that those had been very early projections and there might be a deficit.

Kunselman said he was a little hesitant to go too far ahead by allocating staff time to this. He called it a daunting effort. It could be misleading to the public, who might think that the city was going to solve sidewalk gaps in the coming year – but they won’t be eliminated in that timeframe. He called it nothing but “teasing” the neighbors and a little bit much to “chew on right now.” He noted that he lives in a neighborhood with no sidewalks.

Briere said that one way or another, the idea is to get the city staff to start thinking about how to improve the process of filling sidewalk gaps. That can be done with a tighter or looser timeframe. There are so many critical gaps on routes to school or adjacent to parks that create problems for residents throughout the city. She thought concerns about the budget impact were reasonable. She described the conversation as one that has not been around the council table but rather in the neighborhoods as people struggle to get to their designations. Taylor’s amendment was reasonable, she felt, but provides less guidance, because it does not prioritize the school walk zones. She was not enthusiastic about the longer timeframe.

Hieftje said he had a problem with the whole thing. If there were to be a priority, then school walk zones would be important.

Smith noted that if you look at where elementary schools are located, just by their nature, you’ll prioritize kids walking to school. For her, it was the equity issue.

Outcome on Taylor’s amendment: The council approved Taylor’s amendment. Voting for it were mayor John Hieftje, Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), Christopher Taylor (Ward 3), Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), Margie Teall (Ward 4), Marcia Higgins (Ward 4), and Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5).

Derezinski expressed concern that the whereas clauses indicated the city is aware of various dangerous conditions. He wondered if it was potentially a legal liability for the city to recite that list of dangerous conditions. City attorney Stephen Postema told Derezinski that the recitals were general enough that it did not pose a risk.

Left to right: Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), Jane Lumm (Ward 2) and Christopher Taylor (Ward 3).

Briere noted that the resolution is about sidewalk gaps – that it did not mean that a whole subdivision necessarily needs to have sidewalks added.

Kunselman indicated he felt like the city was addressing the issue over time and that the council doesn’t need a report.

Responding to the idea that the report would overburden staff, Teall asked Powers if it would it be too much. Powers responded by saying essentially that if the council directs it, the staff will do the work.

Briere felt the resolution strengthens the city’s position as it participates in discussions with the school district about getting kids to school. She wanted elimination of sidewalk gaps to become a priority.

Lumm felt the resolution focused some needed attention on sidewalk gaps. She felt it’s reasonable to have the city administrator come back a year from now with a report on whether it’s feasible.

Hieftje felt like the ability to actually address the gaps would not come until the 2015 budget.

Hohnke felt it’s important to recognize that sidewalk gaps are not the only mobility issue. He wondered why the council would elevate sidewalk gaps above pedestrian islands, midblock crossings, or bike paths. He felt the non-motorized plan already addressed the issue.

Outcome: The amended resolution failed, receiving only five votes on the 11-member council. It received support from Mike Anglin (Ward 5), Anglin, Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Jane Lumm (Ward 2), Christopher Taylor (Ward 3), and Margie Teall (Ward 4).

Footing Drain Disconnect Program

The council considered a resolution to suspend temporarily the city’s footing drain disconnect program in the area of the Lansdowne neighborhood on Morehead and Glen Leven. The resolution was added to the council’s agenda on Friday, Sept. 14 before the Monday, Sept. 17 council meeting. It came in the context of a meeting held by city officials with neighborhood residents at the Pittsfield branch of the Ann Arbor District Library on Aug. 22. At that neighborhood meeting, residents called for a moratorium on the footing drain disconnect program.

The program was created in 2001 by the city, in response to backups of sanitary sewers into residents’ basements during heavy rains. The problem is caused by the connection of footing drains to the sanitary sewer system, instead of to the stormwater system. At one time, such connections were consistent with city code, but they are now prohibited. The existing connections, however, put more stormwater into the sanitary system than it can handle. The footing drain disconnect program requires residents to install sump pumps in their basements as part of the disconnection from the sanitary system.

In the general vicinity of the Lansdowne neighborhood, where some houses have already had sump pumps installed as part of the program, residents have reported that during heavy rains, the overland stormwater flows and the sheer volume of water in the city’s stormwater system prevent sump pumps from being effective. The water that’s pumped from the sump to the surface simply cycles back into the sump and results in flooded basements.

The council’s Sept. 17 resolution suspending the program acknowledges that the area “has encountered unique, historical creek bed patterns and overland storm water drainage issues, which have impacted the implementation of the FDD [footing drain disconnect] program …” The resolution further acknowledges that “communication between this area and the city needs improvement …”

The city council heard complaints from residents in that area during public commentary earlier this spring about localized flooding in the vicinity. And at its Aug. 9, 2012 meeting, the council had directed staff to begin negotiations with the Washtenaw County water resources commissioner to find “opportunities for stormwater conveyance and stormwater quality improvement in the area of the Malletts Creek drainage district bounded by Ann Arbor-Saline Road upstream to I-94 and Scio Church Road.” [.jpg of partial area map] The resolution approved by the council on Aug. 9 directed staff to bring an agreement to the city council with the water resources commissioner by Oct. 1, 2012.

That council directive came two days after the Aug. 7 primary election was held. Results from the precinct in Ward 4 where the flooding has taken place were nearly decisive enough in favor of challenger Jack Eaton to win the Democratic nomination over incumbent Margie Teall. But Eaton’s total fell short of Teall’s by 18 votes across the ward. And a recounted total put the difference at 20 votes.

The resolution suspending the footing drain disconnection program for the specific area of the city does not specify a date by which it might be re-activated. However, the resolution directs several actions, including: “Analyze and/or address existing issues in the local stormwater system to improve stormwater drainage/conveyance and address the existing surface flooding that residents are experiencing in this area. Clarify the methods and consequences of opting out of the program.”

Footing Drain Disconnect: Council Deliberations

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) told the council that she and Margie Teall (Ward 4) were bringing the resolution forward after much discussion with residents in the Lansdowne neighborhood – the Village Oaks area as well as Glen Leven. Based on several heavy rains, the city was experiencing overland flooding in three areas where it had not been seen before.

City administrator Steve Powers and Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) during a recess in the Sept. 17 meeting.

In March of this year, she said that a rain had settled over the area of the city for about an hour and a half that had generated an “overland water issue.” In addition, there had been more problems with the footing drain disconnect program in this area of the city than anywhere else. She stressed that the action that the council was being asked to take had been requested by the neighbors. She asked Craig Hupy, public services area administrator, to brief the council.

Hupy described the footing drain disconnect program in other parts of the city as relatively straightforward.

In this area, however, he said the land was heavily laced with historical creek beds, which are now “expressing themselves.” He showed the council some slides that overlaid 1947 aerial photography with current building footprints. When the footing drain disconnect program was first started, he said, the city did not have the ability to match up the aerials against the current built environment. That’s one of the tools that the city used to look at the March 2012 storms and try to figure out “what the heck was going on.” The city is now taking a pause to re-study the area.

Hupy showed the council a slide of the overlay in the area of Churchill. He noted that the dark squiggly lines are creekbeds and that a number of homes are sitting in historic creekbeds. That has two effects, Hupy said. One is that the footing drains in that area are “very productive” – that is, a lot more water flows into them than anticipated. Another effect is that the water will want to follow the path of the historic creekbed, so there are overland flow issues.

Hupy then showed a slide of the Village Oaks area, with an orchard to the left, and historic creeks running through where some of the current houses are on Village Oaks. He showed the council how Mallets Creek had been shoved to the south to get it out from under houses that would otherwise be sitting in a creekbed.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) had a question about the developer mitigation program, which the resolution would leave in effect. That program requires that when a development adds flow to the sanitary system, the development must remove from the system – through footing drain disconnection elsewhere – 1.2 times the amount that the development would add. It’s a program that holds the system harmless to increased development, Hupy said.

Hupy noted that as the city has disconnected footing drains, they have been monitored. The city has also monitored the run times on the sump pumps that the city has installed. Some of the run-time monitors have been on pumps since Day 1, but others have been moved around to different locations in the system. From that monitoring, Hupy said, the city has extrapolated to estimate what removals of stormwater are being achieved from the sanitary system. But the city has not looked at the sanitary system itself to confirm the estimates from this method. The system study would likely be “in seven figures” Hupy said, and is already programmed as part of the city’s capital improvements plan. It would be paid for by the sanitary sewer fund, Hupy said.

Left to right: city administrator Steve Powers and public services area administrator Craig Hupy.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) asked about the last two resolved clauses – the developer mitigation program and the ability of a property owner to proceed with a footing drain disconnection. Hupy clarified that this was included simply to give clarity. Briere wondered if there were a time constraint for acting that night, as opposed to postponing it for three weeks.

Hupy calculated backwards from spring 2013 to undertake a systemwide study – in time to have monitors installed in the system to measure the spring rains. From getting council approval to hiring a consultant to issuing a request for proposals, Hupy said he’d like to get started sooner not later.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) confirmed with Hupy that the suspension of the program would not affect any of the consent orders about discharge into the Huron River, which Hupy thought had been removed back in 2006.

Responding to a question from Kunselman, Hupy said that the study the city will be working on with the Washtenaw County water resources commissioner’s office are separate and different studies – but they will feed back and forth to each other, Hupy said.

About the footing drain disconnection program, Kunselman wondered: When does it end?

Hupy responded to Kunselman by saying the last major backup was in 2000. He noted that in the five study areas that were the main focus of the initial program, the city had tackled a lot of the problem. But he estimated that only about 50% of identified problems had been addressed. Another 50% exists in the rest of the city. The attractiveness of the approach the city is taking, he said, is that it’s incremental. You can keep chasing the problem as you identify specific problems. For the “piped solution,” you have to start at the treatment plant and work your way back. When the footing drain disconnect program was established, Hupy said, it was thought it’d take decades to complete the project. Starting around 2000, not quite 50% had been disconnected. He added that those had been the easier 50%, because they were clustered. Hupy indicated that he hoped he would not still be addressing the council about the program when it ends.

Responding to councilmember questions, Hupy described the negative impacts of pursuing a solution that simply made the sanitary sewer pipes bigger – among them, that it would require a larger wastewater treatment plant.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to suspend temporarily the footing drain disconnect program.

Hazard Mitigation Plan

The council was asked to approve an updated hazard mitigation plan.

The plan is required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for grant funding. The city has received a grant from FEMA for the demolition of two city-owned properties located in the floodway at 721 N. Main, but during the processing time for the grant, the city’s hazard mitigation plan lapsed. So until the city has an updated hazard mitigation plan, the grant money from FEMA will not be available.

The city recently hired a new emergency management director, Rick Norman, who was introduced to the council at its Feb. 21, 2012 meeting. Updating the plan was one of Norman’s priorities.

The demolition of the buildings at 721 N. Main factors into planning for the North Main and Huron River corridors. The council has appointed a task force to study the corridor, and has directed that the group make recommendations on the use of the 721 N. Main property by Dec. 31, 2012. The city’s current hope is to make the property the subject of a Michigan Department of Natural Resources trust fund grant application, in the annual competition for such awards.

The basic ranking of potential hazards, which are all discussed in detail in the plan, is: (1) Convective Weather (Severe Winds, Lightning, Tornados, Hailstorms); (2) Infrastructure Failures; (3) Severe Winter Weather Hazards (Ice/Sleet Storms and Snow Storms); (4) Fire Hazards: Structural Fires; (5) Hazardous Materials Incidents: Fixed Sites; (6) Extreme Temperatures; (7) Hazardous Materials Incidents: Transportation; (8) Flood Hazards: Dam Failures; (9) Flood Hazards; (10) Civil Disturbances; (11) Transportation Accidents: Land and Air; (12) Public Health Emergencies; (13) Sabotage & Terrorism; (14) Petroleum and Natural Gas Pipeline Accidents; (15) Nuclear Power Plant Accidents; (16) Fire Hazards: Wildfires; (17) Oil and Gas Well Accidents; (18) Nuclear Attack; (19) Drought; (20) Earthquake, Subsidence; (21) Fire Hazards: Scrap Tire Fires; and (22) Infestation.

Outcome: The council approved the hazard mitigation plan without significant deliberations.

Eden Court Rezoning

The council was asked to consider final rezoning of the property at 5 W. Eden Court so that it’s designated as PL (public land). It’s immediately adjacent to the Bryant Community Center. The Ann Arbor city council voted nearly a year ago, at its Sept. 6, 2011 meeting, to appropriate $82,500 from its open space and parkland preservation millage to acquire the property.

The 2011 taxes on the property were estimated at $1,400, which will be eliminated from the city’s tax base. The parcel is expected to be used to expand the community center’s programming services. It could also be used in other ways in support of the city’s parks and recreation system.

During her staff report given to the city planning commission on June 5, 2012, city planner Alexis DiLeo said the property contains a single-family home that will be used by the community center to expand its operations. Eventually, the center would like to renovate the interior and build an addition to connect the two buildings, she said. The center is managed under contract with the nonprofit Community Action Network. CAN gave an update on its activities most recently at the Aug. 21, 2012 meeting of the city’s park advisory commission.

Outcome: Without discussion, the council voted unanimously to approve the rezoning of the Eden Court property.

Seneca Avenue Rezoning

The council was asked to direct planning staff to initiate the rezoning of six parcels on Seneca Avenue, Onondaga Street and Geddes Avenue from R1B (single-family dwelling district) to R1C (a different type of single-family dwelling district). Property owners had requested the rezoning.

According to the staff memo accompanying the resolution, rezoning the six parcels to R1C would make the entire block R1C zoning, and would make three existing non-conforming lots conform with the size requirements of R1C (7,200 square foot lot area and 60 foot lot width). Also, the three existing double lots could be divided at some time in the future to create additional single-family lots.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) led off deliberations by noting that the rezoning had been requested by residents of the area. Because of the age of the current zoning, and development that went in different directions, he said, some of the parcels are non-conforming. Residents had approached him and asked him to present the resolution.

City planning manager Wendy Rampson indicated that the planning staff is not really sure why the parcels were zoned differently, except that the lots are larger. The city’s master plan recommends single-family zoning for the area, she said. When the planning staff examines it more closely, she said, a historical search would be done, and planning staff would come up with a recommendation.

Sabra Briere (Was 1) asked Rampson to review the procedure for land division, which would be allowed if the rezoning were given approval. Rampson said it requires application to planning and development, but it’s not required that the planning commission or the council approve it. The city is essentially obligated to approve an application for land division, as long as it meets zoning. Responding to a question from Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), Rampson indicated that the division of land can’t create prohibited configurations – for example, there must be vehicular access, and a land-locked parcel is not allowed.

Rampson indicated that only a preliminary review had been done. The initial review indicated that R1C would be appropriate.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) noted that by approving this resolution, the council would be asking the planning staff to take on the task of reviewing the rezoning. He wondered if the planning staff had sufficient capacity to undertake that review and still keep the citywide R4C/R2A review process on track. Rampson responded to Hohnke by saying that planning staff would essentially treat this rezoning request as a development review. It would not require the same scale of effort that the rezoning of Golden Avenue had required several years ago. She added that it seems clear that the neighbors are all in agreement. She concluded that it was a long way of saying it should not be a problem for planning staff to handle.

Outcome: The council  initiated the rezoning of six parcels from R1B to R1C.

Light Rescue Fire Truck

The council was asked to authorize the purchase of a light rescue truck, to be staffed with two firefighters at a cost of $264,597. The purchase is to be made from Ferrara Fire Apparatus.

The light rescue truck will replace a heavy rescue vehicle, which is staffed with three firefighters. The heavy rescue vehicle dates from 2001 and was scheduled for replacement in 2015. It will be retained by the department as a reserve engine. An even older heavy rescue truck, dating from 1991, which is currently in reserve, will be sold at auction.

The city is contemplating a reconfiguration of its fire stations, which would re-open an old station but close two others, leaving three stations. For more detail on the station plan and the city’s rationale for it, see Chronicle coverage: “A Closer Look at Ann Arbor’s Fire Station Plan.” A series of public meetings to discuss the fire station plan has been scheduled.

Outcome: Councilmembers approved the purchase of a light rescue truck.

Communications and Comment

Every city council agenda contains multiple slots for city councilmembers and the city administrator to give updates or make announcements about important issues that are coming before the city council. And every meeting typically includes public commentary on subjects not necessarily on the agenda.

Comm/Comm: Police Report

Chief of police John Seto gave the council an update on a few incidents that had happened over the last few weeks. Since the student move-in, there’ve been large crowds on South University and some assaults in the student area. There were also three robberies that took place during the same night, all with a similar description, he said. By not filling some specialized positions, Seto said, the AAPD had been able to respond to that situation with increased staffing, adding positions to patrol. That’s in addition to overtime positions that are generally filled on weekends in September, to respond to the added call load.

Seto told the council he’s also been meeting with the University of Michigan police chief to coordinate information. Officers have been making contact with and working with business establishments on South University Avenue. On weekend nights they’ve deployed officers on foot and on bicycles to respond to the large crowds there. He concluded this response by AAPD has had an impact, because no serious incidents were reported from the last weekend. The department would continue with that approach as long as there are large crowds in the area. He also reported that significant arrests have been made.

He alerted the community that a meeting for neighborhood watch captains would be held on Thursday, Sept. 27 from 6-8 p.m. at Burns Park Elementary School. That will be the first of four such meetings, Seto said.

Mayor John Hieftje asked about the amount of overtime that was being generated by the department’s response to the situation on South University. Seto indicated that the amount of overtime used depends in part on the number of home football games – and this year there are only six. He’s been staffing with overtime when needed.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1), looking ahead to the next fiscal year, wondered if it would be useful to hire additional officers rather than using overtime. [The city of Ann Arbor's Open Book shows that year-to-date, a bit less that a quarter of the way through the fiscal year, $189,265 has been spent out of an overtime budget of $898,968, or 21% of the budgeted amount.]

Comm/Comm: Washtenaw Avenue

Reporting from the planning commission, Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) gave an update on Washtenaw Avenue, which he described as a multi-jurisdictional corridor – covering the city of Ann Arbor, Pittsfield Township, Ann Arbor Township and the city of Ypsilanti. He characterized as “results” of the Re-Imagine Washtenaw project the Arbor Hills Crossing development, which will include very wide sidewalks. He pointed to a future “super transit” stop that will be located near the intersection with Platt Road. He also reported on a Michigan Dept. of Transportation non-motorized project that’s going in under US-23. People will be able to walk underneath US-23, he said.

Comm/Comm: Disabilities

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) reported that he and Kirk Westphal, who serves on the planning commission with Derezinski, had contacted AARP, which is very interested holding some kind of disability summit in Ann Arbor. The details are not finalized, but SEMCOG, AATA, the Michigan Municipal League, Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), and the University of Michigan have expressed interest.

Comm/Comm: Praise for Demolition

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) mentioned that two buildings in Ward 1 have been removed: the former St. Nicholas Church on North Main Street, and 219 W. Kingsley. The depression that’s left at the Kingsley property will form a rain garden. Smith allowed that she usually doesn’t applaud the destruction of things.

Comm/Comm: Sidewalk Repair Using Risk Fund

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) called the council’s attention to the fact that the board of insurance minutes, which were included in the consent agenda, included a resolution that provided for use of the city’s risk fund to pay for sidewalk repairs adjacent to properties located in a township. City treasurer Matthew Horning was asked to the podium to explain that many township islands exist in the city. The sidewalk millage approved by voters last year does not allow for use of millage funds to repair sidewalks next to township properties. The board of insurance felt it would be a prudent use of risk funds to mitigate risk and to improve safety, he said.

Comm/Comm: Sustainable Living

Kermit Schlansker told the council he’d attended a recent lecture by environmentalist Bill McKibbon. Schlansker said he was disappointed that although the problem was defined, there were no solutions. We have to face up to the fact that we must change our lifestyle to survive, he said. We don’t need more economical cars, we must eliminate them, he said. The first element of the plan is to plant at least 10 trees for every person. That would mean a million trees for Ann Arbor, he said. Volunteers would be needed, who could be taught how to plant trees from seeds – but it’s something that first graders can learn to do.

The process of building a sustainable world is too big a project for the city, Schlansker allowed, but the city could build a model for how that might work. The only geometry for shelter that is sustainable is apartment houses, he contended, with factories located nearby. We need to cut energy expenses by 60% and establish experimental energy farms. We need to learn how to use sewage for fertilizer. To save our children, he contended, we must give up single-family houses and cars, and use geometry and hard worked to build a sustainable society.

Present: Sabra Briere, Sandi Smith, Tony Derezinski, Jane Lumm, Stephen Kunselman, Christopher Taylor, Marcia Higgins, Margie Teall, Carsten Hohnke, Mike Anglin, John Hieftje.

Next council meeting: Oct. 1, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the second-floor council chambers at 301 E. Huron. [Check Chronicle event listings to confirm date]

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From left: Mayor John Hieftje and city administrator Steve Powers before the start of the Aug. 9, 2012 council meeting.

But the council transacted several other pieces of business as well, some of which could be grouped into the general thematic pattern of land and property use. Most obviously connected to land use was the council’s initial approval of a rezoning request in connection with an expansion proposal from Knight’s Market, at the corner of Miller and Spring streets. The rezoning would allow a house to be converted into a bakery. It would also allow for eventual approval of a site plan to build a 1,200-square-foot addition to the existing grocery store and to expand, reconfigure, and improve the existing parking lot.

The council also passed a resolution to deal with an issue stemming, in part, from land use decisions made decades ago that resulted in residential development in the area of the Malletts Creek drainage district. Recently, residents in the area have been faced with severe localized flooding. The council’s resolution directed staff to start negotiations with the Washtenaw County water resources commissioner to identify “opportunities for stormwater conveyance and stormwater quality improvement in the area of the Malletts Creek drainage district.”

Related at least tangentially to land use at the level of a specific parcel was a resolution the council passed establishing the property at 317 Maynard in downtown Ann Arbor as an industrial development district. The move sets the stage for an expected application from the future tenant of the space, owned by First Martin Corp., for a tax abatement that would be worth around $85,000. The tenant is Barracuda Networks.

And the council took another step in implementing a strategy to eliminate blight. The city had previously set aside funds that could be used to demolish blighted buildings – if the city is unsuccessful in getting property owners to demolish them. The council’s action last Thursday authorized the city to sign contracts with four different companies to do such demolition work on an as-needed basis. It was announced at the meeting that the houses on North Main – at the site of the planned Near North affordable housing project – will likely be among the first to be demolished under the contracts authorized by the council.

To the extent that transportation systems have an impact on future land use, another item related to land use was a reapproval of the articles of incorporation for a possible new countywide transportation authority. The articles of incorporation are part of a four-party agreement to establish a framework for possibly expanding the governance and service area of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.

The four-party agreement is between the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the AATA. The Ann Arbor council changed the minimum threshold of votes required on the proposed new 15-member transit authority board, an action that brought the council in line with a version that the Washtenaw County board of commissioners had approved earlier this month. That threshold was increased from a 2/3 majority (10 votes) to a 4/5 majority (12 votes).

In other business, the council authorized the hiring of three additional firefighters for the next two years, using a federal grant. It also authorized the purchase of a new aerial fire truck.

Nominations to city boards and commissions made at the meeting included reappointment of Sandi Smith, Roger Hewitt and Keith Orr to the board of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. And Sally Petersen, who won the Ward 2 Democratic primary on Aug. 7, was nominated for the city’s commission on disability issues.

The council also heard public commentary on a range of topics, including smart meters and the idea of corporations as people. 

Knight’s Market Rezoning

The council was asked to consider a rezoning request that would allow for expansion of Knight’s Market.

Knight’s Market Rezoning: Background

The market is located at the northeast corner of Spring and Miller. The market’s owner, Ray Knight, also owns two separate, adjacent parcels. (Knight is perhaps best known for his family’s restaurant, Knight’s Steakhouse, located at 2324 Dexter Ave.) The grocery store is on land zoned C1 (local business) and M1 (light industrial). Another parcel at 306-308 Spring St. is zoned R2A (two-family dwelling) and M1, and contains two single-family homes and part of a parking lot. The third parcel at 310 Spring St. is zoned R2A and MI, and contains the other half of the store’s parking lot. All three parcels are currently non-conforming in some way, according to a staff report, and are located in the 100-year Allen Creek floodplain.

The proposal from Knight’s involves several steps. The request calls for 306, 308 and 310 Spring to be rezoned to C1. That rezoning would allow the building at 306 Spring to be converted into a bakery, although the intent is to leave the exterior of the house intact. The rezoning would also allow for approval of a site plan to build a 1,200-square-foot addition to the existing grocery store and to expand and reconfigure the existing parking lot. In addition, the plan requests that 418 Miller Ave. – the site of the existing grocery – also be rezoned to C1.

The proposed work to the parking lot includes providing three additional spaces (for a total of 17 parking spaces), a designated snow pile storage area, solid waste and recycling container storage enclosure, right-of-way screening, conflicting land use buffer, and rain gardens for storm water management. An unused curbcut on Miller Avenue would be removed and the curb and lawn extension would be restored there. A temporary storage building at 418 Miller would be removed. The house at 310 Spring would remain a single-family dwelling. The city planning commission recommended the rezoning on a 6-1 vote at its June 19, 2012 meeting.

Knight’s Market Rezoning: Council Deliberations

When the council came to the item, mayor John Hieftje looked first to Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) to move the item, but Sabra Briere (Ward 1) interjected, noting that the market was on the Ward 1 side of the street. So Hieftje gave Briere and her wardmate Sandi Smith the privilege of moving and seconding the motion.

Briere noted that both Ward 1 and Ward 5 residents shop at the market and ventured that there are also people who drive to the market as well. She had attended one public meeting about the proposal. She noted that neighbors were very supportive of Knight’s Market, but had questions about the potential impact on the neighborhood. Generally, their concern is about what happens if the property is rezoned and then changes hands, so that Knight’s Market is no longer the owner.

Left to right: During a break, Sandi Smith (Ward 1) and Jane Lumm (Ward 2) joke about the smartphone app Smith uses to time speaking turns of other councilmembers. There have been occasions when Smith has not been joking when she has raised the point of order on Lumm’s speaking turns.

Smith said she’d had a number of conversations with people in the neighborhood – and they’re very supportive of having a local grocer right there and available. That fits well into the zoning, she said, and the idea of fringe commercial abutting the residential area. She heard strong support for it, she said.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), who is the city council’s representative to the planning commission, noted that the commission had had a thorough discussion of the issue. He called the characterizations by Briere and Smith as very accurate. It reminded him of the proposal that Zingerman’s Deli had made, when the neighbors had been carefully consulted. Neighbors had raised some issues – not in an attempt to stop the project – but there’d been an outpouring of approval, he said. Questions had been asked and answered, he said. He felt that “commercial crawl” could not occur because of the natural boundaries that would preclude it.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) noted that the goal was to establish a bakery that would serve the restaurant and the retail store. He noted that it’s meant to strike a balance between land use goals. He said he lived in a neighborhood where he could, without a car, still walk to places and find places to buy enough to eat and drink. But there are neighborhoods where that’s not possible. He said that Knight’s Market is a place that makes that possible, and that Knight’s is a good neighbor.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) also indicated his support for the rezoning request. There used to be a store on Miner between Hiscock and Felch, he recalled, and he was not sure if the city’s zoning still allows for such mom-and-pop type stores. It’s important that the city have opportunities for a walkable, diverse and sustainable community. It’s not something the council would do frequently, he said, but in this case it’s important to do.

Hieftje noted that Knight’s Market has survived for a long time and is kind of a throwback to the past. If you look around Ann Arbor you can find buildings that were at one time a corner store in a neighborhood. As zoning changed, we’ve moved away from that concept, but in select areas, it might be possible to move back toward that approach, he said. Neighborhood stores like Washtenaw Dairy, Jefferson Market and Knight’s Market are a real asset, he said.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) added she was the “daughter of a grocery man” and called the market a wonderful amenity that everyone in Ann Arbor values. When she goes there, it’s a reminder of what her father did. She appreciated the discussions that had occurred and the support that people were showing for it.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to give initial approval to the Knight’s Market rezoning request. Because the request involves a rezoning – a change to the city’s set of ordinances – the council will need to give a second, final approval at a subsequent meeting, following a formal public hearing.

Development District 317 Maynard

On the Aug. 9 agenda was a resolution to establish a new industrial development district for the downtown Ann Arbor property at 317 Maynard St., which sets up the opportunity for Barracuda Networks to apply for a tax abatement as it moves from its current location on Depot Street to the downtown site.

Under Michigan’s Act 198 of 1974, the next step for that abatement, on application from Barracuda, will be for the city council to set a public hearing on the abatement. After the public hearing, the council could then grant the abatement, which is estimated to be valued at around $85,000.

At its July 2 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council had voted to set the Aug. 9 public hearing on the industrial development district. A letter dated June 1, 2012 from First Martin to the Ann Arbor city clerk requested the establishment of the district. First Martin is the owner of the property at 317 Maynard.

From Act 198, it’s the property owner – in this case, First Martin – that files for the establishment of the IDD.

207.554 Plant rehabilitation district or industrial development district; establishment; number of parcels; filing; notice; hearing; finding and determination; district established by township; industrial property as part of industrial development district or plant rehabilitation district also part of tax increment district; termination; notice.
Sec. 4. (1) A local governmental unit, by resolution of its legislative body, may establish plant rehabilitation districts and industrial development districts that consist of 1 or more parcels or tracts of land or a portion of a parcel or tract of land. (2) The legislative body of a local governmental unit may establish a plant rehabilitation district or an industrial development district on its own initiative or upon a written request filed by the owner or owners of 75% of the state equalized value of the industrial property located within a proposed plant rehabilitation district or industrial development district. This request shall be filed with the clerk of the local governmental unit.

And according to Act 198, the tenant – in this case, Barracuda Networks – can file an application for the tax abatement.

207.555 Application for industrial exemption certificate; filing; contents; notice to assessing and taxing units; hearing; application fee.
Sec. 5. (1) After the establishment of a district, the owner or lessee of a facility may file an application for an industrial facilities exemption certificate with the clerk of the local governmental unit that established the plant rehabilitation district or industrial development district.

Development District 317 Maynard: Public Hearing

Only one person spoke at the public hearing on the establishment of the IDD – Thomas Partridge. He lamented the loss of vitally-needed tax money through abatements, and contended that because of this, schools are becoming challenged to maintain standards of education and retain adequate numbers of teachers, especially special education teachers. Partridge asked recipients of tax abatements to voluntarily curtail the period of the tax rebates or forgo them. He allowed that the community needs jobs, but also needs to support our most vulnerable residents.

Development District 317 Maynard: Council Deliberations

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4), chair of the council’s budget committee, reported that the committee had met to consider the issue, but several committee members had not been able to attend. [Higgins participated in the committee meeting by speaker phone. Sabra Briere (Ward 1) attended in person, and was joined by city administrator Steve Powers, chief financial officer Tom Crawford, and Luke Bonner, an economic development specialist with Ann Arbor SPARK.]

317 Maynard is highlighted in yellow.

Aerial photo of 317 Maynard. The office space is located under the Maynard Street parking garage.

Higgins reviewed the distinction between the establishment of the district and the granting of the tax abatement: The parcel’s owner had applied for the establishment of the district, while the tenant, Barracuda, would be applying for the abatement.

The council was only authorizing the establishment of the district, she stressed. Only when the district is established, she said, would Barracuda be able to apply for the abatement. At that point, the city council’s budget committee would meet and review the application for an abatement.

Briere noted that some members of the community had been confused about who gets the benefit of the tax abatement, so she appreciated the explanation Higgins had offered. She noted that in the past, some districts had been established where no tenant had taken up the opportunity to apply for an abatement.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) said he was sorry that he couldn’t attend the budget committee, but wondered if there were some preliminary figures. Higgins told him that some preliminary figures had been submitted, but she didn’t have them with her – but they looked promising, she said. Jane Lumm (Ward 2) expressed her support for the district, saying that the new jobs that Barracuda would be bringing is a positive development for the downtown.

Lumm agreed that the incentives being offered to Barracuda are warranted. Ann Arbor is an attractive location for businesses, she ventured, and it was not necessary to constantly offer tax incentives to attract businesses. Ann Arbor only does that on an infrequent and selective basis. She thinks this proposal is worthy of the support. She also pointed to a $1.2 million expansion grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to Barracuda, and how the MEDC generally expected a local match.

Lumm had some remaining questions about the parking commitment. Higgins cautioned against diving into the details of the possible Barracuda proposal, until the application was final.

Mayor John Hieftje also said he didn’t think parking spaces would be presented to the council – because Barracuda would simply be taking advantage of a “special” being offered by the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, which manages the city’s public parking system. [The DDA has offered incentives generally, not just to Barracuda, in the form of reduced rates on monthly passes for the new underground parking structure on South Fifth Avenue, which opened in July.]

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to establish the industrial development district at 317 Maynard.

Water Resources Commissioner: Flooding Solutions

The council considered a resolution directing city staff to start negotiations with the Washtenaw County water resources commissioner to identify “opportunities for stormwater conveyance and stormwater quality improvement in the area of the Malletts Creek drainage district bounded by Ann Arbor-Saline Road upstream to I-94 and Scio Church Road.”

Partial map of the area of study for the Malletts Creek drainage district.

The city council had heard complaints from residents in that area during public commentary earlier this spring about localized flooding.

The Aug. 7 primary election results from that precinct in Ward 4 were nearly decisive enough in favor of challenger Jack Eaton to win the Democratic nomination over incumbent Margie Teall – but his total fell short of Teall’s by 18 votes across the ward. [On Aug. 16, Eaton filed for a recount, which will likely occur later this month.]

The resolution considered by the council on Aug. 9 directs staff to bring an agreement to the city council with the water resources commissioner by Oct. 1, 2012.

Flooding Solutions: Council Deliberations

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) said he was intrigued by the proposal and asked Cresson Slotten to answer some questions. Slotten is a senior project manager with the city. He told Kunselman that there’d been similar studies done in other areas of the city. The area described in the resolution, he said, is part of an existing drainage district, Malletts Creek, that’s within the county’s jurisdiction.

Kunselman ventured that outside the city limits, drain improvements get assessed to property owners, but inside the city, the cost is paid for out of the city’s stormwater utility fund. Slotten explained that one of the benefits of working with the water resources commissioner’s office is the ability to work within the state’s “drain code,” which is the statute that establishes the water resources commissioner’s office. [.pdf of Act 40 of 1956]

Malletts Creek is a Chapter 20 drain under that code, Slotten said. A key point is that costs are assessed to the governmental entity, the city of Ann Arbor, based on how much of the area is in the city. Some of it would be in an area owned by the Michigan Dept. of Transportation near I-94, he said, so MDOT would also contribute a small share. The city could choose to assess property owners as well, but typically has chosen to treat it as a “system cost,” especially if it’s a broad project area. And by working through the county, it’s also possible to arrange financing over time, so that there’s not a large up-front cost, Slotten said.

Kunselman noted that the city owns most of the stormwater conveyance – streets, gutters, storm sewers – and at some point there’s an outfall into Malletts Creek. So he wondered how much is really under the county’s jurisdiction. Slotten described the portion of Malletts Creek that’s under the county’s jurisdiction – the open creek visible down by Briarwood Mall and Ann Arbor-Saline Road, where there is “open creek.” In addition, if you continue past Ann Arbor-Saline Road, you see some ponds, and upstream of that is a large pipe that’s a part of the drain. That drain continues up to Scio Church Road and then even up to Maple Road.

That’s the reason the partnership between the county and the city that has evolved over the years – given the intermingling nature of the physical systems – is so beneficial, Slotten said.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) wanted to know how many dollars in damage Ward 4 had experienced during the localized flooding. Slotten was not certain, but ventured that those claims would have been made through the city’s insurance board. Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) pointed out that the insurance board report had been included in the consent agenda.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) reported that this project had been discussed as part of the Malletts Creek coordinating committee meeting the previous day. She clarified that the agreement would come back to the council on Oct. 1 for approval.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the resolution giving direction to start negotiations with the county water resources commissioner.

Demolition Contracts

The council was asked to approve two-year contracts with four different companies, to perform demolition services on an as-needed basis. The four companies are Bierlein, DMC Consultants, Beal, and Van Assche.

At its Feb. 21, 2012 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council had approved a $250,000 allocation for demolishing buildings that the city deems dangerous under Chapter 101 of the city code. The city would like to target buildings that are diminishing the quality of neighborhoods, dragging down property values and attracting nuisances. The city expects to be able to reimburse the general fund for that allocation, from the proceeds of a lawsuit settlement related to the old Michigan Inn property on Jackson Avenue.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) described the resolution as giving the city some flexibility by having predetermined contractors that the city can call on, to demolish some blighted properties and allow the city to move quicker when the city gets to that stage. As an example, she gave the house on First and Kingsley. It’s located on property that the city purchased earlier this year – the vacant house is expected to be demolished later this month.

Mayor John Hieftje then asked Sumedh Bahl, community services area administrator, to talks about Avalon Housing‘s Near North affordable housing project, located on North Main. Houses on the site of the expected development have long stood vacant.

Bahl explained that if Avalon doesn’t move to demolish the buildings, then the city will. He explained that the city might start the process soon. It might take up to two weeks to finalize the contracts with the demolition companies and to make sure all the right types of insurance are in place, he said. In the meantime, the city will look disconnecting at the water utilities. There has to be a 10-day notice of any demolition, he said. So even if the city starts the next day with the process, you won’t see a bulldozer then. But in 45-60 days, the city will have the buildings down, he said.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) noted that in the last year or so, she’d heard concerns from several councilmembers about houses that aren’t being maintained in the community. Being able to move forward as quickly as possible is a catch-phrase they’ve talked about, but she noted that it’s hard actually to move quickly. The contract approvals, which are not tied to any particular building, mean the city won’t have to jump through that extra hoop. It’s a tool that won’t be used lightly, she said.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) said, “This is great.” He noted that the fund had been set up but he recalled that the amount of the fund was less than the $600,000 that you get when you multiple four contractors times $150,000 apiece. [The fund was set at $250,000.] So he wanted an explanation. Bahl explained that he would not be spending more than $250,000, but that the multiple contracts give him flexibility.

Bahl picked up on remarks by Smith and Briere that these demolitions would not be undertaken lightly. He described the due process that had to be used to demolish derelict houses.

Kunselman noted that the follow-up on the demolitions involves liens on the property and the proper paperwork so that the city can get reimbursed.

Kunselman also wanted to address the issue of the former St. Nicholas Church on North Main Street, which is currently under county tax foreclosure. Given that it’s in “the public hand,” Kunselman felt the city should be able to move quickly on that and take it down, because it’s no longer a private property. He noted that there’d been a house on Sharon Street when the county had cooperated with the city in that way.

City administrator Steve Powers observed that up to now, the city’s fund for demolition has been used as an incentive to property owners to do the work themselves – it’s a way to get a property owner’s attention. Regarding the St. Nicholas Church, Powers said that county treasurer Catherine McClary is well aware of the situation. She’d indicated that the county would be proceeding with demolition on the “county dime” but would be putting a lien on the property against that cost.

Smith asked Mike Appel, senior developer with the nonprofit Avalon Housing, to speak to the question of the Near North development. Appel told the council he appreciates the city’s patience and the whole community’s patience with the situation that he described as taking “too many months.” They’ve been working very hard to move the project forward, he said. They thought they could get the buildings taken down earlier, but now have been cooperating with city staff – by providing them with the asbestos surveys and the electric and gas utilities shutoffs. He said Avalon is doing everything in its power to get the houses down.

1992 FEMA floodway in light crosshatched blue, with the green lines indicating the boundaries of the floodplain. The intersection shown is Main and Summit. Red parcels are those that are now in the floodplain but previously were not. Green parcels were previously in the floodplain and now are not.

2012 FEMA floodway in dark blue, with the green lines indicating the boundaries of the floodplain. The intersection shown is Main and Summit. Red parcels are those that are now in the floodplain but previously were not. Green parcels were previously in the floodplain and now are not.

At this point, it appears that having the city do the demolition is quicker than doing it themselves, Appel said. The most recent event that’s slowed down the project is that in April of this year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had issued new floodway and floodplain maps. The floodway had expanded considerably, he reported. The proposed building is not in the floodway, but some of the activities associated with the building are – like parking. The state would allow the project to be built, but the federal funds they’d been planning to use won’t be available. So now Avalon is trying to find a way to substitute non-federal funds for federal funds.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the contracts with demolition companies.

Transit Articles of Incorporation

In front of the council for the third time were the articles of incorporation for a possible new countywide transit authority. The council had approved them twice before.

The articles of incorporation are part of a four-party agreement to establish a framework for possibly expanding the governance and service area of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. The four-party agreement is between the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the AATA.

This most recent iteration on the Aug. 9 agenda came in response to an amendment made by the Washtenaw County board of commissioners at its Aug. 1, 2012 meeting.

The county board’s amendment changed the minimum threshold of votes required on the proposed new 15-member transit authority board to change the authority’s articles of incorporation. That threshold was increased from a 2/3 majority (10 votes) to a 4/5 majority (12 votes). With a 7-4 vote, the Ann Arbor city council adopted the county’s change. Dissenting were Jane Lumm (Ward 2), Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), Mike Anglin (Ward 5), and Marcia Higgins (Ward 4).

The council had already reapproved the transit documents once before, at its June 4, 2012 meeting, in response to a change to the four-party agreement that had been made by the Ypsilanti city council. The Ann Arbor city council had initially given its approval to the four-party agreement on March 5, 2012.

Transit Articles of Incorporation: Council Deliberations

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) reviewed the history of the document approvals and the nature of the change that was being requested.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) offered a possible explanation for wanting one super majority (4/5) compared to another (2/3). A concern she’d heard was urban versus rural. The cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, along with Pittsfield Township, would together have 10 members of the board. They could “conspire” to reduce the impact of the other members by changing the articles of incorporation. By asking for 12 instead of 10, it’s necessary to have a mix of urban and rural in order to change the articles of incorporation. The proposal of a 4/5 majority is a compromise between requiring unanimous approval and the original 2/3 majority, she said.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) asked Michael Ford, the AATA’s CEO, if the 4/5 majority were acceptable to the AATA. Ford said it was.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) indicated she had no issue with the specific change. Her concern remains with the agreement itself. She suspected no one had changed their fundamental position on that question. She then reviewed her standard objections to the proposal.

Left to right: Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) and Ann Arbor Transportation Authority CEO Michael Ford.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) felt that the “countywide” initiative would not be countywide at all and would end up being a regional Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor system. He felt there are better ways of accomplishing that. Kunselman then accused Ford of knowing the answers to some questions that Kunselman asked the last time Ford appeared in front of the city council. Kunselman said Ford had chosen not to share those answers. [Kunselman may have been alluding to the lack of specificity Ford provided when asked by Kunselman about the AATA's plans in case Ypsilanti was not able to meet the terms of its purchase-of-service agreement.]

Kunselman felt like the AATA has not been working in good faith and has been dropping the ball. He said it was not a countywide proposal, so he asked people to stop calling it that.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) indicated that he’d vote against it because of the inclusion of Fuller Road Station as part of the plan. Having watched the county board of commissioners vote just 6-4 in favor of the agreement, he was not sure of the strength of the buy-in.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) wanted to know what would happen if the council did not approve the change. Assistant city attorney Mary Fales explained that the document was binding only if all parties agreed to it. Hohnke indicated he was not interested in “belaboring the debate.”

Taylor indicated he’d support it for all the reasons previously discussed.

Outcome: The council voted to reapprove the articles of incorporation for the new countywide transit authority, with dissent from Jane Lumm (Ward 2), Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) and Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

Firefighters, Fire Truck

The council considered two agenda items directly related to fire protection: hiring three additional firefighters and authorizing the purchase of a new aerial truck.

Firefighters

The council was asked to authorize a revision to its FY 2013 budget that will allow for staffing of three additional firefighters for the next two years, bringing the budgeted staffing level for firefighters from 82 to 85. The positions will be funded with a $642,294 federal grant through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER), which was announced earlier this year on May 30, 2012.

According to fire chief Chuck Hubbard, the city currently has three vacancies – which means 79 firefighters on staff.

The $321,000 from the SAFER grant for each of the next two years will be allocated for three firefighter positions, which the city estimates will cost $255,000 (at $85,000 per position). The remaining $66,000 per year will be spent on other unspecified fire services needs, according to the staff memo accompanying the resolution – including overtime and fleet expenses. Hiring a fourth firefighter would require using $19,000 of the city’s fund balance, according to the memo.

The budget amendment was anticipated based on the city council’s budget deliberations and final FY 2013 budget resolution earlier this year, on May 22, 2012, which directed the city administrator to submit a proposal to amend the budget and hire additional firefighters if the SAFER grant were to be awarded.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) asks to be recognized to speak during the council’s Aug. 9 meeting. On the left is Tony Derezinski (Ward 2).

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) wanted to know what the $66,000 would be spent on. City administrator Steve Powers indicated that part of it would go toward overages already incurred. It would also be used to help pay for overtime, fleet expenses, and other fire service operations. The city is projecting a tight budget for FY 2013, Powers said.

Lumm wanted to know if the department was fully staffed at the budgeted level of 82. Hubbard indicated to Lumm that the approved budgeted level was 82. Powers clarified the question, which was essentially: Are we fully staffed? Hubbard indicated that right now the fire department has 79 firefighters – due to a retirements and recalled firefighters who did not return.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) expressed concern about funding for firefighters in future years after the grant expires: What happens in two years? Hubbard indicated that in 2014 the city has the option to apply for another grant. Powers indicated that part of the rationale for hiring three firefighters instead of four is that the city’s projections are that it can sustain the staffing level of 85 when the two-year grant program is over. He allowed that one possibility is to reapply for the SAFER grant, but the city would prefer to fund the positions on its own.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the budget change to allow the hiring of three additional firefighters.

Fire Truck

The council was also asked to authorize $1,043,685 from its fleet fund to purchase a new 2013 Sutphen model SPH100 mid-mount aerial platform – a “tower truck.” The department currently has two aerial trucks. The new purchase replaces a 1999 Emergency One brand 100-foot ladder truck – but it will be kept as a “reserve” aerial truck in the department. The department also has a 1996 Emergency One brand 100-foot aerial truck, which will be kept as a secondary aerial truck. Whichever Emergency One aerial truck first starts to have maintenance and repair costs that exceed its value will be retired from service – and the other truck will remain as a reserve.

The new truck is expected to arrive in 10-12 months.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) noted that some constituents of hers who live in tall buildings were concerned about the city’s current tower truck functioning well. She wanted to know the difference between a ladder truck and a mid-mount truck.

Fire chief Chuck Hubbard explained that “mid-mount” is related to the way it’s built – on a mid-mount vehicle, the aerial component of the truck is mounted to the area just behind the cab. Responding to a question from Briere, Hubbard indicated that it’s not mid-mount versus rear-mount that determines how high the aerial platform can go, but rather the angle of inclination.

Briere said she’d heard that the city’s existing ladder truck had a weak piece that broke and couldn’t easily be fixed. Hubbard indicated that the new truck is very well built, made by a 100-year-old company. He felt that the issues with the existing truck had been well addressed in the purchase of the new truck – and indicated that replacement parts would be easy to acquire.

Mayor John Hieftje was keen to stress that the city’s ladder truck and tower truck were both currently back in service. And during the period when they were not in service, the “box-alarm” could have been used to get a tower truck from a neighboring jurisdiction. He ventured that long-term, it would make sense to think about a regional approach to those types of vehicles, saying that in many departments they are rarely used.

Responding to a question from Sandi Smith (Ward 1), Hubbard said there are more than 100 buildings in the city that are considered “high rises.” Smith asked if it wasn’t the case that they were likely fully-sprinkled – equipped with sprinkler systems under city code. Hubbard allowed that the codes are fairly strict. Hieftje asked city administrator Steve Powers to track down the percentage of high rise buildings that have sprinkler systems.

Responding to a question from Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), Hubbard said that the preference for a platform instead of a ladder was based on ease of rescue. A ladder would require that a firefighter assist someone all the way down the ladder.

Kunselman got confirmation from Hubbard that the fire truck purchase is not connected at all to the possibility that the city will adopt a new station plan – operating out of three stations instead of the current five.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) wondered if the number of firefighters required for operation of the truck was related to the “sway” of the truck. Hubbard said it has nothing to do with that, but rather with the number of tasks that have to be performed in connection with an aerial truck.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the purchase of the aerial fire truck.

Nominations

The usual pattern for appointments to various boards and commissions is that their nominations are made at a council meeting and a vote is taken at a subsequent meeting.

Disabilities Commission: Petersen

Among the nominations for boards and commissions made by mayor John Hieftje at the city council’s Aug. 9 meeting was Sally Petersen to fill a vacancy on the commission on disability issues. Petersen will likely be joining the Ann Arbor city council itself in November, having received more votes than incumbent Tony Derezinski in the Aug. 7 Ward 2 Democratic primary. No other candidate will be on the ballot for Ward 2 on Nov. 6.

In announcing Petersen’s nomination, Hieftje said there was no reason to delay it. Petersen had also applied for appointment to the park advisory commission at the same time she’d applied for a spot on the commission on disability issues.

The commission on disability issues dates back to 1969, but has undergone several name changes since that time, including various forms of the word “handicap.” The commission was established to “promote and advocate for equal opportunities for all individuals with physical, mental and/or emotional disabilities.”

The city council will vote on confirmation of Petersen’s appointment at its Aug. 20 meeting.

DDA Nominations: Smith, Hewitt, Orr

Nominated for reappointment to the board of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority are Sandi Smith, Roger Hewitt and Keith Orr. Those nominations were placed before the city council by mayor John Hieftje at the council’s Aug. 9 meeting.

This year’s DDA board officer elections, held  two months ago at the DDA’s July 2, 2012 annual meeting, again featured abstention on some votes by board member Newcombe Clark – because the future composition of the board was not yet clear. Hieftje’s custom for many reappointments to city boards and commissions has been to provide no public indication of his intentions on those nominations.

Communications and Comment

Every city council agenda contains multiple slots for city councilmembers and the city administrator to give updates or make announcements about important issues that are coming before the council. And every meeting typically includes public commentary on subjects not necessarily on the agenda.

Comm/Comm: Community Center

Orian Zakai addressed the council as an organizer for the Imagine Community – a nonprofit that promotes solidarity between homed and homeless people, she said, through skill-sharing and creativity. In the last four months, she said, they’ve been cooperating with an educational program at the local homeless shelter, the Delonis Center. Their goal for this year is to open a community center in Ann Arbor, where homed and homeless people can create social lives, learn from each other and stay out of the cold together. They’re waiting for someone to address what they see in the streets – growing desperation, more people out on the streets, insufficient social services, public health care and metal health assistance. They’ve proposed to the city to lease the empty 721 N. Main city-owned building and to take over responsibility for the maintenance of the building in order to make it a hospitable space for a community. She claimed that the city is more interested in costly business plans that would serve business owners and corporate interests than about creating community.

Addressing the contracts with companies that would perform demolition, she wondered what would be built in place of the houses to be demolished – parking lots, high rises and business centers? She said that mayor John Hieftje had been quoted as saying that we’re going to hand the city off to the younger generation and that he thinks young people want to live in a city center with a lot of activity. Contrasting with that sentiment was one expressed by Rose, a Groundcover News vendor, who said that community and not consumption is the next big thing. Zakai said that as a young-ish person, she wanted to live in a community – where people care about each other and no one is left out in the cold to fend for themselves – not a city center. If she had wanted that, she would have chosen to live in Chicago, Tel Aviv, or New York.

Comm/Comm: Democratic Progressive Agenda

Thomas Partridge introduced himself as resident of Ann Arbor and the 53rd District of the Michigan house of representatives. He called on the council and the public to stand up for democratic progress, and build a new Michigan by building affordable housing and re-electing Barack Obama. We need to take courage and stand up and call on our leaders to adopt significant agendas that will benefit the majority of residents. He called on the council to turn away from special interests and the charter amendment protecting city parks, and to focus instead on providing adequate funding to end homelessness, access to affordable housing and to city, countywide and regionwide affordable transportation.

Comm/Comm: Sustainable Practices

Kermit Schlansker recalled his time as a soldier in Germany during 1945-47 after World War II. What he saw was extreme poverty and food shortages, he said. People would trade cameras, radios and jewelry and other items for food. The German farmer was king, he said. His German wife told of going to cut a designated tree for fire wood and having to transport it a long distance in a pull-wagon.

Schlansker indicated that could happen in this country as natural resources get scarcer, and poverty will grow. Before it becomes a national catastrophe, many people will be suffering. We need a place where desperate people can go and trade a little work for food and a place to sleep, he said. We need a place where parolees and drug addicts can go and survive without stealing, he said. Sooner or later, poverty will be ubiquitous. The best remedy is to establish work farms located near cities – for growing food and energy, designing new products and starting new businesses.

Comm/Comm: Smart Meters

Darren Schmidt again addressed the council on the topic of smart meters – which are being installed by DTE Energy to allow for remote measurement of electric usage and for measurements in finer increments. He brought a device that he told the council could measure the effects of such smart meters. The device indicates with colored lights the amount of electromagnetic radiation, he said. He contended that DTE is controlling the Michigan Public Service Commission. Even though there’s an opt-out program, he said, what’s at issue is public airspace. He offered to show people the measuring device and reported that Matt Naud, the city’s environmental coordinator, had taken him up on the offer.

Comm/Comm: Citizens United

Stuart Dowty told the council that he was there to recruit them as a group to do something about the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Ultimately, it’s about money, he said. CU means that we’re dealing with a fundamental change in the nature of our democracy – and something should be done about it. The Ann Arbor council should join the effort toward education about CU, he said. Bob Davidow told the council he’s a member of the group – the Washtenaw Coalition For Democracy. It’s important to understand, he said, that CU didn’t create a problem, but rather exacerbated a pre-existing problem.

Present: Jane Lumm, Mike Anglin, Margie Teall, Sabra Briere, Sandi Smith, Tony Derezinski, Stephen Kunselman, Marcia Higgins, John Hieftje, Christopher Taylor, Carsten Hohnke.

Next council meeting: Monday, Aug. 20, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 301 E. Huron. [Check Chronicle events listing to confirm date]

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The city council heard complaints from residents in that area during public commentary earlier this spring about localized flooding in the vicinity. The Aug. 7 primary election results from that precinct in Ward 4 were nearly decisive enough in favor of challenger Jack Eaton to win the Democratic nomination over incumbent Margie Teall – but his total fell short of Teall’s by 18 votes across the ward.

The resolution approved by the council on Aug. 9 directs staff to bring an agreement to the city council with the water resources commissioner by Oct. 1, 2012.

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]