Councilmember Sandi Smith (Ward 1) asks to be called on during the July 16 meeting. (Photos by the writer.)

The council considered a resolution that would have placed a question on the Nov. 6 ballot about a charter amendment affecting city parkland. The amendment would require a voter referendum not just for the sale of parkland, but also for leases or other contracts that have a practical effect similar to a sale.

The majority of the council wanted to allow time for the city’s park advisory commission (PAC) to weigh in before taking council action. To facilitate that timeline, PAC is convening a special meeting on Aug. 8 to consider the matter. The council’s postponement was until Aug. 9 – its next regularly scheduled meeting. That’s a Thursday instead of the usual Monday, pushed back because of the Aug. 7 primary election.

Some supporters of the possible amendment had hoped to bring the matter to a council vote before the August primary, because they wanted incumbent council candidates to be judged by the electorate based on their vote on the parkland ballot question. That led Sandi Smith (Ward 1), who is not seeking re-election to a third term, to call the resolution on the ballot question a “poorly disguised political stunt.”

Other park-related items on the agenda included approval of a $89,560 contract with Wally Hollyday Skateparks for the design and construction oversight of a skatepark to be built in the northeast corner of Veterans Memorial Park. The council also gave initial approval to the rezoning of two parcels recently acquired by the city for expansion of the Bluffs Nature Area at 1099 N. Main St., north of Sunset Road. On final approval, both parcels will receive the PL (public land) zoning designation. The city expects the additional land to make the entrance to the nature area more accessible.

The Leslie Science and Nature Center will get $115,309 worth of improvements to create accessible pathways at the city-owned site – the council approved a contract with JB Contractors Inc. for that work. The center is operated by a separate independent nonprofit on land and buildings that are owned and maintained by the city of Ann Arbor.

The possibility of a mixed-use park and art center at the city-owned 415 W. Washington property was given a chance to move forward, with the council’s authorization of $50,000 in general fund money to pay for physical surveys of the building on the property. The building, which would potentially house a space for working artists, would need environmental, hazardous materials and topographic surveys done, even if a decision were ultimately made to demolish the building.

Open space outside the city got a boost from the council’s acceptance of $396,900 in federal funds for the purchase of development rights (PDR) on properties in Webster and Superior townships. The federal funds will be matched with city funds from the open space and parkland preservation millage, which supports the city’s greenbelt program.

The wetlands at Plymouth Parkway Park that were impacted by last year’s railroad embankment washout along Plymouth Road will be restored through a $97,687 contract with Fonson Inc. authorized by the council. The funds will come from the city’s park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

Only tangentially related to parks was the council’s approval of the site plan for the Maple Cove development. Located on 2.96 acres at 1649 N. Maple, north of Miller Road between North Maple and Calvin Street on the city’s west side, the plan calls for combining two sites – 1649 N. Maple and 1718 Calvin – and demolishing an existing single-family home and detached garages there. Two 3-story apartment buildings would be built with a 64-space parking lot. The project also includes building a private street to serve seven new single-family houses near Calvin Street.

The parks connection to Maple Cove is that the city requested a $26,660 contribution from the developer to support the city’s parks – a voluntary contribution, with the amount determined by formula. The developer has declined to make that contribution.

The council also voted to appoint John Seto as chief of police and head of safety services – he’s now permanently in charge of policing the city, including city parkland. Seto has served since April as interim in the wake of Barnett Jones’ retirement.

In other action, councilmembers voted to suspend the use of construction unity board (CUB) agreements in construction contracts – after voting to restore their use earlier this summer. On the CUB issue, the council has been responding to a changing landscape of law, as state legislation is passed and court decisions are handed down.

Park Lease Ballot Question

The council considered a possible ballot question on a charter amendment affecting city parkland. It would require a voter referendum not just for the sale of parkland, but also for leases or other contracts that have a practical effect similar to a sale.

Ultimately, the council voted to refer the issue to the city’s park advisory commission (PAC).

Councilmembers Jane Lumm (Ward 2) and Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) confer after the meeting.

The chair of that commission, Julie Grand, had written in an email to mayor John Hieftje on July 12 that she felt “… it is critical for PAC to provide a formal resolution prior to any council vote. I therefore propose to find an alternative time for PAC to hold an open work session with councilmembers [Jane] Lumm, [Mike] Anglin and [Sabra] Briere [co-sponsors of the resolution] in accordance with the deadlines imposed on ballot initiatives prior to council’s vote on this matter.”

In the last two months, the nine-member PAC has seen the departure of three long-time members, because of term limitations: Gwen Nystuen, Sam Offen and David Barrett. Nystuen and Offen were replaced by Ingrid Ault and Alan Jackson. Nominated at the council’s July 2 meeting and confirmed on July 16 was Barrett’s replacement – Bob Galardi, a former Ann Arbor Public Schools administrator.  The two city council representatives to PAC – Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) and Mike Anglin (Ward 5) – are non-voting ex officio positions.

The special meeting by PAC is scheduled for Aug. 8 at 3 p.m. at city hall. The Ann Arbor city council has until its second meeting in August to put various questions before voters on the Nov. 6, 2012 ballot. A resolution placing a question on the ballot requires a seven-member (2/3) majority on the 11-member council.

The draft language before the council on July 16 was: “Shall Section 14.3(b) of the Ann Arbor City Charter be amended to require voter approval for long-term (greater than 5 yrs) non-park or non-recreational uses of parkland within the city while retaining the section’s current requirement for voter approval of the sale of any city park, or land acquired by the city for a park or cemetery?”

If approved by voters, the charter would be changed to read [added language in italics]: The city shall not sell, lease, or contract for any non-park or non-recreational long-term use, without the approval, by a majority vote of the electors of the city voting on the question at a regular or special election, any city park, or land in the city acquired for park, cemetery, or any part thereof. For purposes of this subsection long-term shall be defined as a period greater than 5 years.”

The existing charter provision, which deals only with the sale of parkland, had been approved in November 2008 by a 81%-19% margin of voters (42,969 to 9,944).

Michigan’s Home Rule City Act already lists among a city’s prohibited powers: “… to sell a park, cemetery, or any part of a park or cemetery, except where the park is not required under an official master plan of the city …”  The council voted to place the question before voters in 2008 over dissent from councilmember Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) and former councilmember Leigh Greden.

That year, the council had consciously settled on wording that included just selling, as opposed to leasing. In an Oct. 31, 2008 Ann Arbor News article, mayor John Hieftje was quoted as follows: “From time to time, we’ve thought about how nice it might be to have a restaurant near the river. I think it’s something people would really enjoy … That would be impossible if the ballot measure was expanded to include leasing.”

Park Ballot Question: Public Commentary

Several people spoke in favor of the resolution that would place a ballot question before voters, including two candidates for city council who are competing for seats in the Democratic primary. One person spoke against the resolution.

James D’Amour spoke on behalf of the Sierra Club Huron Valley Group. A fundamental value of the Sierra Club is protection of parks, he said. The Sierra Club stands fully behind the effort of councilmembers Jane Lumm and Mike Anglin to “close a loophole” in the charter amendment passed by voters in 2008. [The council resolution was also co-sponsored by Sabra Briere, but she was not mentioned by D'Amour.]

He called the parks a trust meant for future generations. D’Amour described city actions in connection with Huron Hills golf course and Fuller Park since 2008 as demonstrating a fundamental betrayal of that trust, he contended. It could be argued that the events that occurred were within the letter of the law, he said, but the long-term arrangements that were contemplated were a violation of the intent of the voters in 2008. He asked councilmembers to support the resolution.

Rita Mitchell also encouraged the council to vote for the resolution, because it provides support for parkland – which is jointly owned by all Ann Arbor taxpayers, she said, and is enjoyed by residents and visitors. She pointed to the significant environmental benefit that parkland provides to the city as a whole. She said the 2008 charter vote shows that citizens do want a voice in how the city uses parkland. Subsequent actions have challenged the spirit, if not the letter of the charter language. As an example she gave the plan for a large parking structure and train station at Fuller Park. If a good case can be made for land transfer or different use of a park, then that case can be made to the “real owners of the land,” she said.

Lawrence Baird described the proud history of natural area preservation and parkland protection in Ann Arbor going all the way back to 1920 when Huey Eli Gallup was the city’s first parks superintendent and created the first parks development plan. Since then Ann Arborites have placed a high priority on protecting open space and parkland. Baird reminded the council of Washtenaw County’s natural area preservation millage which Ann Arbor citizens had helped pass and renew. He reminded the council of the city’s 2003 open space and parkland preservation millage passed by Ann Arbor voters. [That millage funds the greenbelt program to preserve natural areas and farmland outside the city, as well as park acquisition within the city.]

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) talks to Lawrence Baird before the meeting.

He reminded councilmembers of the city’s park maintenance and capital improvements millage that voters had approved and will likely renew this year. There’s a loophole in the 2008 charter amendment, he said, and recent events show that if the city chooses to do so, it can enter into long-term leases for non-park purposes. That violates the spirit of the 2008 charter amendment, he said. It also violates the spirit of the various millage votes Ann Arbor voters have made, he said. He contended that greenbelt properties enjoy more protection than city parkland. He described Ann Arbor voters as a “smart, informed, passionate bunch,” and they should be entrusted with the bigger decisions now and then.

Jack Eaton, who is challenging incumbent Margie Teall for a seat on the council representing Ward 4, told the council he was there to support the resolution. He was opposed to putting off the vote on the resolution until a meeting after the primary election. He felt it’s important to consider what’s not involved in passing the resolution. The council’s resolution does not amend the charter, he stressed, but merely allows voters to express their opinion on amending the charter. If the council opposes the resolution because of a fear that voters might approve the amendment, then the council is trying to circumvent the will of the people, he contended. But even if voters approve the charter amendment, the new protections don’t prevent putting the train station at Fuller Park – but rather requires that voters approve it. If the council fears that voters won’t approve the train station, he said, then they’re trying to circumvent the will of the voters.

As he talks to voters, Eaton said, he hears that the community holds parkland in special esteem. He asked the council to pass the resolution and to move it to the ballot immediately before the primary so that voters can know who supported the amendment and who opposed it, before residents cast their votes in the Aug. 7 primary. If the council expects voters to trust them with another park maintenance and capital improvements millage, the council needs to trust voters to weigh in on decisions about parkland, he concluded.

Sally Petersen, who is challenging incumbent Tony Derezinski for a seat on the council representing Ward 2, urged the city council to approve the resolution, because not doing so is not consistent with the city’s open space and parkland preservation, the parks and recreation open space (PROS) plan and the city’s 2008 charter amendment. The additional clarifying language would close a loophole, she said. She reported the results of an informal poll she’d sent to 160 people measuring their support for the resolution: by 6 p.m. she’d received 70 yes votes, compared to 7 no votes.

Gwen Nystuen, who served on the city’s park advisory commission until recently, told the council that until a few years ago she thought the city’s parks were permanently protected. But she contended that it’s not true – and much of the city’s parkland would be commercially valuable. She then enumerated some of the ways that parks are protected. One way is through deed restrictions, and conservation easements. Another way, she ventured, is if parkland has been purchased with millage money voted by the people. She’d contacted the head of county parks, and found that the county’s parks are considered protected because they’ve been purchased with millage money. Another way parks are protected, she said, is through tradition. Ann Arbor has been acquiring parkland for over a century – and most of our leaders say they’d never ever sell parkland. Beyond that, she said, she can’t find any real protection. The proposed resolution doesn’t prevent the sale or alternate use, but it does require a consensus by the voters, she said.

Elizabeth Colvin told the council she lives on Maiden Lane near the University of Michigan medical center. She urged the council not to support the resolution. She spoke as a supporter of parks and as a supporter of some of the projects that have been proposed for some parkland that don’t involve parks and recreation. The current process of handling projects involving non-park uses provides the public with sufficient opportunity to make their wishes known, she said.

Colvin perceives the current process as consisting of professionals with expertise in their fields – whether running a golf business or planning a train station – studying options, comparing alternatives, making recommendations, drawing up plans, submitting ideas for review and input. During that process, she said, people like her who are interested in a particular process can make their preferences known – by speaking during public commentary at meetings or emailing councilmembers. She felt that requiring a public referendum on top of that process adds unnecessary steps and adds delays to projects that should be completed with all due speed. For her, she said, it hits home with the train station that was initially proposed for parkland at Fuller Road. That project means the most to her, she said, because she feels strongly that improved public transit is absolutely key to the long-term economic health of the community. A new and improved train station in the right location is a critical component of a long-term mass-transit plan for our community, she said. Because that’s important to her, she said, she’d follow those discussions closely and she’d provide input on it. For those projects she doesn’t feel strongly about, she wouldn’t follow them closely and she wouldn’t care if there were a public vote.

Summarizing, Colvin said she thinks the current process works and it gives the public opportunity for input. She was addressing the council on behalf of herself, she said, but knew that several of her neighbors shared her view. She encouraged the council to vote no or at least postpone the issue to get input from the city’s park advisory commission.

Park Ballot Question: Council Talk – Intro

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) led off deliberations by noting the resolution had been co-sponsored by Mike Anglin (Ward 5) and Sabra Briere (Ward 1). She thanked assistant city attorney Mary Fales for her help in drafting the language of the resolution. Councilmembers had been given the draft a week ago, she said, and it is unchanged from that version. The language has received a preliminary approval from the state attorney general’s office.

Lumm reviewed the purpose of the resolution – to close a “loophole” left when the 2008 charter amendment was approved. That amendment only specifically referenced the sale of parkland. As a result, the city could retain ownership and not sell it, but could still change the use of that parkland to a non-recreational or non-park use. The resolution is not about Huron Hills golf course or Fuller Road Station or about any specific site, she said. Those situations demonstrated the existence of the loophole. It also does not establish a principle that voters have a say in the long-term use of parkland – because that principle was already established with the charter vote in 2008. It’s simply tightening up the language, she said.

Park Ballot Question: Council Talk – Postponement

Briere said she cheerfully co-sponsored the resolution when it showed up – because she’d heard the same discussion over the last four years as everybody else on the council. However, she looked for unintended consequences. When the ballot measure was placed before voters in 2008, the council anticipated that a problem was being solved. But an unintended consequence was that the city could engage in long-term leases, she said, and indeed had flirted with that idea. The city had not followed through on that – but had talked about it. And that’s what the city is supposed to do, she said – look at its options. It’s that “opening” that the current proposal is intended to close.

From left: assistant city attorney Mary Fales, councilmember Sabra Briere (Ward 1).

But there are also unintended consequences for the current proposal, Briere said, which she’d learned of that day. If the current version appears on the ballot, here’s what could occur without a public vote, she said: The city could contract with a company that manages water parks to run Fuller pool – because it would be the same recreational use. The city could contract with a golf-course operator to operate Huron Hills – because it’s the same recreational use. Or the city could build and own a fire station, a homeless shelter, a train station or a parking structure on a park without voter approval – because the city wouldn’t be selling land or engaging in a long-term lease or contract.

She knew that these were not things the framers of the resolution had intended. So she indicated a desire to postpone the resolution to try to work out the details and at the same time refer the topic to the park advisory commission (PAC), to look at any implications she might have missed.

Briere noted that they needed to specify a date to which the resolution would be postponed. Mayor John Hieftje noted that the chair of PAC, Julie Grand, had written to the council, and the PAC meeting for the following day, July 17, had been cancelled. But the intent was to use the first Tuesday in August, which is the scheduled time for PAC’s land acquisition committee meeting, as a time to hold a full PAC meeting to discuss the park ballot question. [Because that day, Aug. 7, coincides with the primary election, it was abandoned as the time for PAC to meet. Currently, PAC is scheduled to meet on Aug. 8 at 3 p.m.]

The council’s first meeting in August is Aug. 9 – due to the primary election. So Briere made her motion for postponement specifically to the council’s second meeting in August – Aug. 20.

Park Ballot Question: Council Talk – Postponement to When?

Lumm moved to amend the postponement to the first meeting in August.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) responded to Lumm’s proposal to postpone just to Aug. 9 by saying, “I’m not sure why we’re rushing this.” It could be voted on at either meeting in August, Smith said, and that would be soon enough to place it on the Nov. 6 ballot. The only reason that the item was on that night’s agenda [the last council meeting before the Aug. 7 primary], she said, is that “it’s a really poorly-disguised political stunt.” The remark from Smith, who is not seeking re-election to her Ward 1 seat, generated a discontented murmur among some in the audience.

In support of her contention that the timing of the resolution was political, Smith noted that the council had heard from a city council candidate during public commentary [Jack Eaton], which had indicated to her that it was a political stunt. It’s not about parks, she contended. Smith said the council does not as a habit rush things, noting that they had postponed the four-party transit agreement three times. The council didn’t vote on something that significant for three meetings, she said.

What was before the council that night affected the city charter: “This is our constitution! This is what we operate our city on. I cannot see the rush.” Smith noted there’s no memo or cover letter on the agenda, and councilmembers have had very little information delivered to them. The council should slow the whole process down, she concluded.

Responding to Smith, Lumm told her she had the draft of the resolution on June 26. Subsequent to that, she was trying to answer questions, she said, and she had been told [by Smith] that by answering questions she was potentially violating the Open Meetings Act (OMA). She had been trying to be helpful, Lumm said: “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, I guess.”

By way of background on the OMA issue, Smith had emailed questions about the resolution to the city administrator and the city attorney, CC-ing the message to all councilmembers. Lumm responded to everyone with her answers to Smith’s questions and what Smith perceived as possible advocacy of a point of view on the questions. That was the source of Smith’s caution about OMA issues. If more than a quorum of councilmembers engage in back-and-forth via email it could establish a “meeting” that has not been properly noticed to the public and not open to the public.

The strongest rationale for postponement, Lumm felt, had to do with the definition of potential uses of parkland that might not have been addressed. She felt that assistant city attorney Mary Fales was “Thomas Jeffersonian” in her efforts to craft the language. Fales addressed concerns about the things the city wants to continue to do. It’s a matter of not being able to legislate everything and anticipate every eventuality, she said. Lumm stated that it’s not political. She felt it should not be postponed, but if it were to be postponed, it should be just to the first meeting in August.

Councilmembers Mike Anglin (Ward 5) and Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) before the July 16 meeting.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) said that back in 2008, the moment had been right, even though some members of council at the time didn’t want it to move forward. But the moment was right then, and it moved forward – with its limitations. He believed the moment was right now. It had been addressed at PAC several times, he contended. Mayor John Hieftje cautioned Anglin that the issue under discussion was to postpone to the first or the second meeting in August.

Anglin felt that the historical context was important. He felt that the council had not rushed – that it had been very deliberate and it had been going on for some time. As policymakers, that’s the council’s role. The city would have a continual rehashing of the issue – or it could be settled, by saying that those who own the parks have the right to say what happens to them. So he was not in favor of any kind of postponement. He had not been able during that night’s deliberations to speak to the main issue, because the postponement had been brought up before he’d had a chance do that. Postponement will send a chilling statement to those who support parks, he contended.

Briere appreciated the comments by Lumm and Anglin, and indicated that her discovery of loopholes in the current proposal was also a problem for her. If everyone were to move “extraordinarily expeditiously,” the issue could be resolved by the first meeting in August. If not, then the council still has another meeting in August. It’s important that it go to the public, she said, so it’s important that it be the best legislation that the city could have. She said she was content to bring it back on Aug. 9, knowing there’s another meeting in August.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) confirmed with city clerk Jackie Beaudry that the last date for certifying ballot language with the county clerk is Aug. 28. Kunselman ventured that even a special meeting could be possible. He called it the “common practice” to postpone it initially and then postpone it again if necessary. He’d support postponement to the first meeting in August.

Hieftje expressed concern about the timing, but didn’t have a problem postponing to the first meeting in August. But he was not enthusiastic about the kind of special meeting that Kunselman had described.

Smith took exception to something that Anglin had said about a “thorough and deliberate process.” Speaking to Anglin, Smith told him: “You serve on PAC and you didn’t feel this was appropriate to bring it to the commission you serve on.” Smith stated that the council is delaying in part because PAC hasn’t weighed in. PAC consists of citizen volunteers, she said. It disrespects PAC not to include that body in the process, so she questioned if it had really been a careful and deliberate process. The only appropriate way to go forward, Smith continued, is to have PAC weigh in on it. A Thursday council meeting [on Aug. 9] catches the public off guard, she said. It’s not always the best time to do something – because it’s harder to get the word out. Because of the need for PAC to weigh in appropriately, and because of the Thursday council meeting, she couldn’t support a postponement any earlier than the second meeting in August.

Kunselman sought confirmation that PAC would have time to weigh in on the proposal before Aug. 9. Hieftje told him that was the plan that PAC chair Julie Grand had proposed.

Outcome on postponement timing: The council settled on the timing of the postponement as Aug. 9 – over dissent from Sandi Smith (Ward 1) and Tony Derezinski (Ward 2).

Park Ballot Question: Council Talk – Postponement or Not

At that point, the question before the council was to postpone to Aug. 9 or not.

Lumm felt the resolution is very straightforward. She indicated that the concerns people had expressed about the language had already been addressed by the city attorney. She felt the language offered a good framework. And she reiterated that it could not anticipate every eventuality. She reviewed the basic arguments for the resolution. Lumm did not understand the need to postpone or the need for PAC to review it. The charter was not being changed, she said, but rather the issue was being put before the voters. She didn’t have a problem with PAC providing comment. She had a problem with the timing, she said. She said she didn’t receive a response from a question she’d posed to PAC chair Julie Grand about the scheduling of the meeting.

Responding to Smith’s criticism of Anglin for not moving the proposed charter amendment through PAC, Lumm said Smith had taken an unfair “potshot” at Anglin. PAC cancelled its meeting scheduled for July 17, when Anglin had been “poised to speak to this.” Apparently, Lumm said, PAC didn’t have very much on the agenda and had cancelled its meeting.

Smith picked up on the timeline issue that was part of Lumm’s argument. Smith said she was not sure how PAC could inform the council that night if the commission had been scheduled to talk about it the following day.

Smith then recalled the discussions the council had earlier in the year on the four-party transit agreement. She found some parallels that she found ironic. She then cited coverage in The Chronicle from deliberations conducted at the Jan. 9, 2012 meeting. The complete passage reads as follows:

Lumm reiterated many of her concerns, saying she felt the timeline is “backwards.” She said she doesn’t understand how the council could go forward without having critical documents. Lumm said the issue is not about whether regional transit is good. It’s about seeing information about the specific benefits. She described the process as a “rush” and as putting the cart before the horse.

Smith ventured that “parks” could be swapped in for “regional transit” in that quote. In February 2012, Smith continued, Lumm was quoted by The Chronicle during the four-party transit deliberations as saying “If it’s a good concept today, it’ll be a good concept tomorrow.”

If the park proposal is not on the Nov. 6 ballot, Smith said, it can be on a different ballot. She didn’t necessarily care if it was on this November’s ballot, she said, because she didn’t think there was an impending issue that would change things. She didn’t feel that the city council would be taking a vote on a long-term lease anytime in the next year – though she allowed she could be wrong about that. She did not see the need to rush. It’s important that the council have some robust input from citizens, and that night was the first opportunity she knew of that citizens had a chance to come to the podium to talk to the council about it. So it had to be postponed at least until the first meeting in August, she said.

Anglin said he was fearful the proposal would disappear and then never appear again. He felt the presidential election year, with its larger turnout, would yield a resounding yes or no answer. Over the last few years, the issue has been very contentious, he said, costing time and effort by staff and the council. He described most of the work as having been done by the Sierra Club – writing and re-writing language.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5).

Anglin  contended that he’d raised these issues at PAC, but they were dismissed – because PAC members didn’t see them as significant enough to discuss. For his part, if the council goes back to PAC, “We’ll just get an opinion.” He noted that PAC has three new members. So the “real skilled PAC members” who served for multiple years, are now out in the community willing to work. [He was referring to Gwen Nystuen, Sam Offen and David Barrett, whose terms recently ended on PAC.] The council does itself a disservice not to see this as a public process, he said. “Just ask the voters – it’s so simple,” he said.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward) said he felt that there were good reasons to consider the proposal and to look at the language – but he hadn’t heard any reason not to postpone. Getting input from PAC makes perfect sense, he said. Having PAC’s input can only help, he said. While Anglin might feel PAC’s input doesn’t add value, Hohnke didn’t think it would hurt. In the interest of furthering the dialogue on a thoughtful effort to change the charter, he’d support postponement.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) indicated that he felt it was important to have PAC weigh in. He lamented the fact that back on Nov. 5, 2009, when the council had approved an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the University of Michigan on Fuller Road Station, the council didn’t get advice prior to voting. But two wrongs don’t make a right, he said.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) weighed in supporting the postponement to the first meeting in August. A problem with the volume adjustment on Higgins’ microphone prompted Thomas Partridge to chime in from the audience with a request that Hieftje make certain to ensure that microphone levels are loud enough for people to hear. Hieftje retorted with, “Could you make certain to keep quiet?”

Hieftje said the worst thing the council could do is put a flawed proposal on the ballot – a proposal that doesn’t do what voters think it will. So he’d support postponement.

Outcome: The council voted to postpone the proposal until Aug. 9, over dissent by Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

Skatepark Design Contract

The Ann Arbor city council was asked to authorize a $89,560 contract with Wally Hollyday Skateparks for the design and construction oversight of a skatepark to be built in the northeast corner of Veterans Memorial Park. The city’s park advisory commission had recommended approval of the contract on June 19.

City council action on the skatepark at that location dates back to a Dec. 1, 2008 approval of a memorandum of intent. [.pdf of memorandum of intent]

The roughly $1 million project – including an anticipated $100,000 endowment for ongoing maintenance – will be financed through a combination of funds. Those include private donations – primarily solicited through the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark – as well as a $300,000 state grant, and up to $400,000 in matching funds from the Washtenaw County parks and recreation commission. The Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation is acting as fiduciary.

Selection of Wally Hollyday Skateparks for the work came after a selection committee reviewed six responses to a request for proposals (RFP) issued by the city of Ann Arbor in April. The committee selected two California firms – Wally Hollyday Skateparks and Wormhoudt Inc. – as finalists. Additional review and interviews resulted in the choice of Wally Hollyday Skateparks as the recommended designer. Wally Hollyday had already been involved in the project to some extent, leading design workshops for the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark in 2009 and 2010.

Outcome: The council voted to approve the skatepark design contract as a part of its consent agenda.

Initial Rezoning for Bluffs

The council considered giving initial approval to the rezoning of two parcels that were recently acquired by the city for expansion of the Bluffs Nature Area at 1099 N. Main St., north of Sunset Road. The city planning commission had recommended the rezoning at its June 5, 2012 meeting.

A 1.12-acre parcel to the north of the Bluffs – connecting the existing parkland to Huron View Boulevard – is currently zoned O (office), and had been donated to the city by a nursing home near that site. A 0.57-acre addition to the south connects the existing parkland to Sunset Road and is currently zoned R4C (multiple-family dwelling). It had been purchased by the city from the Elks lodge, using funds from the open space and parkland preservation millage. Both parcels were recommended to be rezoned as PL (public land).

City planner Alexis DiLeo told planning commissioners at their June 5 meeting that the parcels make the nature area more accessible. Though there is frontage onto North Main, there’s no easy access there for pedestrians or cyclists.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to give initial approval to the rezoning of the parcels.

Accessible Path Work at Leslie Science Center

The council considered approval of a $115,309 contract with JB Contractors Inc. to construct barrier-free pathways at the Leslie Science and Nature Center. The recommendation includes a 10% contingency, for a total project cost of $126,840.

The city’s park advisory commission had recommended approval of the contract at its June 19, 2012 meeting.

JB Contractors provided the lowest of two bids. Fonson Inc. had submitted a much higher bid of $197,459. Funding is available from the city’s park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

Francie Krawcke, raptor program director with the Leslie Science & Nature Center, brought a snowy owl to the June 19, 2012 meeting of the Ann Arbor park advisory commission. The owl did not fly around council chambers, but did enjoy a few snacks at the meeting.

PAC had been initially briefed on this project – the first phase of a larger renovation – at its Feb. 28, 2012 meeting. The center, located at 1831 Traver Road, was previously part of the city’s parks system, but since 2007 has operated as an independent nonprofit. However, the city still owns and maintains the buildings and property.

Parks planner Amy Kuras told commissioners at PAC’s June 19 meeting that the goal of the changes to the pathways is to make the center compliant with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and to make the pathways and overall organization of the site less confusing. The project includes replacing the paths that connect various buildings on the site, and constructing new paths to connect the center’s raptor enclosures.

At the council’s July 16 meeting, mayor John Hieftje expressed general support for Leslie Science and Nature Center, mentioning the Mayfly annual fundraiser. [Hieftje is a former board member for the center.] Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) added that representatives of the LSNC attended the July 16 Townie Party and brought the center’s raptors.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the contract with JB Contractors Inc. for work at the Leslie Science & Nature Center.

Physical Testing of 415 W. Washington

The Ann Arbor city council considered a resolution approving $50,000 of general fund reserve money to be used for various physical surveys on the city-owned 415 W. Washington property. The property, with its three buildings, was previously used by the city as a vehicle maintenance facility, before the construction of the Wheeler Service Center south of town on Stone School Road.

From left: Carl Goins, executive director of 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios, and architect Chuck Bultman before the city council’s July 16 meeting.

The council received a presentation at its May 7, 2012 meeting from representatives of 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios on the physical survey work. The 555 group has assumed responsibility for the art community’s component of an initiative established by the city council on Feb. 1, 2010 to explore a collaboration between the greenway and art communities for adaptive reuse of the property. The 555 group stepped in when the Arts Alliance could no longer devote staff time to the project. Prior to that initiative, the city had gone through an RFP (request for proposals) process for the property that did not lead to the selection of any of the three proposals submitted.

Chuck Bultman, an architect who is working with the 555 group, had attended the Sunday night city council caucus on July 15. He had compared the physical surveys to be done on the 415 W. Washington property to a through medical workup for a patient. It would be more than taking blood pressure, and would include “drawing blood samples.” For the buildings, the work will include taking core samples to evaluate the structural integrity of the concrete and steel.

Besides the structural testing, other work to be done includes: an environmental survey; hazardous materials assessment; a topographic and boundary survey; a site survey; and architectural drawings of the existing buildings.

Bultman, along with several other professionals, have thus far volunteered their time to move the project forward. Others include: Paul Dannels (a structural engineer with Structural Design Inc.), Shannan Gibb-Randall (a landscape architect with Insite Design Studio Inc.), and Matt Grocoff (an energy performance consultant with Thrive).

Much of the survey work – in particular, the environmental, hazardous materials and topographic surveys – would be required regardless of the parcel’s future use.

415 W. Washington: Public Comment

During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Carl Goins – executive director of 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios – told the council that a team of local professional had been working with the city’s task force. He noted the 555 group’s experience in transforming underused spaces into facilities that provided resources to hundreds of artists. The 415 W. Washington building’s size, location and historic character make it an ideal candidate for that kind of re-use, he said. The project could be a model for public, private and nonprofit collaboration. The physical surveys could put things on track for the building to become a regional hub for the arts.

415 W. Washington: Council Deliberations

Mayor John Hieftje led off deliberations by saying that the funding would move the process along. The city had been working with the Allen Creek Greenway Conservancy and the Arts Alliance for the last couple of years, on the idea of developing a greenway park and art center. He alluded to an “outshoot” of the North Main corridor task force that was focusing on the greenway. The first greenway park, he said, would be the 721 N. Main city-owned parcel. The effort on 415 W. Washington and 721 N. Main need to be coordinated and connected, he said. He mentioned hooking up the greenway to the county’s Border-to-Border trail. Even if you don’t agree that the dream of an art center will come to pass, the surveys would need to be done, he concluded.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) agreed that it was an important and judicious investment in preserving options for the building. Absent a clear understanding of the potential for re-use, he said, the move would be toward seeing the building demolished. [The city's historic district commission would need to grant the city a notice to proceed with that demolition, which is not a foregone conclusion.] Hohnke noted there are a number of people now involved with the effort, who have experience with this type of repurposing. The expenditure increases the likelihood that something exciting happens at the site, he said.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) called it pretty exciting that the city is going forward with the work. She made a note that the terminology used in the resolution refers to the future “conveyance” of the land. The council’s deliberations on the ballot question then spilled into the 415 W. Washington item, when Smith said she’d love to have a legal opinion on what the city would need to do in order to “convey” the property. It was an excellent example, she said, of a situation where a special election might have to be called in order to enter into an eventual long-term lease. She wanted to know what the impact would be of the proposed city charter amendment on the 415 W. Washington project – not that night, but eventually.

Responding to Smith, Jane Lumm (Ward 2) ventured that the 415 W. Washington project would not be affected at all – because the proposed charter amendment speaks to parkland and cemetery use. The 415 W. Washington site is public land, not parkland. So it has nothing at all to do with the 415 W. Washington site. Responding to Lumm, Smith said, “Thank you very much, councilmember Lumm. I’d love to have a discussion with the attorneys at a later time.” Lumm wrapped up the exchange with “Sorry, I was just trying to help.”

Lumm continued with her remarks by thanking Chuck Bultman, the architect who’s been working with the 555 group. Bultman had given her and others a tour of the site last week. Bultman really has a vision for the future of the building, she said. She understands that what’s contemplated is finding a positive use for the city-owned site. She asked city administrator Steve Powers to outline what the resolution does. Powers reviewed the physical surveys of the building that would need to be done – regardless of its future re-use. To provide more detail on what’s been done to date, Powers told Lumm he’d need to prepare that information and provide it at a later time.

Lumm wanted more information about what the phase 2/3 environmental surveys would tell us. Public services area administrator Craig Hupy was called on to address that question. Hupy described a phase 1 environmental assessment as an analysis of past use. The site does have a history of past uses that causes a suspicion of contamination. A phase 2 study looks at the ground more in depth to see if pollution exists, and if so, to what level.

Lumm asked why the funding was not included in the FY 2013 budget. Powers characterized it as an oversight and nothing more. He was not aware of the momentum of the project at the time the budget proposal was put together, he said.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) reported to her colleagues that the previous night at the council caucus, she heard from people who are working with the 555 group [Bultman and Trevor Stone] and had heard quite a bit about what could be learned from an environmental assessment – from taking core samples of concrete, looking at groundwater, studying what part of the flooding is caused by the water table and what part is caused by grading of the site and the additional gravel that’s been added to create the parking lot. At the caucus meeting, she’d also learned there is a section of the site that is inaccessible.

Responding to Lumm’s concern about the failure to include this item in the FY 2013 budget, from Briere’s perspective, she was not surprised to see the item come forward until after the budget was approved. Frequently, she said, an item is not “ripe” until after the budget has been approved. It’s a one-time expense, she continued, and she indicated that it’s typical for such items to be approved outside the regular budget cycle.

Margie Teall (Ward 4) said she appreciated all the words of support from other councilmembers. She’s excited about this project, she said, which she contended she’d been working on for a decade – a public space for the arts and the performing arts. She characterized it as a first step. The surveys will tell us whether the building is usable, she said, and she hopes the answer is affirmative.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) said he supported the resolution and viewed 415 W. Washington as a roadmap for how to deal with 721 N. Main. He noted there’s a lot of community interest in how to use the 721 N. Main property for community needs – whether it’s a day-use center or not. [The council has heard frequent public commentary at its meetings since the fall of 2011 on the idea of a day shelter and warming center. And 721 N. Main has been a property that organizers asked the city to turn over for such use.] How the city handles 415 W. Washington sets up a framework for other city-owned properties, and he’s excited to hear what information the city gets from the work, Kunselman concluded.

Hieftje responded to the 721 N. Main thread that Kunselman had picked up. Hieftje indicated that 721 N. Main is moving forward as part of a state Natural Resources Trust Fund application by the city – because 721 N. Main already has its environmental “clearance.”

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the $50,000 expenditure for physical surveys on the 415 W. Washington building.

Federal Money for Greenbelt

The council considered approval of the acceptance of $396,900 in federal funds from the Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program (FRPP) for the purchase of development rights (PDR) on properties in Webster and Superior townships owned by the Robbin Alexander Trust (90 acres) and Robert Schultz (136 acres). The grant amount represents 49% of the purchase price.

Ann Arbor greenbelt as of June 2012 (not including the properties the council voted on at their July 16, 2012 meeting). The large square-ish area is the greenbelt boundary area – the land eligible for protection with Ann Arbor greenbelt millage funds. Darker green areas indicate protected property. (Image links to dynamic map.)

The council had approved the application for the federal funds at its Feb. 21, 2012 meeting. The local share will be provided through the city’s parkland and open space preservation (greenbelt) millage.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5), who serves as the city council representative to the greenbelt commission, noted that the applications for federal grant money had been approved by the council in February 2012. He highlighted the fact that the federal grants covered 49% of the purchase price, which is the maximum amount that the FRPP will approve. Hohnke said that 49% reflects the quality of the applications that the city staff are submitting. He characterized it as great leverage for the millage funds that Ann Arbor voters have approved.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) said she certainly supported accepting the funds but contended that it could be better – if other sources of local funding (from the townships) besides the city’s greenbelt millage had factored into the local match component. She ventured that this was not the funding proportion that had been anticipated when the millage was approved.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the receipt of the FRPP funds.

Wetland Restoration at Plymouth

The council considered approval of a $97,687 contract with Fonson Inc. for restoration of a wetland in Plymouth Parkway Park that was filled in as a result of a railroad embankment collapse caused by heavy rains in July 2011. The funds will be taken from the park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

Immediately after the collapse, about half of the soil from the embankment washout was removed from the site, and the rest was removed last month, according to a staff memo accompanying the resolution. The staff memo also states that  Ann Arbor Railroad worked with the city to restore and improve drainage systems in and around the railroad embankment.

The work covered by the contract with Fonson is to repair underground drainage systems in the park, complete final site grading and replanting the wetland with appropriate species.

Council deliberations consisted of a remark by Sabra Briere (Ward 1) that she is delighted the restoration will go forward.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the contract with Fonson Inc.

Maple Cove Site Plan

The council considered the site plan for the Maple Cove development located on 2.96 acres at 1649 N. Maple, north of Miller Road between North Maple and Calvin Street on the city’s west side.

The plan calls for combining two sites – 1649 N. Maple and 1718 Calvin – and demolishing an existing single-family home and detached garages there. Two 3-story apartment buildings would be built with a 64-space parking lot and eight bike spaces. The project also includes building a private street to serve seven new single-family houses near Calvin Street, but with an entrance off of North Maple. According to a staff memo, there will be no access to Calvin Street, which “is a private street with a checkered history regarding access rights.” The apartment complex would have a separate entrance, also off of North Maple.

Each apartment building would contain a total of 18 one-and two-bedroom apartments ranging from 745 to 1,057 square feet. The plan calls for each apartment building to have a rooftop patio for use by residents, with the possibility of a vegetated cover (green roof) for the remainder of the roof surface. The staff memo noted that the city has requested a $26,660 parks contribution, but the developer has declined to make that contribution.

The project has a somewhat unusual history. Planning commissioners originally approved it at their March 20, 2012 meeting. But that vote was rescinded because Scio Township residents on Calvin Street had not been included in an original public notice mailed out for the commission’s March meeting.

There were no changes to the plan in the interim period, but at their May 1, 2012 meeting, planning commissioners voted to postpone action to get more information from the traffic engineer about whether the proposed two separate entrances to the property created a health, safety and welfare hazard. According to city planning staff, the city’s traffic engineer raised some concerns, but he subsequently confirmed that the site plan – with two entrances off of North Maple – does conform with city code.

Planning commissioners ultimately approved the project at their June 5 meeting on a unanimous vote, but three of the nine commissioners – Bonnie Bona, Evan Pratt and Kirk Westphal – were absent. Bona and Eric Mahler had dissented on the commission’s March 20 original approval. Part of their objection stemmed from concern that no sidewalks were planned for the private street.

At the Sunday night city council caucus held on July 15, the project’s developer indicated the possibility that the private street portion of the project might be sold to another developer – and that developer would have the option to submit a revised site plan that includes sidewalks.

Maple Cove: Public Hearing

Thomas Partridge spoke, describing himself as an advocate for the most vulnerable residents of the city. He contended that amendments should be made to the proposal that would require a percentage of the units to include affordable housing.

At the conclusion of the public hearing, mayor John Hieftje responded to Partridge’s mention of an affordable housing requirement by saying that with a planned unit development (PUD), the city could require affordable units; but for a “by right” development like Maple Cove, something like that couldn’t be required.

Maple Cove: Council Deliberations

Project area for Maple Cove is shown outlined in black. (Image links to higher resolution .pdf file)

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) began by saying that there are some positive aspects to the proposal, including the fact that it will help fill in Maple Road. He noted there had been a healthy discussion by the planning commission on the site plan. The developer had been asked to consider some minor improvements – not required by code, but that would have improved the experience for future residents of the project and for the public at large. The developer had not undertaken the suggested changes. He was disappointed, Hohnke said, but did not feel it rose to the level of concern that would cause him to vote against the project.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) said he wouldn’t support the project. As city councilmembers, he said, they have a right to do everything they can to protect the health, safety and welfare of the community. Because the developer did not want to include some things that affect safety – like sidewalks on the private street – he would not support the project. He characterized that as “cutting corners,” saying the developer should be held to the same standards as everybody else.

Mayor John Hieftje then asked city planning manager Wendy Rampson to the podium to ask her a single question to which everyone already knew the answer: “Is this a by-right development?” Rampson told Hieftje that yes, Maple Cove meets the requirements of the zoning ordinance.

Hieftje then ventured that if Kunselman requested it, the council could have a closed session to discuss the ramification of voting no. [Assistant city attorney Mary Fales whispered to Hieftje words to the effect that Hieftje's idea for a closed session wouldn't work, because the council would need a written memorandum from the attorney's office to discuss in order to justify the closed session. That had been part of the point of a lawsuit filed by The Chronicle in September 2010. Since that time, closed sessions held by the Ann Arbor based on the attorney-client privilege have become rare events, when previously they were regular occurrences. Hieftje subsequently relayed Fales' comments at the table.]

Because Maple Cove is a by-right development, Hieftje said, a vote against it would be a “protest vote” but he felt the course was clear. There are many by-right developments where the developer doesn’t cooperated to the utmost, but the council has to follow the law.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) noted that many councilmembers would like to see sidewalks included in all new neighborhoods, but that’s not a code requirement. While the council could change the city’s ordinance to require sidewalks in the future, it was not an option that night. She indicated she would cheerfully tell the developer that, as she did the previous night at the council’s caucus.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) noted that it’s a complicated project that has generated a lot of discussion by staff and the neighbors. She concurred with Hohnke in his conclusion that the developer had not been very flexible – with respect to the possibility of eliminating one of the driveway entrances (curbcuts) and the voluntary parks contribution. But she concluded that the project met the code requirements. She felt that the project reflected an improvement.

Responding to a question from Lumm about the city staff’s recommendation for approving the project, Rampson said that “as near as we can tell” the project complies with city code.

Rampson noted that city code requires a sidewalk for a private street with eight lots or more, but the private street for Maple Cove includes seven lots, so there’s no requirement for sidewalks. She noted that the project had been reviewed twice by the planning commission, because the township neighbors weren’t notified the first time around. Neighbors from the township had concerns about the different lot sizes in the Maple Cove project compared to those on Calvin Street – and they felt the project reflected an increase in density. However, Rampson pointed out that the property was already zoned, and the proposed lots are consistent with zoning.

On the traffic issue, related to the two driveways, a city traffic engineer took a look at the placement of the two driveways. The conclusion, Rampson allowed, was that the two driveways were “not ideal” – in that they don’t have the desired spacing between each other or the desired distance from the intersection. But the city does not have anything about access management in the code. According to the traffic engineer, Rampson said, if the driveway configuration becomes a hazard, one of the drives can be removed under the city code.

About the parks contribution, she noted that it’s a suggestion based on a formula, but it’s not a code requirement. She noted that there are some amenities included in the project that might actually count toward the park contribution.

Hohnke asked Rampson to share some views of the expected benefit for the development, compared to the existing situation. Rampson told Hohnke that the planning commission had pointed to the fact that the current site is not very well maintained. The project would bring additional housing to the area – both rental and homeowner opportunities. It would also provide a sidewalk link on the public frontage along North Maple, so it’s consistent with the city’s master plan, she said.

Maple Cove driveway configuration. Magenta arrows show the two driveways.

Hohnke said he shared Kunselman’s concerns, but indicated surprise that Kunselman was considering voting against the project. He felt it’s hard to make a reasonable argument that it’s a detriment to health, safety and welfare. He ventured that it could be considered irresponsible [of Kunselman] to put people of Ann Arbor at [legal] risk by denying a site plan that meets code and provides some benefit. He encouraged people to understand the weightiness of denying a by-right proposal.

Kunselman responded by noting that Rampson had said the driveway curbcuts don’t meet the desired standard, but that the city doesn’t have a mechanism in the city code to do anything about that. If it were determined that there was a hazard being caused, he said, and the driveway entrance to the private street had to be closed, then the only access to the private street would be through the other driveway entrance – and that would lead past the additional lot for the multi-family housing in the project, for a total of eight lots. If that’s what happens, Kunselman ventured, the developer will have been able to circumvent the requirement of having sidewalks for the private street.

Kunselman restated his view that it’s an issue of public safety. There are no sidewalks in his neighborhood, he said, and walking down the street last year with the mayor of Tübingen [Ann Arbor's sister city in Germany], they almost got run over. He rejected Hohnke’s suggestion that Kunselman’s would be a protest vote. Kunselman noted that he grew up in that part of town. He wanted to make sure that sidewalks are added.

Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), who is the city council’s representative to the city planning commission, contended all these questions were raised and answered. He restated the fact that it’s a by-right development. “When it meets the code, that’s it!” he said. He characterized the application of the rubric of health, safety and welfare as a very “slippery slope.” He felt the council should vote for the project.

Hieftje indicated he would support the project because he did not think there’s any latitude, citing the potential of a lawsuit, and saying the council would be on extremely thin ice to deny it.

Outcome: The council voted to approve the Maple Cove project, with dissent from Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3).

Ann Arbor Police Chief: John Seto

The council considered a resolution appointing John Seto as permanent police chief and head of safety services.

John Seto at the March 30, 2012 farewell for former chief Barnett Jones.

Seto has served as interim in both roles since the resignation of former police chief Barnett Jones effective March 31.

At his farewell sendoff on March 30, Jones was emphatic about his view that Seto should be hired as permanent chief, describing Seto as “the right person to follow me.”

Seto was hired in 1990 as a patrol officer in the AAPD and achieved the rank of deputy chief in 2008.

Seto’s college degree is from Eastern Michigan University, and his subsequent professional development has included training from the FBI. He also holds certification as a firefighter.

As head of safety services, Seto oversees the fire chief. The administrative position of safety services administrator is appointed by the city administrator. But the city charter requires that the council approve the appointment of police chief.

Police Chief Appointment: Public Commentary

During public commentary, Ann Arbor resident Blair Shelton reprised sentiments he’d expressed at the council’s March 19, 2012 meeting, alleging racism on the part of the Ann Arbor police department and Seto specifically. [By way of brief background, Shelton won a lawsuit against the city of Ann Arbor in the mid-1990s in a case involving racial-profiling in the AAPD's approach to collection of blood samples.] At the July 16 meeting, Shelton told the council that in 1995 when Channel 7 came to his home to interview him about winning his lawsuit, Channel 7′s Bill Proctor told him that on the way there, the AAPD had pulled over the Channel 7 news truck on suspicion of having stolen the vehicle. He invited people to ask Proctor about the ethnicity of the AAPD officer.

[Shelton was implying that the officer was Seto. In a phone conversation with The Chronicle, Proctor could not confirm the episode that Shelton described. Proctor noted that he did not recall interviewing Shelton, noting that the incident in question took place in 1995. Proctor indicated he did not recall ever being pulled over in the news truck because an officer questioned his legal right to be behind the wheel.]

Shelton contended that the “vestiges of racism have been enshrined in the department” since its inception. He pointed to the hiring of the first African American officer in the early 1900s, an officer Thomas Blackburn. He contended that Blackburn had been accused of raping a white university student and that the courthouse had been surrounded by people screaming: “Lynch the ‘n-word’ kill the ‘n-word.’”

In connection with his court case, he said, through the discovery process, they’d learned that the AAPD had wanted to perform DNA testing on the University of Michigan football team, but coach Bo Schembechler had said, “Hell, no.” Shelton told the council, “I am a human being!” with the right to move freely through the community. On the hiring of Seto as permanent chief, he told them, “Good luck.”

By way of additional background on the history of the Ann Arbor police department and racial issues, from former AAPD police officer Michael Logghe’s “True Crimes and the History of the Ann Arbor Police Department“:

Officer Clayton Collins was thought to be the first black Ann Arbor Officer when he was hired in 1950. However, according to Officer Camp’s report, a black officer named Thomas Blackburn, was hired in 1907. I discovered a photo of Officer Blackburn and it does not appear that he was black. Officer Blackburn was with the department for ten years and it is open for debate if he or Officer Collins was the first black officer. …

Officer Collins told me he was asked to apply to the department by Albert Wheeler (Wheeler would later become mayor). He stated Wheeler was always trying to get blacks to apply for positions which they had historically been barred. Officer Collins thought about it and finally applied. The department hired him and thus he became the first black officer in the city’s history. (I should note that in Officer Camp’s report, he stated a black man named Thomas Blackburn was an officer with the department at the turn of the century. Officer Collins had heard about Blackburn and thought he was half-Indian. In any event Officer Collins was the first black officer in the modern era.)

I was surprised to find that Officer Collins encountered very little racism, not only within the department, but within the city. Almost all of the officers were very accepting of him and none made a negative comment to him. At worst, some of the officers were distant to him. He stated his experience as an Ann Arbor Officer was very positive and enjoyable. He said Ann Arbor was a wonderful place in the 1950′s.

Jonathan Marwil’s “A History of Ann Arbor” gives an account of the hiring of Blackburn that’s consistent with Logghe’s. The Chronicle was not able to confirm in those two sources Shelton’s account of the rape accusation against officer Blackburn.

More recently, the AAPD was reviewed for possible racial profiling in a 2004 study of traffic stops, conducted by Lamberth Consulting. The AAPD scored well in the study, according to a Feb. 12, 2004 Ann Arbor News article. [.pdf of the Lamberth Consulting study on AAPD traffic stops]

Police Chief Appointment: Council Deliberations

Mayor John Hieftje said he’d had an opportunity to work with a few police chiefs in his time as mayor – Dan Oates and then Barnett Jones. Hieftje felt like he knows what it takes to be a good police chief – and whatever it is, John Seto has it. Seto has proven himself in this interim period, he said.

John Seto received a round of applause on his appointment as chief of Ann Arbor police. From left: Sandi Smith (Ward 1), Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) and Jane Lumm (Ward 2).

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) praised Seto in the context of her work with him over the years. She was pleased to see promotion from within. She said that former chief Barnett Jones did a great job of succession planning. Jane Lumm (Ward 2) said she wholeheartedly supported the appointment. Sandi Smith (Ward 1) asked Seto to come to the podium so that the public could see him.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) congratulated Seto for his work on sensitive issues. He was impressed with his professionalism and sensitivity. Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) hoped that Seto recognized the unanimous support from the council reflected full faith and trust on the part of the council for his ability to lead. Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) offered a single word: “Amen!” Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) called Seto’s appointment a recognition of the quality of the department as a whole, saying that it was the department that helped create Seto as he moved up the ranks.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to appoint John Seto as chief of police and head of safety services. He was given an enthusiastic round of applause.

Seto thanked city administrator Steve Powers for the confidence to make the recommendation to appoint him. For the last 22 years, Seto said, it has been a privilege to work with the men and women of the police and fire departments. He’s witnessed first-hand the hard work, dedication and the sacrifices they’ve made to serve and protect the community. More than the honor of being appointed chief, he said, it’s his honor to be a part of this organization. Throughout his entire career, he said, he’d worked very hard to represent the city in the most professional manner and to treat everyone he meets with great respect – and he’d continue to do that, he concluded.

CUB Agreements

The council considered a resolution to reverse at least temporarily an earlier action on restoring the use of CUB agreements. Construction unity board (CUB) agreements are negotiated between local trade unions and contractors, and require that contractors who sign the agreement abide by terms of collective bargaining agreements for the duration of the construction project. In return, the trade unions agree that they will not strike, engage in work slow-downs, set up separate work entrances at the job site or take any other adverse action against the contractor.

The resolution considered by the council at its July 16 meeting suspended the use of CUB agreements for contracts over $25,000. The resolution appeared on the agenda after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed Public Act 238 of 2012 into law on June 29. The law amends the Michigan Fair and Open Competition Act.

The council’s previous action was taken about a month earlier on June 4, 2012, and had restored the use of such CUB agreements. The July 16 suspension allows for the resolution using the CUB agreements to be restored administratively, pending possible court rulings.

An alternating series of positions by the city of Ann Arbor began with the adoption by the city council of the use of CUB agreements at its Nov. 16, 2009 meeting. The resolution required that contractors and subcontractors execute such agreement with the Washtenaw County Skilled Building Trades Council as a condition of award for all city construction contracts.

But last year, the Michigan legislature passed Act 98 of 2011, which prohibited municipalities from signing construction contracts in which contractors were required to make an agreement with a collective bargaining organization.

So on Aug. 15, 2011, in response to the state law, the city council rescinded that requirement. However, the U.S. District Court subsequently found Act 98 to be unenforceable, based on the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and the National Labor Relations Act. So at its June 4, 2012 meeting, the city council restored the use of CUB agreements. The lone voice of dissent at that meeting was Jane Lumm (Ward 2), who opposed the resolution on philosophical and practical grounds. She pointed to similar pending legislation (Act 238) that might be enacted.

And the pending legislation was, in fact, passed and signed into law, which led to the city council’s action on July 16 again to suspend the use of CUB agreements.

The staff memo accompanying the resolution states that the suspension of CUB agreements does not affect the city’s living wage ordinance. Not discussed in the memo is how a Michigan Supreme Court order from April 7, 2010 might affect the city’s living wage ordinance. The order affirmed an unpublished court of appeals opinion that found a Detroit living wage law to be unenforceable.

During the brief council deliberations, Margie Teall (Ward 4) noted that the way the resolution is intended to work is that the use of CUB agreements will be suspended – but on the outcome of court decisions, the use of the agreements could be restored administratively.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the resolution suspending the use of CUB agreements.

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: Library Lane Parking Structure

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) reported on the grand opening of the new underground parking garage at South Fifth Avenue, called the Library Lane parking structure. [As of July 20, the parking facility was open with temporary occupancy permits, according to Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. Remaining issues to be finalized include one elevator (which has a wall that's damp to the touch) and the water pressure in the fire suppression system.]

Smith invited mayor John Hieftje to reprise his remarks made on the occasion of the grand opening. He held forth at length. Highlights included the fact that the parking structure did not use any city general fund money, but rather money dedicated through the DDA. The parking structure revenue is supposed to pay for the bonds. [The DDA will be drawing on tax increment finance (TIF) capture for some initial capital costs and debt service.]

Later Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) would pick up on the bond payment topic, noting that it was Build American Bonds that were used to pay for the structure. He wanted some communication directly from the city’s bond counsel on any restrictions to the possible uses for the parking spaces. By way of background, in April 2010 the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center had sent the council a letter outlining its view of the applicable restrictions. The concern in the letter is that dedicated use of spaces in the structure by private, non-governmental entities could jeopardize the federal subsidy provided to the city through this type of bond. [.pdf of GLELC bonding analysis]

Kunselman’s view is that any problem caused by a private entity undertaking a development on the site could be solved if the Ann Arbor District Library were to build its new building on top of the structure, just to the north of its current location. That same night, the AADL board voted to place a $65 million bond proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot for construction of a new library on its current site. It appears unlikely that the library would follow Kunselman’s suggestion.

Comm/Comm: Non-Partisan Elections, Public Speaking

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Michael Benson noted that of the eight candidates for four city council seats that are contested in the Aug. 7 Democratic primary, the vast majority have responded positively to the idea of converting Ann Arbor’s local city elections to a non-partisan format. Regardless of whether non-partisan elections are a good idea or bad idea, Benson said, he thought it might be good for the council to form a task force to study the issue and report back on it.

Benson also pointed out to the council that for that night’s agenda, more than 10 people had signed up to speak for public commentary at the start of the meeting. So some people who wanted to address the council on an action item had been assigned only an alternate slot and had not been able to address the councilmembers. Benson alluded to the fact that some speakers will meet the condition of speaking on an “agenda item” by referencing attachments of communications on the agenda, like minutes from various boards and commissions. He suggested that the council look at its priorities on allotting public speaking time. [Benson has previously suggested that the time per speaker be reduced from the current three minutes to two minutes, while adding 10 minutes to the current 30-minute time block. That would result in a doubling of the number of possible speakers from 10 to 20.]

Comm/Comm: AATA

Tim Hull related to the council how he had needed to travel to Canton and had discovered there is no way to ride on the Canton Express from Ann Arbor to Canton. [The service is configured for commuters from Canton to Ann Arbor, not the other way around. The issue has been raised by Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) when the council has been addressed by Michael Ford, CEO of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.] Hull was critical of the AATA’s plan for countywide expansion – it amounts to an effort to get people from the county into Ann Arbor, and running empty buses out to Chelsea and Canton to start the service. AATA remains “woefully inadequate,” he said. He pointed to the New Year’s Day Winter Classic hockey game, a day when there’d be no regular bus service scheduled.

Comm/Comm: Better Services

Thomas Partridge told the council he was there as he has been for over a decade to lobby for increased services, attention and priorities for residents needing and deserving services the most. He told the council he was there as a candidate in the Democratic primary for the state house of representatives 53rd District, which covers most of Ann Arbor. [He's running against incumbent Jeff Irwin.] He called on the council and the public at large to adopt a progressive agenda. He called for expansion of affordable transportation and housing in a way that is balanced and that is backed by adequate appropriations. He contended that the expansion of employment in the city is being neglected.

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Partridge repeated his call for expanded services, including an expanded competent public transportation system. He lamented the lack of a public hearing on John Seto’s appointment as permanent police chief. He said the public deserves open, transparent government. It’s not good public policy to approve large contracts without due deliberations on them or to approve site plans that would require little children to walk in the streets, he concluded. [Partridge was alluding in his last comment to the Maple Cove site plan approved by the council that night. The site plan does not include sidewalks for a private street leading to single-family homes.]

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

Absent: Christopher Taylor.

Next council meeting: Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 301 E. Huron. [Check Chronicle event listings to confirm date]

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The city’s park advisory commission had recommended approval of the contract at its June 19, 2012 meeting.

JB Contractors provided the lowest of two bids. Fonson Inc. had submitted a much higher bid of $197,459. Funding is available from the city’s park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

PAC had been initially briefed on this project – the first phase of a larger renovation – at its Feb. 28, 2012 meeting. The center, located at 1831 Traver Road, was previously part of the city’s parks system, but since 2007 has operated as an independent nonprofit. However, the city still owns and maintains the buildings and property.

Parks planner Amy Kuras told commissioners at PAC’s June 19 meeting that the goal of the changes to the pathways is to make the center compliant with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and to make the pathways and overall organization of the site less confusing. The project includes replacing the paths that connect various buildings on the site, and constructing new paths to connect the center’s raptor enclosures.

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]

Francie Krawcke, raptor program director with the Leslie Science & Nature Center, brought a snowy owl to the June 19, 2012 meeting of the Ann Arbor park advisory commission. The owl did not fly around council chambers, but did enjoy a few snacks at the meeting. (Photos by the writer.)

An $89,560 contract with Wally Hollyday Skateparks – for design and construction oversight of a new skatepark at Veterans Memorial Park – was unanimously recommended for approval. Trevor Staples, president of the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark, was on hand to answer questions, and several commissioners congratulated him for spearheading this project. Staples noted that fundraising is still underway, focused now on building a $100,000 endowment for future maintenance. Funding for design and construction of the skatepark has been secured primarily from a $300,000 state grant and $400,000 from the Washtenaw County parks & recreation commission.

PAC also unanimously recommended approval of a $115,309 contract with JB Contractors Inc. to build barrier-free pathways at the Leslie Science & Nature Center. The recommendation includes a 10% contingency, for a total project cost of $126,840.

This first phase of a broader renovation project on the center’s grounds will include making the raptor enclosures – housing owls, falcons, a bald eagle and other birds of prey – more accessible. The center, located at 1831 Traver Road, was previously part of the city’s parks system, but since 2007 has operated as an independent nonprofit. However, the city still owns and maintains the buildings and property.

Also unanimously recommended for approval was placement of a millage renewal on the Nov. 6 ballot. The current 1.1 mill Ann Arbor park maintenance and capital improvements millage expires this year. A renewal would run from 2013-2018 and is expected to generate about $4.9 million next year.

The June 19 meeting included a quarterly financial update, and the election of Tim Doyle as chair of PAC’s budget and finance committee. Commissioners also were briefed on a Traver Creek streambank stabilization project at Leslie Park golf course, designed to improve the water quality of this Huron River tributary.

Other water-related issues were brought up during the parks and recreation manager’s report. Colin Smith told commissioners that final repairs on swirl concentrators at West Park – designed to help stormwater management – will start later this month, with final renovations of the park occurring over the summer. And city staff will be harvesting Eurasian watermilfoil from about 6-7 acres around the Gallup Park canoe livery, using what Smith described as a “Zamboni on the water.” The aquatic plants have overgrown the area around the livery, making it hard for people to use paddleboats, canoes and kayaks.

During public commentary, Alan Haber urged commissioners to support the Library Green project, a citizen-led effort to put a public commons on top of the new city-owned Library Lane underground parking structure. He invited PAC to a July 14 “Imagine a Park” block party on the site, from noon until 5 p.m. Later in the meeting, park commissioner Tim Berla picked up the idea, saying he wasn’t advocating for that particular project but that he felt PAC should be “in the game” for discussions of a downtown park.

The June 19 meeting was the last one for commissioner David Barrett, who is term-limited after serving two three-year terms. PAC chair Julie Grand praised his work, particularly in advocating for renovations to the city’s athletic fields and ballparks. The mayor has not yet publicly put forward a nomination for Barrett’s replacement.

Ann Arbor Skatepark

Commissioners were asked to recommend approval of a contract with Wally Hollyday Skateparks for the Ann Arbor Skatepark at Veterans Memorial Park. The $89,560 contract would cover design and construction oversight of the project.

Sketch from the Wally Hollyday Skateparks proposal for the Ann Arbor skatepark at Veterans Memorial Park. Hollyday told The Chronicle that he considers this an example that addresses many of the community’s desires for the skatepark, but that considerable public input will be sought to shape his development of the design.

A selection committee reviewed six responses to a request for proposals (RFP) issued by the city of Ann Arbor in April, and selected two California firms – Wally Hollyday Skateparks and Wormhoudt Inc. – as finalists. Additional review and interviews resulted in the choice of Wally Hollyday Skateparks as the recommended designer. Wally Hollyday had already been involved in the project to some extent, leading design workshops for the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark in 2009 and 2010.

The roughly $1 million project – including an anticipated $100,000 endowment for ongoing maintenance – will be financed through a combination of funds. Those include private donations – primarily solicited through the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark – as well as a $300,000 state grant, and up to $400,000 in matching funds from the Washtenaw County parks and recreation commission. The Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation is acting as fiduciary.

Representatives from all of these groups attended PAC’s June 19 meeting: Trevor Staples, president of Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark; Jeff Dehring of the Washtenaw County parks & recreation department; and Jennie Hale, development/program officer with the community foundation.

Park planner Amy Kuras is the city’s point person on the project, and briefed commissioners on the selection process. The pre-qualifications were written tightly, she said, including requirements like a minimum of 10 years experience in designing and overseeing skatepark construction, extensive work with municipalities, building in climates similar to Michigan, a track record of at least 10 parks that have been in place at least 10 years, and experience with stormwater management.

The two finalists rose to the top pretty quickly among the six bids that were submitted, Kuras said.

Staples also addressed commissioners, reminding them that it’s been about five years since skatepark supporters filled council chambers to advocate for the project. He thanked PAC for its support. [At its March 2011 meeting, PAC had recommended support for the city to apply for the $300,000 Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources Trust Fund grant, with one commissioner – Sam Offen – voting against it. Offen ended his two terms on PAC in May.]

It had been exciting to go through the RFP process, Staples said, and they could have picked either of the finalists. But Hollyday is the right person for this job at this point, he added. Staples said he’s skated several skateparks designed by Hollyday, describing him as a skateboarder who is hands-on. “It’s art for him,” Staples said.

Ann Arbor Skatepark: Commission Discussion – Design

Several commissioners congratulated Staples for his work in spearheading this effort. Karen Levin said it sounded like Hollyday’s skateparks have stood up well over time, and she assumed that his design would take Michigan’s weather into account.

Staples noted that Hollyday is based in the San Diego area, as several skatepark companies are. It’s a specialized project that requires a particular kind of expertise. But the plan is to incorporate a lot of Michigan-based elements – labor and public art, for example. Regarding climate, Staples noted that part of the selection criteria included a requirement that the company have experience in building skateparks in northern climates.

Trevor Staples, president of the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark.

David Barrett asked for more details about where the skatepark will be located. The site will be at the park’s northwest corner, near the intersection of North Maple and Dexter-Ann Arbor roads. Smith noted that there might be an opportunity for an amphitheater there, too.

Barrett, who served on the selection committee, said that even though the skatepark is for kids, it’s also for the entire community. The idea is to create a skatepark so that people can come and watch, even if they don’t “hop on a board” themselves, he said.

Smith added that the location is important because this will likely be a regional draw, and the site is close to I-94 and M-14 interchanges. It’s also close to businesses and neighborhoods, and is very visible and accessible, he said. As people enter the city from that area, it will be a very dynamic site.

Staples also clarified that the large stand of trees at that corner will remain in place. The trees are an asset, he noted – most skateparks don’t have shade.

During the discussion specifically about the resolution of support for the contract, Alan Jackson initially requested that the resolution strike the word “concrete” from this whereas clause:

Whereas, Construction of a custom, concrete skatepark is being proposed using funds from a State of Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Grant, Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission and the Friends of Ann Arbor Skatepark to be constructed in Veterans Memorial Park;

Smith said it wouldn’t be possible to strike the word – the specifications are very specific. Staples explained that the main reason the resolution and RFP specified “concrete” is that many non-concrete skateparks are built in a modular way. That type of construction falls apart quickly and requires a lot of maintenance. The quality of a concrete skatepark is better.

Jackson withdrew his suggestion, saying that his intent simply had been to eliminate constraints on the project. Staples replied that the constraints are self-imposed.

Smith also pointed out that one aspect of the design includes stormwater management, in recognition of the fact that the skatepark will be adding impervious surfaces. The stormwater management might be in the form of rain gardens or other elements.

Tim Doyle noted that there are a number of design specs – are there any elements that PAC should be aware of, from a parks perspective? Kuras replied that the city will be relying heavily on Hollyday for this project. Midwestern Consulting, a civil engineering firm based in Ann Arbor, will be hired as a subcontractor to handle certain aspects, she said. But it will be a collaborative process, she added, to work through any concerns that might arise.

Ann Arbor Skatepark: Commission Discussion – Financing

John Lawter asked whether all of the fundraising was in place. Fundraising is still happening, Staples replied. The goal is $1 million – $900,000 for design and construction, and $100,000 for an endowment to fund future maintenance. The majority of the $820,000 they’ve raised so far is in the form of grants, which can’t be used for the endowment, he said. So the focus now is on the endowment. He noted that he had dropped off a pile of bricks at Arnet’s Monuments earlier that day to be engraved as part of a fundraising drive.

Lawter asked how someone could buy a brick. Staples explained that details are on the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark website, where payments can be made online. There are three sizes: $100, $250 and $1,000. Purchases are tax deductible, he said.

The group will also have a booth at the Ann Arbor art fairs, he said, in the nonprofit section.

Christopher Taylor observed that about $100,000 is “in the bank,” but he wondered when the remaining funds would “land.” Smith reported the city expects that the $300,000 DNR grant will be distributed later this summer. After that, the county’s $400,000 in matching funds will be available. Jeff Dehring of the Washtenaw County parks & recreation department clarified that county funds would be available as soon as the construction contract is awarded. Staples noted that the design needs to be completed before state funds can be accessed, and Amy Kuras added that the state funds are actually reimbursements – so the city would pay, and be reimbursed from the DNR grant.

In response to a question from Tim Berla, Smith explained that the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation is holding the funds now, but later the money will be transferred into a segregated city account for the project. There also is a reference in a memorandum of intent regarding how the funds will be transferred, he said. [The city council approved the MOI with the Ann Arbor Skatepark Action Committee – the predecessor to the nonprofit Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark – at its Dec. 1, 2008 meeting. .pdf of 2008 memorandum of intent]

Do the other funders have to give approval for the selection of the Hollyday? Berla asked. Smith replied that the other groups had input via their membership on the selection committee. Staples added that all parties have agreed on this decision.

Tim Doyle observed that it’s a challenging project, and until it’s designed and the construction bids are in, it’s difficult to know how much it will actually cost.

Ann Arbor Skatepark: Next Steps

Colin Smith explained that the plan is to put this contract on the city council’s July 16 agenda. If approved, the project will move forward for design and construction. Amy Kuras noted that several public meetings will be held to get input on the design, and when a design is developed, it will be presented to both PAC and the city council for review and input. The hope is to have a design and construction drawings finalized by early fall to put the project out to bid for a builder, with the goal of starting construction in the spring of 2013.

Over the winter, Smith said, he’d work with Staples to develop an operating agreement for the facility.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously recommended that the city council approve a contract with Wally Hollyday Skateparks. It will now be forwarded to the city council for review, likely at the council’s July 16 meeting.

Leslie Science Path Renovations

In an item added to the agenda during the June 19 meeting, PAC was asked to recommend approval of a $115,309 contract with JB Contractors Inc. to construct barrier-free pathways at the Leslie Science and Nature Center. The recommendation includes a 10% contingency, for a total project cost of $126,840.

JB Contractors provided the lowest of two bids. Fonson Inc. had submitted a much higher bid of $197,459. Funding is available from the city’s park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

PAC had been briefed on this project – the first phase of a larger renovation – at its Feb. 28, 2012 meeting. The center, located at 1831 Traver Road, was previously part of the city’s parks system, but since 2007 has operated as an independent nonprofit. However, the city still owns and maintains the buildings and property.

Parks planner Amy Kuras told commissioners that the goal of the changes to the pathways is to make the center compliant with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and to make the pathways and overall organization of the site less confusing. The project includes replacing the paths that connect various buildings on the site, and constructing new paths to connect the center’s raptor enclosures.

From right: Susan Westhoff, executive director of the Leslie Science & Nature Center, talks with city park planner Amy Kuras.

Those enclosures house owls, falcons, a bald eagle and other birds of prey, and are located at the highest part of the site. The birds are very popular, so the intent is to make the area as accessible as possible. The paths connecting the raptor enclosures will be made from porous pavement of recycled glass, Kuras said. In addition to pathways, there will be better signs indicating how to get to the enclosures, as well as directions to other parts of the center.

A master plan for the broader project includes renovating the parking lot, creating a new drop-off are, and reconfiguring the remaining paths.

Kuras said construction drawings for this phase are complete, and she hoped that following PAC’s recommendation, a resolution could be placed on the city council’s July 16 agenda. If approved, construction could start after Labor Day and would likely last a couple of months.

Susan Westhoff, the center’s executive director, attended the June 19 PAC meeting and spoke briefly about the need for the path improvements and overall renovations. Francie Krawcke, the center’s raptor program director, was also on hand with a snowy owl, which she kept on a tether and fed snacks during the presentation.

Leslie Science Path Renovations: Commission Discussion

Karen Levin asked how long the project would taken and if it would impact the center’s programming. Amy Kuras estimated that construction could last 6-8 weeks, though there was not yet a schedule. Much like the current work in Buhr Park and Cobblestone Farm, she said, it will be coordinated closely with staff. [The Buhr/Cobblestone contract – $865,190 to Fonson Inc. for road, parking, pathway and other exterior renovations – was recommended for approval at PAC's Feb. 28, 2012 meeting, and subsequently authorized by the city council.]

Kuras said she’s stressed to the contractor the importance of safety, since the work will be done while people are coming to the center. When people call the center to reserve space for events, they’ll be informed about the work, too. There will be constant information-sharing, Kuras said.

David Barrett asked if Kuras had ever worked with this contractor. No, she said, but the firm recently merged with Abbott Concrete, a company she has worked with. She told commissioners that she’d keep reminding the workers that the job is in a public park.

Responding to a question from Alan Jackson, Kuras clarified that the circular drive would remain in place as a drop-off, until the second phase of the project. That phase, which hasn’t yet been bid out, would require additional recommendation by PAC and authorization by city council.

Julie Grand asked whether schools had also been notified about the work. Susan Westhoff replied that September, when the work will start, is typically a light programming month for the center. And a lot of the October programming tends to be staff going out to schools, rather than students coming to the center, she said. The only building that won’t be accessible during the work is the Critter House, which is completely surrounded by the sidewalk that’s being rebuilt.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously recommended approval of a $115,309 contract with JB Contractors Inc. for barrier-free pathways at the Leslie Science and Nature Center. The recommendation will be forwarded to the city council.

Park Millage Renewal

On the PAC agenda was a resolution recommending that city council put a 1.1 mill renewal of the Ann Arbor park maintenance and capital improvements millage on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The current 1.1 mill tax expires this year. A renewal would run from 2013-2018 and raise about $4.9 million next year. The recommended allocation of revenues is 70% for park maintenance activities, and 30% for park capital improvement projects. Of that allocation, up to 10% can be shifted between the two categories as needed.

Colin Smith, parks and recreation manager for the city of Ann Arbor.

Examples of park maintenance activities include “forestry and horticulture, natural area preservation, park operations, recreation facilities, and targets of opportunity,” according to a staff memo. Capital improvement projects would cover parks, forestry and horticulture, historic preservation, neighborhood parks and urban plazas, park operations, pathways, trails, boardwalks, greenways and watersheds, and recreation facilities.

PAC was first briefed about the millage renewal at its March 22, 2012 meeting. At the time, PAC chair Julie Grand – who served on a working group to strategize about the renewal – said concerns about the economic climate were a major reason why an increase wasn’t being recommended. City parks staff and PAC members subsequently held several public forums about the renewal that were sparsely attended.

The proposed ballot language reads as follows: “Shall the city renew the existing park maintenance and capital improvements millage for 2013 through 2018, which will raise in the first year of the levy an estimated revenue of $4,900,000 for park maintenance and park capital improvements?”

Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, gave a brief overview of the process to date, noting that the city council would need to take action in order to put the millage renewal on the November ballot. At that point, the city staff could have additional public forums to educate the community about the renewal request and how the millage revenues are used.

A public hearing on the millage had been held at PAC’s April 2012 meeting, but no one attended. On June 19, there were no comments or questions from commissioners about the renewal.

Outcome: Commissioners voted to recommend that city council put the millage renewal on the Nov. 6, 2012 ballot.

Traver Creek Stabilization

Harry Sheehan, environmental manager for the Washtenaw County office of the water resources commissioner, was on hand to update PAC about a Traver Creek streambank stabilization project at Leslie Park golf course. Commissioners had initially been briefed about the project at their Dec. 20, 2011 meeting by Jen Lawson, the city’s water quality manager.

Sheehan told commissioners that the purpose of the project is to improve water quality flowing into the Huron River – Traver Creek is a tributary. The project aims to reduce the amount of phosphorus that’s discharged into the river, address erosion and flooding issues, control the amount of sediment that’s being deposited downstream, enhance the wetlands and habitat for wildlife, and improve the aesthetics of the Leslie Park golf course.

The city council had authorized petitioning the county for the $1.05 million project at its Jan. 9, 2012 meeting. The city’s portion is $981,540, which will be assessed by the county over a period of up to 20 years, at a maximum of $62,415 per year, according to a staff memo prepared for council. The first payment was included in the FY 2013 stormwater fund operations and maintenance budget, approved by the council earlier this year.

The resolution passed by the council on Jan. 9 also authorized annual payments to the county for this project from the stormwater fund (Fund 0069). The project has been approved for a 2.5% low-interest loan from the state revolving fund, and up to 50% of the loan could be forgiven by the state.

Sheehan reported that the construction work is out for bid, and the plan is to start work in November of 2012, after the golf season ends, through March of 2013.

It’s essentially a drain project, Sheehan said, but the work is being done with an understanding of the site’s special nature within a golf course.

Traver Creek Stabilization: Commission Discussion

John Lawter asked for more details about how the position of the creek would be affected. Sheehan explained that the creek would be made more “meandering,” compared to its current course.

David Barrett wondered what will happen if all the work can’t be done within the November-to-March timeframe – would it be delayed until the following winter? And if so, how would that affect the project’s financing?

From left: Christopher Taylor, a Ward 3 city councilmember and ex-officio member of PAC, and Alan Jackson, one of the newest PAC members.

There’s no hard deadline for getting the work done, Sheehan replied. If next winter was like the most recent one, then it won’t be a problem to do the work, he said. The final part of the project is more contained to the area around the south part of the course, so conceivably that work could be done during the summer, and it wouldn’t disrupt play.

Alan Jackson wanted to know how the project is being coordinated with the city’s golf staff. Sheehan said the golf staff have been integrated into the design process. They’ve provided suggestions for removal of sediment and its use elsewhere on the course – for example, to fill in areas that are chronically wet.

Jackson also asked whether any public meetings had been held. Yes, Sheehan said. The first one was held several years ago to discuss the financing aspect, he said. Earlier this year, about 25 people – mostly stakeholders in the golf community – attended a public forum on the project. Another forum held a few weeks ago drew only one person, he said, although residents in the nearby neighborhoods were all sent notices.

Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, said the golf staff have been involved from the outset. There has also been communication with golfers about the project, as well as with other user groups. All the feedback has been positive, he said.

Responding to a question from Tim Doyle, Smith reported that because of warmer-than-usual weather, the golf courses opened this year in mid-March – usually, opening day is April 1. He noted that even if the courses were to open early in 2013, the work by that time would be more out of the way and wouldn’t disrupt play.

Jackson wanted to know whether ongoing maintenance costs would be incurred because of this project. Sheehan replied that sediment maintenance would likely be needed every two to five years, but would cost only in the $2,000 to $5,000 range. The costs would be handled through an assessment fee paid by the city, but the work would be done through the county’s office of the water resources commissioner.

Outcome: This was not an action item – no vote was required.

Financial Update

Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, walked commissioners through a quarterly update of the parks and recreation budget. The current fiscal year ends June 30, 2012. [.pdf of parks & rec quarterly financial statement]

Recreational facilities supported by the city’s general fund are forecast to bring in $2,372,166 in revenues for the fiscal year, about $6,000 more than budgeted. Expenses of $3,442,592 are $17,500 less than budgeted. That means $1,070,426 will be used from the general fund to cover the difference between revenues and expenses.

Three units – the farmers market, Huron Hills golf course, and Leslie Park golf course – are operated in “enterprise funds,” where the expectation is that revenues will cover expenses.

For the farmers market, revenues are projected to be on budget at $165,118. Projected expenses of $160,118 are $5,000 lower than budgeted, in part because of a transitional period between the departure of former market manager Molly Notarianni and the hiring of Sarah Benoit, who was introduced at PAC’s May meeting.

At Huron Hills, revenues of $382,375 are on budget, while expenses of $541,080 are $7,500 lower than budgeted. The general fund will contribute $158,705 to operations at Huron Hills.

The Leslie Park golf course is expected to bring in revenues of $901,319 – about $20,000 less than budgeted. Expenses of $999,580 are also about $20,000 lower than budgeted. The general fund will contribute $98,261 to fund that golf course.

Matt Warba, supervisor of field operations, reviewed the financial statements for those parks operations that funded out of the park maintenance and capital improvements millage. He noted that expenses will be about $300,000 lower than the budgeted $2.353 million because the unit did not have a full complement of full-time staff this year. However, over the past month four full-time employees have been hired – two paid for from the general fund, and two from the millage.

There are 12 employees in field operations now, plus about 18 seasonal workers. The additional staff allows for a mowing cycle of 14 days, compared to the previous 19-day cycle.

Financial Update: Election of Committee Chair

Later in the meeting, the commission took action related to park finances – by voting on a new chair for the group’s budget and finance committee. It had previously been chaired by Sam Offen, whose term on PAC ended last month.

PAC chair Julie Grand nominated Tim Doyle, who’s been working with Offen on the committee. Doyle had been expected to take that leadership role.

In announcing her nomination, Grand told Doyle, “You’d better not say no!” He did not.

Outcome: Tim Doyle was unanimously elected chair of PAC’s budget and finance committee.

Library Green: PAC Action?

During public commentary, the only speaker was Alan Haber, who told commissioners that he frequently had spoken to other public bodies like the Ann Arbor city council on behalf of a group that’s trying to develop a community park, commons and gathering place on top of the Library Lane underground parking structure. Recently, members of the advocacy group had suggested coming to PAC as well. He asked commissioners to urge the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to separate out the Library Lane from its consideration of other parcels in the downtown area.

[Haber was referring to an effort called Connecting William Street, which is exploring alternate uses for the surface parking lots in the area bounded by William, Ashley, Liberty and Division streets – including the top of the underground parking structure. The project is being undertaken by the DDA at the direction of the Ann Arbor city council, given last year on April 4, 2011.]

The DDA should separate out the Library Lane parcel, Haber said, and gather ideas from the community about how to make a Central Park-type gathering space. There are so many people who say that’s what they want, he said – ask anyone whether they want a building or a park, and almost everyone will say a park. But this effort needs energy from people with responsibility for the parks who can actively pursue it. Don’t wait until another plan is presented, he said. He urged PAC to take some initiative. Haber said that advocates for Library Green are having an “Imagine a Park” block party on July 14, a couple of days after the grand opening of the parking structure earlier in the day. The event will run from noon until 5 p.m. on the top of the structure.

Haber contended that the conversation about this option was completely suppressed by the group that evaluated a request for proposals (RFP) for the top of the Library Lane. PAC should start to think about the possibility, and offer its advice to the DDA, he said.

Library Green: PAC Action? – Commission Discussion

Later in the meeting, Tim Berla asked what the process would be for following up on Haber’s suggestion. He felt that PAC should get ahead of the issue regarding downtown parks. It seems like there does need to be a park downtown. The Library Lane site might be an obvious place, though not necessarily the best place – and Berla said he wasn’t advocating for that. But he wanted PAC to get in the discussion. Berla said he knows that money is part of it, in terms of whether a park will raise the value of land surrounding it. But he didn’t think PAC should be involved in evaluating the financial aspects. His question was this: What can PAC do to move the discussion along so that the commission’s input is given? Berla said he’d been surprised that a surface parking lot is going on top of the 700-space underground structure, which seemed odd, though it might be the cheapest option at this point.

Tim Berla, a member of the Ann Arbor park advisory commission.

Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, said that PAC always has the option of forming a subcommittee or focus group to look into any issue. If that’s what the commission as a whole wants to do, it can do that. There are a lot of discussions related to city-owned property in and near downtown, he noted, including the Allen Creek greenway, 415 W. Washington and 721 N. Main sites, and Liberty Plaza – a city park at the southwest corner of Liberty and Division, near the underground parking structure. From the staff’s perspective, Smith said, it would make sense for PAC as a group to decide what it wants to do.

PAC chair Julie Grand noted that at the last meeting of PAC’s land acquisition committee, committee members talked about holding a priority-setting session after all of the new commissioners come on board. [Gwen Nystuen and Sam Offen recently left PAC, and the June 19 meeting was the last one for David Barrett. All were term-limited. Ingrid Ault and Alan Jackson were appointed to replace Nystuen and Offen, but Barrett's replacement hasn't been appointed yet.]

Berla said he’d like to see several different plans developed for the Library Lane site, so that people could start evaluating options. Another insight he’d had related to Sonic Lunch – the weekly summer music series that’s held in Liberty Plaza and organized by the Bank of Ann Arbor. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a music performance space downtown? He wanted to explore ideas like this, though perhaps they should wait until the Connecting William Street process played out, though it seemed like the focus for that project was different.

John Lawter noted that members of PAC and the DDA had met, and he had thought there would be a follow-up meeting. Julie Grand agreed, and said that one approach would be to advocate for involvement in the Connecting William Street effort.

Smith said that in the past, the city council has given PAC a charge to make recommendations back to the council. He asked Mike Anglin, a Ward 5 city councilmember who is an ex officio member of PAC, if Anglin knew who might be working on this issue. [PAC's other council representative, Christopher Taylor (Ward 3), had left the June 19 meeting by that point.]

Anglin replied that a lot of things are happening, and it’s important for PAC to be involved. Fuller Road is another area of interest, he said – an allusion to the possibility of building a transit station on land that’s part of Fuller Park. He noted that the Ann Arbor District Library is discussing what to do on its downtown site, too. It would be good for PAC to be more actively involved, he said, and perhaps form a focus group that could track some of these projects.

Outcome: There was no action taken on this issue, and it’s not clear if there’s consensus among commissioners about what steps to take next.

Parks & Recreation Manager’s Report

Colin Smith gave updates on two projects during his manager’s report: Repairs of the swirl concentrators at West Park, and “aquatic plant management” near the Gallup Park canoe livery.

Parks & Rec Manager’s Report: West Park

In late June, Smith said, the city expects the manufacturer of the swirl concentrators at West Park to replace the lids and finish repairs on those units. That work should take about three weeks. After that, the project’s contractor will rebuild the diversion structures, finish the access paths, and complete native plant restoration in that area, located along Seventh Street. That work will likely last throughout the summer. There are three entrances to the park off of Seventh, and during this work only the middle entrance will remain open, he said. Other activities at the park will be uninterrupted. He told commissioners that updates will be posted online.

Swirl concentrators had been installed for stormwater management as part of a major renovation of West Park in 2010. Most recently, PAC received a detailed update on the project at its Jan. 24, 2012 meeting from Nick Hutchinson, a civil engineer and one of the project managers in the city’s public services unit. Hutchinson had told the commission that after the manufacturer of the swirl concentrators makes repairs on the units, the city would hire a contractor to complete additional work that was recommended by Orchard Hiltz & McCliment (OHM), which the city had engaged in 2010 to look into the problems with that aspect of the West Park project. City staff had previously hoped to have that work completed by July of 2012.

Parks & Rec Manager’s Report: Aquatic Plants at Gallup

Smith reported that aquatic plants near the Gallup Park canoe livery are extremely overgrown, and that city staff will be harvesting excess plants in the coming weeks. Specifically, Eurasian watermilfoil is making it difficult for people to use paddleboats or canoe on that part of the pond.

Staff will use what Smith described as a “Zamboni on the water” to harvest about 6-7 acres around the livery. They’ll deposit the plants in an area of the park that’s unused, where the plants will dry out and shrink, he said. The work will start in late June.

Farewell to David Barrett

Turnover of park commissioners continued at the June 19 meeting – the last one for David Barrett, who has served on PAC since 2006.

From left: Park advisory commissioners Tim Doyle and David Barrett. The June 19 meeting was the last one for Barrett, whose term expires this month.

Near the end of the meeting, PAC chair Julie Grand thanked Barrett for his service. He had been a tireless advocate for improving the city’s athletic fields, she noted, and had been a quiet advocate on a lot of other issues over the past six years. He was an incredible human being and a good soul, she said.

Barrett is a songwriter and musician who is best known for the song “One Shining Moment.” It’s become the anthem for the NCAA basketball finals, with versions sung by Luther Vandross and Jennifer Hudson. He has written music for other sporting events and TV networks, and won an Emmy for the score of a PBS documentary on C.S. Lewis.

Barrett thanked the mayor for his appointment, and also thanked his fellow commissioners. He praised the city’s parks staff, saying they do a great job. It’s been an honor to serve, he said.

Barrett is the latest of three PAC members who have left the commission after being term-limited. Park advisory commissioners are limited to two consecutive three-year terms. Sam Offen and Gwen Nystuen recently ended their two terms on PAC as well. New commissioners replacing Offen and Nystuen are Alan Jackson and Ingrid Ault. No replacement has been nominated yet for Barrett.

Two other commissioners – Doug Chapman and Karen Levin – will be ending their first three-year terms in September of 2012, and could seek reappointment for another term.

Present: Ingrid Ault, David Barrett, Tim Berla, Tim Doyle, Alan Jackson, John Lawter, Karen Levin, Julie Grand, councilmember Christopher Taylor (ex-officio), councilmember Mike Anglin (ex-officio). Also Colin Smith, city parks and recreation manager.

Absent: Doug Chapman.

Next meeting: PAC’s meeting on Tuesday, July 17, 2012 begins at 4 p.m. in the city hall second-floor council chambers, 301 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor. [Check Chronicle event listing to confirm date]

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JB Contractors provided the lowest of two bids. Funding will be provided from the city’s park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

PAC had been briefed on this project – the first phase of a larger renovation – at a Feb. 28, 2012 park commission meeting. The center, located at 1831 Traver Road, was previously part of the city’s parks system, but since 2007 has operated as an independent nonprofit. However, the city still owns and maintains the buildings and property.

Parks planner Amy Kuras told commissioners that the goal of the changes to the pathways is to make the center compliant with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and to make the pathways and overall organization of the site less confusing.

The center’s raptor enclosures – housing owls, falcons, a bald eagle and other birds of prey – are located at the highest part of the site. The birds are very popular, so the intent is to make the area as accessible as possible. In addition to pathways, there will be better signs indicating how to get to the enclosures, as well as directions to other parts of the center.

Susan Westhoff, the center’s executive director, attended the June 19 PAC meeting and spoke briefly about the need for the path improvements. Francie Krawcke, the center’s raptor program director, was also on hand with one of the birds of prey.

This brief was filed from the second-floor city council chambers at city hall, 301 E. Huron, where PAC meets. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

Colin Smith, Ann Arbor's parks and recreation manager, signs sheets from more than a dozen local high school students attesting that they had attended the Feb. 28, 2012 meeting of the city's park advisory commission, as part of a class assignment. (Photos by the writer.)

The largest of the action items was a $865,190 contract for road, parking, pathway and other exterior renovations at Buhr Park and Cobblestone Farm. The work will include resurfacing the entry road off of Packard, and improving the path system to allow better access within the park area, as well as a connection from Essex Street into the park. The city council later approved the project at its March 5 meeting.

Commissioners also recommended approval of a 15-foot landscaping buffer in Riverside Park, next to a proposed new DTE Energy substation that abuts the park. DTE is seeking a variance from the city code, which requires a land use buffer for any commercial site that’s adjacent to a park – without the variance, that buffer would need to be located on DTE property. The new substation, to be located in the utility company’s Ann Arbor service center at 984 Broadway, will provide more electrical power to the downtown area due to increased demand.

Also recommended for approval was a $35,200 contract for restroom renovations at the Ann Arbor Senior Center. The facility will be closed in May while the project is completed, and activities will be scheduled at other locations. When PAC chair Julie Grand said she was impressed to see that so many companies had bid on the project, parks manager Colin Smith noted that it might reflect changes related to CUB agreements.

To comply with new state legislation, last summer the city council rescinded a resolution that had previously required contractors for city projects to execute Construction Unity Board (CUB) agreements. The agreements are negotiated between local trade unions and contractors, and require that contractors abide by terms of collective bargaining agreements for the duration of the construction project.

At their Feb. 28 meeting, park commissioners were also updated on a project to make exterior improvements – primarily related to pedestrian pathways – at the Leslie Science & Nature Center. The center, located at 1831 Traver Road, was previously part of the city’s parks system but since 2007 has operated as an independent nonprofit. However, the city still owns and maintains the buildings and property. The first stage of the project will focus on making pathways to the center’s popular raptor enclosures more accessible.

Commissioners also learned that during the week of March 12, the city will begin to install a new pedestrian bridge at the end of the Argo Dam bypass. Because of the construction, the recently renovated bypass will be temporarily closed. A stoplog will be put in to stop the flow of water into the bypass – the project will likely take a couple of weeks. The path along the bypass is expected to be paved later in April, with the end in sight for the entire project by May.

Smith reported that Argo Cascades will be the new name for the bypass – a series of drop pools that eliminates the need to portage along that stretch.

During an update on the parks and recreation budget, Smith reported that due to extra funds available from the park operations budget, plans are in the works to: (1) restore mowing to a 14-day cycle – the cycle has in recent seasons been every 19 days; (2) increase seasonal staffing between April 15 and Oct. 15; and (3) hire three park rangers from May through September, to deal better with maintenance and enforcement issues in the parks.

Several items were also raised during the time set aside for communications. Smith noted that the six-year, 1.1 mill parks maintenance and capital improvements millage will be coming up for renewal this fall. Staff has already started working on the renewal process, gathering materials in preparation for a March 12 city council working session. The millage was last approved in 2006.

It was also noted that two key staff members are leaving their jobs soon. Molly Notarianni, the city’s market manager, is stepping down at the end of March after about four years on the job. The position has already been posted. And long-time Rec & Ed director Sara Aeschbach will be retiring this summer. Both were praised for their service.

At the end of the meeting, commissioner Gwen Nystuen reminded her PAC colleagues about an upcoming sustainability forum on Thursday, March 8 at 7 p.m. in the downtown Ann Arbor District Library building. It’s the third in a series of four, this one focusing on climate and energy, and is part of a broader sustainability project that began last year and includes developing sustainability goals for the city. [See Chronicle coverage of the first and second forums in the series.] A public forum on the forums is also scheduled for March 29 from 6-8 p.m. at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library building, 343 S. Fifth Ave.

Outdoor Upgrades at Buhr, Cobblestone

Commissioners were asked to recommend approval of a $865,190 contract for road, parking and other exterior renovations at Buhr Park and Cobblestone Farm, located at 2781 Packard Rd. The contract would be awarded to Fonson Inc.

Fonson submitted the second lowest of 10 bids. The contract includes a $786,536 base bid plus a $78,654 (10%) contingency for possible change orders. Funding would come from the park maintenance and capital improvements millage, as well as the park rehabilitation and development millage. According to a staff memo, the lowest bid received was from Pranam Global Tech for $499,000. However, no paving subcontractors were listed and no testing fees were included, both of which were requirements of the bid.

Parks planner Amy Kuras described the proposed work in detail. Among other things, Fonson’s work would include resurfacing the road. Kuras showed slides of the current deteriorated roadway, including “unintentional pervious pavement,” she joked. The project would also expand the parking lot at Cobblestone by about 15 spaces, and create a pedestrian pathway system throughout the park area. The path system would include changes to allow better access within the park area, as well as a connection from Essex Street into the park. The project also includes stormwater management features, such as a bioswale, rain gardens, porous pavement in certain areas, and stormwater basins to improve water quality.

These improvements were recommended as part of a stormwater management master plan completed in 2000, Kuras said. The renovations were also recommended as part of the recently updated Parks & Recreation Open Space (PROS) plan. [The 9MB plan can be downloaded from the city's parks planning website.]

Proposed changes will also help the park facilities comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Kuras said.

Work is expected to begin this spring. The plan is to keep the park open while the project is completed, though that will be a challenge, Kuras said. The work will begin in the Buhr parking lot and gradually move toward the Packard Road entrance. The plan is to finish the project by the fall of 2012.

Outdoor Upgrades at Buhr, Cobblestone: Commission Discussion

Commissioners had several questions and comments about the plan. Sam Offen asked whether the project will have any impact on the scheduling of events at Cobblestone Farm. Kuras said she’s coordinated with Jessica Black, parks and recreation customer service manager, who manages events at Cobblestone. [The building is rented out for weddings and other events.] When the parking lot is closed, there will be parking available on the grass, Kuras said. The plan is to mill the asphalt rather than remove it, she noted, so that would likely allow people to drive on it during the project.

Parks manager Colin Smith added that most events are held on Friday nights or the weekend, when construction workers won’t be active. It will be a challenge to coordinate, he said, but there are options. Even if it rains and they can’t use the grass area for parking, a gravel lot is available. It wouldn’t be optimal, but it would work.

Offen asked when the Buhr Park pool opens. Memorial Day, Smith reported. The work at the Buhr parking lot will likely be done by then, he said.

David Barrett said he assumed that the parks staff has reached out to Ann Arbor Rec & Ed, noting that the organization schedules games in the park. Yes, Smith said, they’re being kept in the loop.

Christopher Taylor asked for more detail about the pedestrian pathway from Essex Street. Previously, Kuras replied, there’s been no access from Essex into the park – it’s just lawn. With the new path, people will be able to bike or walk to facilities in the park.

Gwen Nystuen asked whether pervious pavement will be used for the new parking spaces at Cobblestone Farm. No, Kuras said. There’s room within the park to handle stormwater treatment in other ways, she said, accomplishing the same environmental goals related to water quality. When Nystuen suggested that they could accomplish even more by using pervious pavement, Kuras replied that the same amount of water would be handled – it’s just a matter of the method used to handle it.

In response to a question from Offen, Kuras noted that the original raingarden in Buhr has been doubled in size, and another one was added there. Nystuen mentioned that it’s the location of the Buhr Park children’s wet meadow project, and Kuras said she’s worked closely with the project’s organizer, Jeannine Palms.

Smith told commissioners that this entire project is a good example of the city taking care of its existing parks infrastructure. Over the past 10 years, several parts of Buhr Park and Cobblestone Farm have been renovated, including improvements at the swimming pool and ice rink. By the time this current project is completed, the entire park will have been redone, he said. The city is lucky to have a large parks system, Smith said, but in reality many of the parks are quite old and in need of an overhaul.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously recommended approval of the contract with Fonson Inc. for renovations at Buhr Park and Cobblestone Farm. The Ann Arbor city council subsequently approved the project at its March 5 meeting.

DTE Landscaping Buffer

The commission was asked to recommend approval of a 15-foot landscaping buffer in Riverside Park, next to a proposed new DTE Energy substation that abuts the park.

Site plan for DTE Buckler substation. (Links to larger image.)

DTE is seeking a variance of the city’s conflicting land use buffer. Chapter 62 of the city code requires a buffer for any commercial site that’s adjacent to a park – without the variance, that buffer would need to be located on DTE property. The code requires that the buffer be at least 15 feet wide, include one tree for each 15 feet of abutting land, and provide a continuous screen at least 4 feet high using a hedge, berm, wall, fence, or combination of those elements.

According to a city staff memo, DTE is building the new Buckler substation in the utility company’s Ann Arbor service center at 984 Broadway, to provide an increase in electrical power to the downtown area due to increased demand for electricity. Because of physical constraints on DTE’s property, the utility is asking the city to place the buffer – which will include 23 new trees – in Riverside Park. The buffer would remain city parks property. The parks staff recommended approval of the plan.

Parks manager Colin Smith walked the commission through the proposal. The current border between Riverside and the DTE property includes a fence, scrub, and a “haphazard” screen of trees of varying quality, he said. All of the substation’s construction would occur on DTE property, Smith said, and the city’s ownership of the park property would remain unchanged. He noted that the city’s forester would select the trees, and the area would include other landscaping as well. It will look much better than it does now, he said.

Smith also noted that the proposal will decrease the city’s maintenance costs – because of the landscaping, they won’t need to mow around the trees as they do now. He stressed that the proposed buffer is not an area that’s actively used, and that the city already has tried to create a buffer between the DTE facility and the park, so that park users won’t have to look at the DTE site. The project is an example of the city trying to be a good neighbor, he said, because the reality is that DTE needs a new substation to serve the electricity needs of residents.

DTE Landscaping Buffer: Commission Discussion

Sam Offen asked what is currently on the site where DTE plans to build its new substation. Scott Trowbridge of DTE Energy came to the podium to answer the question, saying that it’s a paved storage area for vehicles and equipment.

Offen asked if there were any other areas where the substation could be built, so that it wouldn’t abut the property line with Riverside. Trowbridge noted that the DTE property is on the edge of a floodplain, and if the substation is located closer to the river, it would require more floodplain mitigation. Underground conduits are also located in that area, he said, which will be used for the new substation – that also affects the choice of location.

Offen said he normally doesn’t like it when people don’t follow the city’s zoning code. It’s the property owner’s responsibility to provide a screen, he noted. On the other hand, he wants to be a good neighbor, so he was debating how to vote on this resolution. He trusted that DTE had considered alternatives, and that the company had determined this was the best option.

Offen said he said he assumed that since the buffer is on the city’s property, it would then be the city’s responsibility for maintenance? Yes, Smith replied, adding that most trees would come with some kind of warrantee. Offen wanted to ensure that the warrantee is at least the industry standard and that if a tree doesn’t survive, DTE would replace it.

Ann Arbor parks & recreation manager Colin Smith, left, talks with Scott Trowbridge of DTE Energy before the Feb. 28, 2012 meeting of the city's park advisory commission.

Smith said he agreed entirely with Offen’s points, and that if there had been a way to accomplish this within the zoning code, that would have been the way to go. But the proposal seems reasonable, he added, and DTE has been working with planning staff about it.

Offen then asked if the path running along the river would be affected by the new substation. The path would not be affected, Smith said.

Christopher Taylor asked if there would be a vertical or noise element as part of the substation. Trowbridge reported that there’s currently a cell phone tower on that site that’s over 100 feet tall. The equipment at the substation would be no taller than about 16 feet, he said, but because of floodplain issues, the project includes raising the grade of the land there about four feet.

Regarding noise, Trowbridge said you would probably be able to hear a hum at the fenceline, but not much more than that.

Taylor noted that based on a Google Earth map, it looks like there’s a park playing field close to the property line. Tim Berla added that there’s a goal located not too far from the existing fence, and that one corner of the field is close to the property line.

Smith said the buffer won’t impact the ability to schedule games on that field. If anything, he added, it will result in a better parks buffer. He also noted that DTE is planning to provide additional landscaping along Canal Street, which runs next to the park.

Tim Doyle wondered what DTE would do if the city denies this variance request. Does the company have an alternative plan? Trowbridge said the decision would involve many people, and would lead to a delay in meeting downtown Ann Arbor’s demand for electricity – there’s only so much load the current substation can provide. It would lead to choices about how DTE can serve new developments, he said. And when the load peaks in the summer, DTE might need to shut down some circuits to protect its equipment.

Trowbridge said there are two main drivers in selecting the current site for a substation. One is that DTE already owns the property. The other is the location of underground conduits with existing circuits and spare ducts. At that location, DTE could easily bring cables underground into the new substation. Distribution circuits now come out of the Argo substation, located across the street on Broadway. In response to a query from Doyle, Trowbridge said that building the new substation as proposed is the most economically viable plan for DTE.

Doyle noted that raising the grade by four feet was dramatic, and he wondered if anyone had looked at the impact of drainage into the park. Trowbridge said the plan called for capturing stormwater runoff on the DTE site, by using a detention pond and stone surface instead of asphalt.

Noting that parks staff supports the proposal, David Barrett said he wanted to make sure that staff was comfortable that drainage wouldn’t be a problem and that the field wouldn’t be deluged. Smith indicated that the staff felt fine about the proposal.

DTE Landscaping Buffer: Amendment

John Lawter said he assumed that the proposed 23 trees exceeds the amount required by code – that would help compensate for using parkland for the buffer. Trowbridge said he couldn’t speak to that.

Doyle suggested amending the resolution to require that a minimum of 23 trees be used in the buffer. There was some discussion about what the code actually required. From Chapter 62, Section 5:603 of the city code:

The conflicting land use buffer shall consist of the following:
(1) A landscaped buffer strip at least 15 feet wide. If there is an existing building or vehicular use area located within the required 15-foot landscape buffer strip, the landscape buffer strip may have an average of 15 feet in width over the entire length of the required buffer area, with no specific location along the buffer strip being less than 8 feet in width
(2) One tree for each 15 feet or fraction thereof of abutting land. At least 50% of the trees within the conflicting land use buffer shall be evergreen. Arrangement of trees in clusters or groupings is encouraged, but in all cases shall be between 15 feet and 30 feet apart on center. Plantings should be placed to screen the views between buildings that existed at the time of site plan approval, (especially windows and patio views) on the adjacent property.
(3) A hedge, landform berm, wall, fence or combination thereof forming a continuous screen at least 4 feet high. All gasoline or service stations shall employ opaque walls as the continuous screen. For parcels principally used or zoned for residential purposes the requirement for a hedge, landform berm, wall or fence is only required to screen vehicular use areas and refuse/recycling containers that are adjacent to the conflicting land use buffer.

Parks planner Amy Kuras said she had recommended that an additional 7-8 trees be added between the Riverside parking lot and Canal Street. [Kuras is overseeing a larger renovation project at the park – commissioners were briefed on that effort at their October 2011 meeting.]

At the direction of commissioners, Smith crafted an amendment to request that DTE provide an additional 10 trees in landscaping for a parking lot in the park, adjacent to Canal Street. It was considered a friendly amendment to the resolution, and was not voted on separately.

Outcome: The commission unanimously recommended approval of a landscaping buffer in Riverside Park, next to a proposed DTE substation, as well as additional trees between the Riverside parking lot and Canal Street. DTE also needs to secure a variance from the city’s zoning board of appeals and planning commission, as well as final approval by the city council.

Senior Center Renovations

On the Feb. 28 agenda was a resolution to recommend approval of a $35,200 contract for restroom renovations at the Ann Arbor Senior Center. Staff recommended that the contract be awarded to L.C. Construction, which submitted the lowest of eight acceptable bids. The facility will be closed in May while the project is completed, and activities will be scheduled at other locations.

The $35,200 includes a $32,000 base bid and a $3,200 (10%) contingency fund to cover possible change orders. Funds would come from proceeds of the park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

According to a city staff memo, the restrooms don’t meet the state’s Barrier Free Code. The center’s two existing restrooms – each with two stalls – would be converted to three single restrooms that would each meet the Barrier Free Code standards. The memo notes that because L.C. Construction only has three employees, it is exempt from the city’s living wage and human rights ordinances.

Senior Center Renovations: Commission Discussion

There was little deliberation on this item. Julie Grand said she was impressed to see that so many companies had bid on the project. Parks manager Colin Smith mentioned that it might reflect changes related to CUB agreements.

By way of background, at its Aug. 15, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council rescinded a resolution it had passed in November 2009, which had required execution of Construction Unity Board (CUB) agreements by contractors and subcontractors with the Washtenaw County Skilled Building Trades Council as a condition of award for all city construction contracts. The resolution also had required inclusion of the requirement in all construction bids issued by the city.

CUB agreements are negotiated between local trade unions and contractors, and require that contractors who sign the agreement abide by terms of collective bargaining agreements for the duration of the construction project. In return, the trade unions agree that they will not strike, engage in work slow-downs, set up separate work entrances at the job site or take any other adverse action against the contractor.

The council rescinded its CUB resolution because state Act 98 of 2011 – which became effective July 19, 2011 – prohibits municipalities from including as a requirement in a construction contract anything that would either require or prohibit contractors from entering into agreements with collective bargaining organizations. The act also prohibits discrimination against contractors based on willingness or non-willingness to enter into such agreements.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously recommended approval of the contract with L.C. Construction. City council subsequently approved the contract at its March 5 meeting.

Renovations at Leslie Science & Nature Center

Amy Kuras, the city’s parks planner, gave an update on a project to make exterior improvements – primarily related to pedestrian pathways – at the Leslie Science & Nature Center. The center, located at 1831 Traver Road, was previously part of the city’s parks system but since 2007 has operated as an independent nonprofit. However, the city still owns and maintains the buildings and property.

This photo of raptor enclosures at Leslie Science & Nature Center was provided by city staff as part of the packet of materials for the park advisory commission's Feb. 28 meeting.

The goal of the changes is to make the center compliant with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and to make the pathways and overall organization of the site less confusing, Kuras said.  The site includes a lot of paved impervious surface, and a lot of it isn’t necessary, she said. The project will also address soil erosion and water runoff issues.

The center’s raptor enclosures – housing owls, falcons, a bald eagle and other birds of prey – are located at the highest part of the site, Kuras said. The birds are very popular, she added, so it’s important to make the area as accessible as possible. In addition to pathways, there will be better signs indicating how to get to the enclosures, as well as directions to other parts of the center.

The city has hired JJR as a consultant on the project, Kuras said. There has been one public forum about the proposed changes, and staff has met with the center’s board as well.

After developing a master plan for the entire site, a more detailed design for the pathway to the raptor enclosures will be completed, Kuras said. Construction on that pathway will begin in the fall of 2012, after the center’s summer camps are over.

Leslie Science & Nature Center: Commission Discussion

Gwen Nystuen asked whether pervious pavement would be used in the project. As with all projects, Kuras replied, pervious pavement would be used where it’s appropriate. She’s looking at possibly using some innovative products, she added, including a product made from crushed recycled glass. Kuras said she hopes to find a local source for the glass, and that the pavement sparkles and is quite beautiful. However, there needs to be additional testing to see if it’s appropriate for the site, she said.

In response to another question from Nystuen, Kuras explained that the existing parking will be reconfigured from angled to perpendicular parking, which will allow for more spaces on the same footprint. They’re also looking at putting pervious pavement in the overflow parking areas, which are currently grass. Kuras said that instructional signs aren’t part of this project, but that the center’s staff will take care of that component.

Sam Offen noted that he also serves as a board member for the center, and reported that the board and staff are very excited about the project.

Kuras hopes to apply for a state grant to help fund the full project. Julie Grand clarified with Kuras that the pathways to the raptor enclosures would be handled first, followed by the rest of the renovations as funding allows.

The report was informational only – it was not an action item for PAC.

Financial Update

Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, gave PAC a financial update on parks and recreation operations, for the period starting July 1, 2011 through Jan. 31, 2012. [.pdf of parks and rec quarterly financial update as of Jan. 31, 2012] The city operates on a fiscal year from July 1 through June 30.

From left: Ann Arbor city councilmember Christopher Taylor (Ward 3), and park advisory commissioners Tim Doyle and Gwen Nystuen. Taylor is an ex officio (non-voting) member of PAC.

Smith started by focusing on the recreational facilities supported by the city’s general fund. On the revenue side, some facilities are ahead of budget and some are behind, he noted. Overall, however, the forecast for the full fiscal year anticipates $2.368 million in revenues – about $2,500 ahead of budget. And expenses are projected to be $15,000 lower than budgeted, at $3.445 million for the fiscal year. That means the forecast for the year is now $17,500 better than budgeted from the general fund for parks and recreation, he said.

There are no alarms in any of the facilities supported by the general fund, he said. The forecast anticipates a $1.076 million general fund subsidy for parks and recreation for the year.

Smith then turned to the park system’s three enterprise funds – areas that are intended to be self-sustaining – the farmers market, Huron Hills golf course, and Leslie Park golf course. Revenues and expenses are on budget for the market, Smith said, at about $165,000.

The $369,875 forecasted revenues for Huron Hills is about $12,000 less than budgeted, while Leslie Park’s $896,319 in revenues is forecasted to be about $25,000 less than budgeted. Expenses at each golf course are about $5,000 less than budgeted, Smith said. The net forecasted loss for the two courses is $27,500 for the fiscal year. It’s not an insurmountable amount, he added, especially if the spring weather isn’t as wet as last year.

Financial Update: Commission Discussion

After reviewing some of the other line items in the parks and rec budget, Smith answered questions from commissioners.

Sam Offen observed a $17,500 drop in forecasted revenues for the Argo canoe livery. Is that because construction has been delayed? Smith replied that the drop relates to the offer by DTE to pay for the whitewater feature in the Huron River near the Argo bypass, if the city delayed action on that project. When the budget was developed in early 2011, the parks staff had assumed that the whitewater feature would be open during the summer of 2012, creating new revenue opportunities. Now, it’s likely that the river whitewater feature won’t be ready until 2013.

In response to a question from John Lawter, Smith clarified that the city subsidizes the parks and recreation budget by about $1.076 million from the city’s general fund. Tim Berla noted that the golf courses are subsidized with about $292,000 in general fund dollars.

David Barrett asked why the golf courses are forecast to have a total of $10,000 less in expenses than anticipated. Smith replied that when the weather is bad, staff at the courses are sent home. That’s primarily why expenses are lower.

Barrett also asked about the fitness center at Veterans Memorial Park. Revenues are only about $5,500, which Smith said reflected low usage of the center – revenues come from fees paid by users. He said the staff are exploring better ways to use that space, and think that perhaps a fitness center isn’t the best option. Karen Levin speculated that perhaps people in the neighborhood just don’t know about it, and that if the facility is marketed, usage might increase. Smith observed that the equipment is out of date, and it’s not really the park system’s main business.

Gwen Nystuen asked about the line item for administration – $159,171 in revenues. Smith clarified that it comes from a variety of sources, including parking rental from Fuller and Riverside parks.

Financial Update: Maintenance

Matt Warba, supervisor of field operations, briefed the commission about the portion of the budget related to maintenance. [.pdf of parks maintenance financial summary] He began with operations funded from the general fund, and noted that by the nature of the work, there are very few revenues. Regarding expenses, overall they’ll be well within the budgeted amounts, he said.

For operations funded through the parks maintenance and capital improvements millage, Warba highlighted a few line items. The Argo livery is over budget due to maintenance and the purchase of additional kayaks and canoes in anticipation of the new Argo Dam bypass. Expenses are also higher than budgeted for the Ann Arbor senior center, due to renovations there.

David Barrett asked whether the winter’s lack of heavy snowfall saved in expenses. Warba said he didn’t want to say, because there was still the chance that the region would get hit – the potential for snow isn’t over yet. Warba’s assumption is that there will be savings, “but you never know.”

Smith noted that a budget impact statement for field operations had been distributed at a Feb. 13, 2012 city council working session. Over the past three years, he said, there have been savings in park operations, primarily due to budgeted but unfilled job vacancies. [Responding to a follow-up email query from The Chronicle, Smith clarified that since fiscal year 2009, park operations has annually underspent its expenditure budget by an average of about $550,000.] As a result, he said, parks staff were asked to figure out how best to use that money in the parks system.

The parks staff are making several recommendations: (1) restore mowing to a 14-day cycle – the cycle has in recent seasons been every 19 days; (2) increase seasonal staffing between April 15 and Oct. 15 so that active recreation areas can be maintained better; (3) hire three park rangers from May through September, to deal better with maintenance and enforcement issues in the parks; and (4) increase seasonal staff at the city’s ice arenas to help clean the facilities.

Sam Offen asked how much enforcement capability the rangers would have. When the city had park rangers in the past, that was an issue – the rangers didn’t have much ability to act. Offen also asked whether PAC would get more details about these proposals at a later date.

Smith replied that yes, details are still being worked out and would be brought forward to PAC. Regarding rangers, Smith said they will be parks staff, not police. Warba added that the intent of the rangers is to be informational – they won’t even have the ability to write tickets. If there were a problem, the rangers would call the police. The rangers are seen as stewards of the park system, Warba said, and would do tasks like check restrooms or ensure that people don’t jump the fence and use soccer fields when it’s too wet, which damages the field.

Smith noted that the parks staff does some of this work now at special events. For example, someone is on hand to greet people when they arrive to a special event held at a park, and to take care of any details that need to be handled. It’s a way that the parks staff can respond to issues in a timely way, Smith said, rather than waiting for residents to call in a problem.

Tim Doyle suggested that the rangers wear more formal uniforms, saying this would create a kind of “sentinel effect.” He joked that it wouldn’t hurt to carry a squirt gun too. Smith quipped that perhaps they could plan a fashion show at the next PAC meeting.

Communications & Commentary

Every meeting includes opportunities for public commentary and communications from commissioners and staff. Two people spoke during time allocated for public commentary at the Feb. 28 meeting.

Comm/Comm: Public Commentary – Preserving Parkland

George Gaston indicated that he’d spoken at other PAC meetings. Several years ago, the community strongly supported a proposal to protect parkland, he said. [Gaston was referring to a voter-approved city charter amendment, which prohibits the sale of city parkland unless approved by voters.] That proved inadequate, he said, as evidenced by efforts to develop Huron Hills golf course and Fuller Road Station. [Fuller Road Station was a proposed joint project between the city and the University of Michigan. Its first stage was a large parking structure, but UM withdrew from that partnership last month.] Gaston urged commissioners to close the loopholes and protect the city’s parks, calling them a great asset.

He described the new bypass at Argo Dam as wonderful, saying he’s already seen kayakers using it and having fun. Parks are parks, not public land, he said. When the city wants voters to approve a millage, the city refers to the land as parkland, he noted. But when city officials want to develop the land, they call it public land. Gaston asked commissioners to protect parkland now and in the future.

Saying she echoed Gaston’s comments, Rita Mitchell noted that projects totally unrelated to parkland have been proposed on parkland, like the Fuller Road Station at Fuller Park. She said she was asking PAC to uphold the principle of using parkland for parks. She said 80% of voters had supported the charter amendment to prohibit the sale of parkland without a voter referendum. She urged commissioners to protect parks and keep them as people in the community intended.

Comm/Comm: Manager’s Report – Argo Cascades

Parks manager Colin Smith reported that during the week of March 12, the city will begin to install the new pedestrian bridge at the end of the Argo Dam bypass. PAC had recommended approval of the new bridge, along with other project changes, at its Aug. 16, 2011 meeting, and the changes were subsequently approved by the city council. [.pdf of Argo headrace design and bridge info]

Because of the construction, the recently renovated bypass will be temporarily closed, Smith said. A stoplog will be put in to stop the flow of water into the bypass – the bridge will likely take a couple of weeks to install. Then in early April, parks staff plan to install a rubber guide in one of the series of drop pools in the bypass, Smith said. The intent is to make the drops easier to navigate. If that guide seems to be effective, others might be installed later.

The path along the bypass is expected to be paved later in April, with the end in sight for the entire project by May. Smith said PAC will get a presentation in March or April regarding all the improvements, programming and marketing for the bypass area.

Smith also reported that based on a survey that yielded about 600 responses, Argo Cascades will be the new name for the bypass.

John Lawter asked about the whitewater portion of the project. By way of background, the original renovation of the Argo Dam bypass had included construction of a stretch of whitewater in the section of the Huron River next to the bypass. DTE Energy subsequently offered to pay for the whitewater feature of the project – about $180,000 – if the city agreed to hold off on construction of that piece until after DTE completes environmental remediation on its nearby property, as required by the state.

Smith reported that DTE has submitted a remediation plan to the state, but the whitewater feature won’t be built this year. The Argo livery is expected to open in early May, with a grand opening for the new bypass expected sometime later this year. The Gallup Pond livery will open April 14.

Comm/Comm: Manager’s Report – Millage Renewal

Smith noted that the six-year, 1.1 mill parks maintenance and capital improvements millage will be coming up for renewal this fall. Staff has already started working on it, gathering materials in preparation for a March 12 city council working session. PAC will be briefed at their March 20 meeting, and there will be several public forums as well after that. A recommendation for renewal will likely be considered by PAC in July, with the council making a decision in August about putting it on the November ballot. “We’re certainly starting to work on that quite heavily,” he said.

The millage was most recently deliberated by PAC at its May 2011 meeting, in the context of budget allocations and how millage proceeds are spent. See Chronicle coverage: “Council to Get Reminder of Parks Promise.”

Comm/Comm: Manager’s Report – Market Manager

In his final communication, Smith reported that the city’s market manager, Molly Notarianni, will be leaving that job at the end of March. She’s been with the city for about four years, he said, and has been extremely enthusiastic about her work and has taken initiative to improve the market. She’ll be missed, he said.

The city has already posted the job and he hopes to get someone on board quickly, Smith said. According to the posting, the job has a minimum salary of $38,082 with a midpoint of $48,793. In the interim, the work will be handled by Jessica Black, parks and recreation customer service manager. Smith noted that Black ran the market before Notarianni joined the staff. He told commissioners that if they see Notarianni in the coming weeks, “wish her well and thank her, please.”

Comm/Comm: Commissioner Updates – Rec & Ed

Tim Berla, who’s also a member of the city’s recreation advisory commission (RAC), reported that Ann Arbor Rec & Ed is excited about the city’s upcoming work on the ballfields. [See Chronicle coverage: "Major Renovations of City Ballfields Planned."]

Berla also reported that long-time Rec & Ed director Sara Aeschbach will be retiring this summer. He described her as a rock, and someone who provided exemplary public service. There’s been a lot of turnover in the city parks management, he noted, but Aeschbach has provided stability at Rec & Ed over the years. [Rec & Ed is a unit of the Ann Arbor Public Schools, but works closely with the city parks staff.] Berla hoped someone equally good would be hired to replace her.

Comm/Comm: Commissioner Updates – Sustainability

Gwen Nystuen reminded commissioners about the upcoming sustainability forums. As part of a broader sustainability project, the city scheduled four forums this year, one per month, starting in January. All forums are held at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library building, 343 S. Fifth Ave. starting at 7 p.m. [See Chronicle coverage: "Sustaining Ann Arbor's Environmental Quality" and "Land Use, Transit Factor into Sustainability"]

The two remaining forums are:

• March 8, 2012: Climate and Energy – including an overview of Ann Arbor’s climate action plan, climate impacts, renewable and alternative energy, energy efficiency and conservation.
• April 12, 2012: Community – including housing, public safety, public art, recreation, outreach, civic engagement, and stewardship of community resources.

All forums are being videotaped by AADL staff. The videos will be posted on the library’s website. Additional background on the Ann Arbor sustainability initiative is on the city’s website.

The four forums reflect categories in a framework that the city is developing to organize its existing goals as they relate to sustainability. The project, which began earlier this year, is being led by Jamie Kidwell and funded by a $95,000 grant the city received from the Home Depot Foundation. Four city commissions – park, planning, energy and environmental – participated in a Sept. 27, 2011 joint working session focused on prioritizing existing goals for the city that touch on sustainability issues. [For additional background, see Chronicle coverage of Kidwell's briefing at the Nov. 15 park advisory commission meeting.]

PAC chair Julie Grand reported that the parks perspective will be represented at the April 12 forum.

Grand also serves on a committee that’s developing the sustainability goals. Draft goals were presented at the Feb. 9 sustainability forum. Tim Berla said he’d seen the draft goals and they seemed generic. He wondered if there would be more details associated with each goal at some point. Karen Levin, who serves on the sustainability committee with Grand, said the idea is to have 15 broader goals, then develop more detailed objectives and targets for each goal. Grand added that by highlighting this smaller set of goals, the intent is not to negate all of the other goals that have been set by the city.

A public forum to discuss the goals is also scheduled for March 29 from 6-8 p.m. at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library building’s fourth floor conference room.

Present: David Barrett, Tim Berla, Tim Doyle, Julie Grand, Karen Levin, Gwen Nystuen, John Lawter, Sam Offen, councilmember Mike Anglin (ex-officio), councilmember Christopher Taylor (ex-officio). Also Colin Smith, city parks manager.

Absent: Doug Chapman.

Next meeting: PAC’s meeting on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 begins at 4 p.m. in the city hall second-floor council chambers, 301 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor. [confirm date]

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Baseball field #4 at Veterans Memorial Park will be among fields at three parks that will be renovated, if the Ann Arbor city council approves a recommendation of the park advisory commission. (Photos by the writer.)

PAC unanimously recommended awarding a nearly $1 million contract to RMD Holdings of Chesterfield, Michigan, for renovation of ballfields at Veterans Memorial Park, West Park and Southeast Area Park. If approved by the city council, work would begin after the 2012 summer season. Ann Arbor Rec & Ed – a unit of the Ann Arbor Public Schools – plans to cancel its fall season in light of the project. Teams playing in Rec & Ed programs are the primary users of these fields.

Commissioners also got an update on the status of West Park renovations – specifically, how problems with an underground stormwater system are being addressed. City engineer Nick Hutchinson described plans for repairing the system, saying that legal issues are still being worked out, but the project will likely be completed by July of 2012. A public forum will be held on Feb. 13 at Slauson Middle School to update residents. At a similar meeting held in mid-January, residents raised concerns over whether the situation in West Park has caused flooding in nearby basements.

Also at PAC’s Jan. 24 meeting, commissioner Gwen Nystuen urged the group to consider taking action on the Allen Creek greenway, in light of remarks made by mayor John Hieftje at the city council’s Jan. 23 meeting regarding the city-owned 415 W. Washington property. Colin Smith, the city’s manager of parks and recreation, reported that there’s been discussion about possibly applying for a state grant to help fund the greenway, but the timeline for applying this year is tight. He also suggested that an initial step would be to develop a master plan for the greenway, as recommended in the city’s parks, recreation and open space plan.

Near the beginning of the meeting, commissioner Sam Offen introduced the new executive director for the Leslie Science & Nature Center, Susan Westhoff, who spoke briefly to commissioners. Offen is a board member of the center, a nonprofit that’s located on city property.

Ballfield Renovations

The main action item on the Jan. 24 agenda was a resolution recommending a nearly $1 million contract to renovate softball and baseball fields at three city parks.

If approved by the city council, the $982,333 contract would be awarded to RMD Holdings of Chesterfield, Michigan. That amount includes a $893,030 base bid plus a 10% contingency of $89,303. It was the lowest of four bids received for the project, which will focus on the fenced ballparks at Veterans Memorial Park, West Park and Southeast Area Park. Originally, the city had intended to include fields at Allmendinger Park as well, but bids came in higher than expected, and that work was eliminated from the project.

The renovations have been in the works for more than two years. At PAC’s September 2010 meeting, commissioner David Barrett gave a report on the condition of the city’s ballparks after personally surveying them. [.pdf file of Barrett's ballpark report] According to a staff memo accompanying the Jan. 24 resolution, no major restoration work has been done on the fields in more than 10 years.

Staff from Ann Arbor Rec & Ed, a unit of the public school system, will work with city staff on this project – Rec & Ed programs are the primary users of these fields. Construction will likely begin in mid-August of 2012, with fields ready for use again in early spring of 2013. Rec & Ed plans to cancel its fall season to accommodate the project.

Funding will be drawn from three sources: (1) $250,000 from the approved FY 2012 parks maintenance and capital improvements millage budget; (2) $64,000 from an unobligated remaining fund balance in the expired park repair and restoration millage; and (3) $668,333 from the unobligated fund balance of the existing parks maintenance and capital improvements millage.

Deputy parks manager Jeff Straw and Matt Warba, the city’s supervisor of field operations, briefed PAC on the proposal. Straw noted that in collecting feedback for the 2010 update to the parks, recreation and open space (PROS) plan, the city heard loud and clear that people wanted better maintenance of the fields. The fields – used for baseball, softball and kickball – drew more than 5,000 players during the summer and fall seasons in 2011, Straw said.

Warba noted that when the city had a larger parks staff, renovations of the fields occurred every 10 years. Now, that’s no longer possible to do in-house, he said. Describing the current conditions of the fields, Warba said they are poorly graded, with poor drainage that results in water pooling in the infield, which limits play. The material used for the infield makes it dusty in the summer, and doesn’t allow water to drain quickly when it rains.

For the outfields, the playing surfaces are uneven, Warba said, the turf is in poor condition, and the warning tracks are filled with weeds. Fencing is deteriorating and damaged, and many of the backstops don’t have overhangs.

Upgrades will include regrading the infields, removing the infield lip, replacing the existing infield material with red clay, and installing drainage around the infield’s perimeter. Fencing will be replaced, automated irrigation systems will be installed, field turf will be restored, and concrete will be used for floors of the dugouts and bleacher pads.

Warba told commissioners that Stantec had drawn up designs for the project, and that the lowest “responsible” bid came from RMD Holdings, a company with prior experience doing this work.

Ballfield Renovations: Commission Discussion

Karen Levin asked whether other fields in the city’s parks system can be used to play on during the renovations. Warba said there are 24 other neighborhood fields available. The next phase of this project will be upgrading those as well, he said. Straw added that Rec & Ed decided to cancel its fall season in part because lighting would be a challenge – most of the other ballfields don’t have lights.

Colin Smith, the city’s manager of parks and recreation, noted that no matter how the renovations are handled, it will be inconvenient. Rec & Ed staff felt this would be the best approach, he said. Rec & Ed director Sara Aeschbach told commissioners that players had been surveyed about their preferences, and the strong preference was to preserve the summer season. Using the neighborhood ballparks is too difficult in the fall, because it gets dark earlier. She said players are excited that the fields will be improved.

Gwen Nystuen asked about the material that would be used under the team benches. Will it be a pervious surface? Water drainage is important, she noted. Warba replied that the area will be designed with an angle to allow water to flow off the surface. Pervious materials weren’t considered, he said, though there’s still time to make changes.

Colin Smith, Ann Arbor's parks and recreation manager.

Smith noted that the majority of players wear cleats, which would create problems for any pervious surface. He also pointed out that significant stormwater improvements will be made in that section of Veterans Memorial Park, as part of the Dexter-Ann Arbor street repair project.

Nystuen said that in general, whenever they can install pervious surfaces, it will make a difference in helping address stormwater runoff.

Christopher Taylor asked whether the ballpark renovations would coordinate in any way with the possible skatepark construction at Vets. Smith replied that it’s unlikely the skatepark construction will begin by August – it’s more likely that work on the project will start in the spring of 2013. In response to another query from Taylor, Smith indicated that construction equipment used to build the skatepark isn’t expected to damage the work done on the ballfields.

Mike Anglin said he assumed that the parks staff had coordinated this project with the road work being done along Dexter-Ann Arbor. Yes, Smith said. The stretch of Dexter-Ann Arbor along Veterans Memorial Park, east of Maple, will likely be closed from April through November. That’s another good reason for the fall season to be canceled, Smith said, adding that a lot of coordination will be needed.

Julie Grand observed that rates for using the fields at Fuller and Olson parks increased after those fields were renovated. Would rates also be increased at the ballfields after renovations?

Aeschbach said that Rec & Ed charges fees to cover the cost of prepping the fields for play, and those costs won’t change. It’s up to the city, she said, to set the actual rental rates for the fields. Many user groups no longer play on city fields because of the damaged conditions, she said, so demand isn’t high. Perhaps after the fields are renovated, the city can check to see if those groups will return and pay a higher rate.

Smith noted that this project is in line with the philosophy of taking care of and restoring what the city already owns. The ballfields are eyesores, he said, and not good for playing. In addition, Veterans Memorial Park is located at one of the major entry points into town – the corner of Maple and Dexter-Ann Arbor roads. The area needs attention, he said, and the city is undertaking a major effort to do that, in part to respond to feedback from users.

Outcome: Commissioner voted unanimously to recommend approval of the $982,333 contract with RMD Holdings for ballfield renovations at Veterans Memorial Park, West Park and Southeast Area Park. The recommendation will be forwarded to city council for consideration.

West Park Update

Commissioners had received an update on problems at West Park nearly a year ago, when Craig Hupy – head of systems planning for the city – spoke at PAC’s February 2011 meeting. At that time, Hupy had described the situation with the stormwater infrastructure there as a “catastrophic failure.”

PAC got a more detailed briefing at its Jan. 24 meeting. Parks planner Amy Kuras introduced Nick Hutchinson, a civil engineer and one of the project managers in the city’s public services unit, who was on hand to give an update on the status of swirl concentrators at West Park. It was a shortened version of a similar presentation he’d given at a public forum on the topic earlier in January. Kuras reported that forum had been well-attended.

Nick Hutchinson, an engineer and project manager with the city of Ann Arbor, updated PAC on the status of infrastructure renovations at West Park.

Hutchinson began by giving a brief history of stormwater management in West Park. Originally, north and south branches of Allen Creek flowed over the surface through the land that’s now West Park. In the early 20th century, Washtenaw County built drains through the park to collect stormwater, and directed the flow of Allen Creek into underground pipes. There’s also a sanitary sewer main that runs underground through the park. Hutchinson showed a map that indicated the location of the floodway and floodplain running through the park, as well as the location of the sewer main and county drains.

Over the years, conditions worsened. Deteriorating recreational facilities and uncontrolled flooding in the park led to certain areas being underused.

In 2010, the city renovated West Park, including its bandshell, basketball courts and pathways. The project also included upgrades for stormwater management, Hutchinson said. [The total project, supported in part by federal stimulus funds, cost about $4 million.]

The stormwater portion of the project included installation of some water treatment units – swirl concentrators – on the west side of the park, in the north and south branches of the Allen Creek drain. The purpose was to divert some of the water from the stormwater system, treat it, and remove pollutants before reintroducing it into the system to flow eventually into the Huron River.

Another part of the stormwater management was to remove a nominal amount of water from the stormwater pipes by disconnecting the inlets from North Seventh Street and sending some of the water back to the surface, as it had flowed historically. Water was diverted to a series of bioswales that led to wetlands and ponds as it flowed east through the park.

When construction was being completed around November 2010, Hutchinson reported, a sinkhole appeared on the west side of the park near the drain’s north branch, where the swirl concentrators were located. “These are maybe some of the things that didn’t go quite right on the project,” he said, “that we are still trying to address now.”

The contractor investigated and discovered that the lid on a swirl concentrator had caved in. Cameras were sent down into the other units and it was discovered that all four units on the north branch were in some stage of failure.

This photo, part of the meeting packet for the Jan. 24 park advisory commission, shows the installation of a swirl concentrator at West Park in the summer of 2010.

Hutchinson explained how the swirl concentrators are supposed to work. Water is diverted from the main stormwater pipe through a device called a diversion manhole, containing a 3.5-foot “weir wall” that prevents the water from flowing directly into the main stormwater system. Instead, the diverted water flows into a large cylinder, where it swirls around in a vortex. The solids in the water are forced to the center of the unit, where the velocity of the swirling is slower and the solids settle down to the bottom. The water exits into a pipe on the other side of the unit and is reintroduced into the stormwater system.

During normal conditions or a light rain, most of the water is diverted. But in heavy rainfall, only a portion of the water is diverted – the rest flows over the weir wall and continues directly through the stormwater system, without passing through the swirl concentrators.

A total of eight swirl concentrators were installed – four on the north branch, and four on the south branch. Each unit cost about $66,000, including construction. They were initially installed in June of 2010.

In August of 2010, the four units in the south branch were taken offline because of concerns that the weir wall wasn’t operating correctly, Hutchinson said. The wall wasn’t allowing higher flows to pass through the system during heavy rains. Then in November of 2010, after the swirl concentrator collapsed on the north branch, all four of those units were also taken offline. The weir wall was removed from the diversion manhole, and a bulkhead was installed to block the pipe that led to the swirl concentrators. Since then, water has flowed directly through the stormwater pipes – none of it is diverted to the swirl concentrators. The stormwater system is functioning as it did prior to 2010, Hutchinson said.

In late 2010, the city hired Orchard Hiltz & McCliment (OHM) to look into the situation. OHM began by doing a forensic investigation of the swirl concentrator failures, and determined that the lids of those units were too thin, causing the collapse. ”It was essentially a manufacturing flaw,” Hutchinson said.

OHM also reviewed the prior design of the diversion manholes and weir walls, and conducted some site-specific stormwater modeling to get an understanding of how stormwater behaves in the system. They used that information to present some ideas for improving the system, Hutchinson said. [In November 2010, city council authorized an additional $119,000 for OHM to complete these tasks. That brought total payment to OHM for the West Park project to $324,000. An August 2011 city staff memo indicated that the city expects to recover any additional costs due to the failures, either from the manufacturer or the firm that made the initial design, Beckett & Raeder Inc.]

With a failure of this magnitude there are legal issues, Hutchinson said, including disputes regarding who’s at fault – the contractor (Site Development Inc.) or the manufacturer (AquaShield Inc. and L.F. Manufacturing). He said he couldn’t discuss those issues, except to say that the parties seem to be getting very close to reaching a resolution. The legal issues shouldn’t hold up completion of the project, he said.

Next steps include refining the design of the diversion manholes and weir walls. In addition, residents have raised concerns about manhole covers being popped off during heavy rains, because of pressure from excess water in the system. So OHM is looking at redesigning the system to provide some relief options so that pressure will be eased during storms.

Another public meeting will be held on Feb. 13 at Slauson Middle School. At that meeting, city staff will review OHM’s draft design, and discuss the technical issues that led to the design, Hutchinson said.

In May and June of 2012, the manufacturer will make repairs on the units. Following that, the city will hire a contractor to make the changes that OHM proposes to the diversion manholes and weir walls. City staff hope to have that work completed by July of 2012, Hutchinson said.

West Park Update: Commission Discussion

John Lawter asked whether there are concerns that the shutdown of the swirl concentrators is affecting water detention capability, making it difficult to control floodwater. No, Hutchinson said – the purpose of the swirl concentrators isn’t water detention, but rather to improve the water quality as it flows through.

Are there problems in terms of how much water the units can handle? Lawter asked. If too much water is sent through the units, Hutchinson replied, the water will simply bypass the units and flow over the weir wall, going directly into the stormwater system. Capacity is not a concern. The redesign of the weirs and diversion manholes will ensure that the right amount of water gets in, he said.

Lawter raised the issue of basements flooding in that area, and wondered whether that problem is related to the situation at West Park. An improperly designed weir structure could cause back-ups upstream, Hutchinson said. Any design that’s installed in the future will be studied to ensure that it doesn’t cause any upstream disturbances, he added.

Sam Offen noted that this concern was raised by residents at the January public meeting on West Park. Offen agreed that the issue either needed to be resolved through the new design, or that information should be provided to residents to explain the situation.

Offen also asked how construction would affect the active areas of the park. The work will happen on the park’s west side, Hutchinson said. Access to the ballfield, bandshell and paths will be undisturbed. Kuras added that there are three entrances to the park off of Seventh Street. The north and south entrances will be closed, but the middle entrance will remain open.

Mike Anglin asked whether there was any data related to water flow through the system that was collected prior to the installation of the swirl concentrators. OHM collected flow data in the spring and summer of 2011, Hutchinson said, by putting monitoring devices in the stormwater pipes.

Anglin asked whether the city was making an effort to talk with residents whose basements have flooded. Hutchinson replied that the current project doesn’t entail working with residents. The project is specific to West Park infrastructure.

Kuras added that at the recent public forum on the West Park situation, some people brought up the issue of basement flooding. City staff knows that they need to address the broader issues related to the entire Allen Creek area upstream from West Park, she said.

Hutchinson noted that some neighborhoods – like Maple Ridge – experienced flooding in 2011. At that time, the pipes had been returned to their pre-2010 condition, he said, so the flooding they experienced wasn’t related to changes at West Park, he said.

Report on Fuller & Olson Athletic Fields

Commissioners received an update on conditions of the city’s Fuller Park and Olson Park athletic fields, which were renovated in 2009-2010. The first post-renovation scheduling of play occurred in 2011, from March through November.

From left: Jeff Straw, Ann Arbor deputy parks and recreation manager; Matt Warba, supervisor of field operations; and Jessica Black, parks and recreation customer service manager.

Jessica Black, parks and recreation customer service manager, described how the six Fuller Park fields were used during the spring, summer and fall playing seasons. [.pdf of Fuller fields layouts in 2011] She noted that the two fields at Olson Park are always used as full fields, but that some Fuller Park fields are split into half fields. There are also seasons when the fields are taken out of play and allowed to “rest.”

Black provided a breakdown of the types of users, noting that “soccer is definitely our No. 1 use.” Teams playing soccer accounted for 65% of the use of fields, 15% were lacrosse teams, and the remaining 20% was split between flag football and ultimate frisbee.

A total of 15 teams used the fields throughout 2011, including eight teams that returned from previous years and seven new teams. There were youth and adult teams, and University of Michigan club sports.

City staff had determined that 35 games per field per season was the maximum number of games that should be allowed, in order to maintain the condition of the fields, Black reported. For the three seasons in 2011, Olson and Fuller fields were used at about 79% capacity, she said. At the six Fuller fields, 679 games were played out of a possible 875. At Olson’s two fields, 175 games were played out of 210 possible games.

Jeff Straw, the city’s deputy manager of parks and recreation, briefed commissioners on revenues from the fields. Rates were set at $60 per hour for most of the full fields at Fuller and for the two Olson fields. Half-field rates at Fuller were $40 per hour. For field #6 at Fuller, the rental fee was $32 an hour for a full field, and $20 an hour for a half field. [Previously, rates ranged from $16 an hour to a high of $31.50 an hour, depending on a variety of factors, including residency (Ann Arbor residents were charged lower rates) and time of day (rates for prime time, between 4-8 p.m., were higher). PAC recommended rate increases at its January 2010 meeting.]

Based on the maximum number of games allowed, the six Fuller fields could have brought in a maximum of $70,280. But because the fields were not used at full capacity, Fuller fields recorded $54,608 in revenues during 2011. Of that, $5,400 was later refunded due to weather cancellations, Straw said.

For Olson’s two fields, $21,000 in revenue was collected, but $1,500 was refunded because of cancellations. Those two fields had the potential to bring in $25,200 in revenues, if played to capacity.

Factoring in refunds, the eight fields at Fuller and Olson had a total of $68,708 in revenues during 2011.

Total estimated expenses were $82,688. Major line items were administration and scheduling costs ($25,000), mowing ($18,368) and fertilizing/aerification/overseeding ($18,800).

Commenting on the financials, Matt Warba – the city’s supervisor of field operations – said he didn’t think it was anyone’s intent to make the fields self-sufficient. But it’s getting close, he added, and that’s encouraging.

Warba also noted that April and May of 2011 were especially rainy months – the city had to cancel play on 25 days out of a 45-day period because of rain. Warba also noted that the irrigation system at Olson failed during the summer, resulting in turf loss. That system has been repaired.

Report on Fuller & Olson Athletic Fields: Commission Discussion

Karen Levin asked how 2012 expenses are expected to compare to 2011. Warba replied that costs generally are expected to remain static.

Sam Offen wondered how revenues compared to previous years. Colin Smith, manager of parks and recreation, said it would be difficult to compare since the rates were lower in the past, prior to the renovations. He hadn’t asked his staff to bring those figures.

Gwen Nystuen asked how long it would be before the city would need to invest in another major renovation of the fields. Warba replied that it would be possible to maintain the fields without major renovations. They’re taking a cautious approach, he said, by resting fields periodically so that they can be kept in good condition. The city staff has to balance demand for the fields against maintenance.

Julie Grand, chair of the Ann Arbor park advisory commission.

Nystuen noted that because the fields are fenced in, that keeps people off when it’s raining. That was the intent, Warba said. Olson fields aren’t fenced, however, and in some cases players have jumped the fences at Fuller, he said. One field had to be taken out of play for a month because of the damage caused when people played on a field that was supposed to be closed. Warba said the city will likely hire a temporary worker next season to patrol the fields – it would be cheaper than having to repair damage to a field if players jump the fence.

John Lawter asked whether the city is meeting the need for this kind of play, or could they do more? Smith noted that the fields are at 79% capacity, so there’s space available. However, there’s more demand than capacity for prime time slots – between 4-8 p.m. Black reported that the staff has set the maximum number of games at 35 per field per season. If the city were to add more games in order to accommodate more teams, that might not ultimately meet the teams’ needs, because the condition of the fields would deteriorate. “It’s a balancing act,” Black said.

Smith said the city wants to avoid having to make another major investment in renovating the fields. If demand is high, it’s possible to look at adding fields in other parks, he added, or possibly to acquire more land for that purpose.

Julie Grand asked if the city is doing outreach to groups that might have a lower impact on the fields – sports that don’t involve as much running and kicking as soccer, for example. Black said that at this point, there hasn’t been that kind of outreach.

Gwen Nystuen called the overall report encouraging.

Communications: Allen Creek Greenway, Leslie Science Center

Every meeting includes opportunities for public commentary and communications from commissioners and staff. No one spoke during either of the slots for public commentary at the Jan. 24 meeting.

Communications: Allen Creek Greenway

Gwen Nystuen brought up the issue of the Allen Creek Greenway. She noted that mayor John Hieftje had mentioned there might be action taken soon on the city-owned 415 W. Washington property, which has been identified as a potential part of a greenway. He’d made these comments at the Jan. 23 city council meeting. She wondered if there was any additional information about that.

[Hieftje had indicated that talks were continuing with the group that had been formed to look at the city-owned 415 W. Washington lot. The council passed a resolution giving direction for the effort at its Feb. 1, 2010 meeting, nearly two years ago. The resolution calls for the arts and greenway communities to lead fundraising and development of a vision for the parcel’s use. The site, across from the YMCA, is currently providing revenue to the city as a surface parking lot. It was previously the city’s maintenance yard. At the Jan. 23, 2012 council meeting, Hieftje said the group continues to meet – the biggest challenge remains the building. He said a report on the status of the project would be given at the end of February.]

Christopher Taylor, an ex-officio member of PAC who also serves on city council, said he didn’t have any further information at all. Nystuen then reminded commissioners that the greenway is one of PAC’s priorities. The City Apartments project at First and Washington, by the developer Village Green, is moving ahead, she said. That residential development will include parking spaces, she added, which will free up the need for spaces at the city-owned First and William surface lot that’s located in a floodway. That lot could become part of a greenway, she observed.

Park commissioner Gwen Nystuen and city councilmember Mike Anglin, an ex-officio member of the commission.

The time has come for PAC to actively pursue the greenway, Nystuen said, adding that the city council passed a resolution recently in support of a greenway.

Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, noted that a council resolution was passed on Aug. 4, 2011 expressing general support for the idea of a greenway. There have been conversations, he said, about applying for a grant from the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources Trust Fund, to turn the 415 W. Washington site into a park. The city staff is looking into that. The process would be similar to the way that the trust fund application for the skatepark had been handled, Smith explained. Staff would first come to PAC for a recommendation to apply. That recommendation would be forwarded to city council, which would need to approve the application.

Smith noted that one issue for the 415 W. Washington property is that it’s located in a historic district – the Old West Side. So in addition to PAC, the city would need a recommendation from the historic district commission too, he said.

Finally, Smith reminded commissioners that the parks, recreation and open space (PROS) plan, which PAC approved, recommends that the first action should be development of a master plan to guide the creation of a greenway. That point bears consideration, he said.

Nystuen responded by asking what PAC could do to move this process along. This year her term on the commission ends, she said, and the greenway has been a priority for her for both of her terms on PAC. That’s why she feels some urgency about this issue, she added.

What PAC decides as a body is up to commissioners, Smith replied. They can give direction to develop a greenway master plan, or tell staff to move ahead on the grant application before a master plan is developed. Nystuen asked how other commissioners felt – should they put forward a resolution?

Mike Anglin, a city councilmember who’s a non-voting ex-officio member of PAC, noted that the city’s environmental commission – on which he also serves has previously served – sometimes deals with issues related to parks. Perhaps a subcommittee of the two commissions could be formed to discuss the greenway, he said. There’s federal funding available for water management, he said, which might be one aspect of the greenway. Anglin also noted that the arts community has been interested in that site – they should be included in the dialogue, too.

There are several interested parties, Smith said – parks, the county drain commissioner, the University of Michigan, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, the railroad owners, the Arts Alliance and others. That’s why having a master plan would be useful.

Julie Grand asked about a timeline for the grant application. It’s due April 2, Smith said. That means it would be necessary to secure a PAC recommendation in February, and city council approval in March. It’s also unclear how the historic district commission would fit into this process.

No doubt there’s strong interest in the community, Smith said. But it’s uncertain how to manage the project at this point. He noted that a task force had been formed in 2007 to evaluate development of a greenway that might incorporate the 415 W. Washington site as well as city property at 721 N. Main and First & William. The group couldn’t come to a consensus for the best use of 415 W. Washington, he said, so no decision was made. It seems like a public dialogue is needed to figure out the best option, he said.

Nystuen said she wanted to point out that the near-downtown area on the city’s west side has a shortage of green space. New residential developments will be bringing hundreds of young people downtown, so there will be an increased interest in recreational areas, she said. It makes sense to move forward with a greenway adjacent to downtown. Nystuen said it sounded like the best approach would be to put together a resolution for PAC’s February meeting.

Smith said he’s still waiting on direction regarding whether to apply for the grant. If he gets that direction, then of course the staff would bring a resolution to PAC, he said. Separately, PAC can do what it wants regarding the greenway – that’s not for him to say, Smith told commissioners.

Communications: Leslie Science & Nature Center

At the beginning of the Jan. 24 meeting, commissioner Sam Offen introduced the new executive director for the Leslie Science & Nature Center, Susan Westhoff. [Offen is a board member of the center.]

Sam Offen, an Ann Arbor park advisory commissioner, and Susan Westhoff, executive director of the Leslie Science & Nature Center. Offen also serves on the center's board.

Offen said that Westhoff started about a month ago and is already doing an excellent job. He noted there had been a recent public meeting at the center to discuss a master plan for pedestrian access there. [The center was previously part of the city's parks system, but was spun off as a separate nonprofit in 2007. The city continues to own the center’s property and buildings.]

Westhoff spoke briefly to commissioners, noting that the center and the city had a long history. She said she’s been working in nonprofit administration for about 15 years. She grew up in Canton and graduated from the University of Michigan. Her first nonprofit experience was at the University Musical Society, and she said she’s glad to be back in Ann Arbor.

Westhoff said she’d be happy to share the plans for the pedestrian pathway improvements that are being developed. Among other things, it will make paths to the center’s raptor enclosures ADA compliant. She also noted that the center has many great public programs, and highlighted the Feb. 12 “Hoo’s Your Valentine?” event that features the center’s barn owl.

Julie Grand, PAC’s chair, thanked Westhoff for coming and said she looked forward to collaborating.

Present: Doug Chapman, Julie Grand, Karen Levin, Gwen Nystuen, John Lawter, Sam Offen, councilmember Mike Anglin (ex-officio), councilmember Christopher Taylor (ex-officio). Also Colin Smith, city parks manager.

Absent: David Barrett, Tim Berla, Tim Doyle.

Next meeting: PAC’s meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 begins at 4 p.m. in the city hall second-floor council chambers, 301 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor. [confirm date]

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Hajin Kim, wearing his New Year's Eve mask, salutes the end of 2009 with a pencil. Later, he told The Chronicle: "Masks are scarier than hats." (Photos by the writer.)

Bob Voakes is sitting in the front room of the main Leslie Science and Nature Center building, encircled by more than a dozen children sprawled on the floor. “It’s a special day today – does anyone know what day it is?”

“New Year’s Eve!” they cry out.

It would be hard not to know the answer – everyone is wearing New Year’s Eve hats or masks that they’d made earlier that morning, using construction paper and markers.

They’re all enrolled in the holiday break camp program, with a full agenda of crafts, sledding, hiking, searching for animal tracks, s’more-making, and “who knows what other exciting things we might do!” Voakes, a staff member, tells the kids.

Just down the hall – in Dr. Eugene Leslie’s former study – someone else has a full agenda, too: executive director Kirsten Levinsohn, who’s getting ready to step down from the post in February, after 20 years at the center. With the sound of children happily hollering in the background, Levinsohn talked about the upcoming transition, and why it’s an exciting time for LSNC.

The Past All Around

Levinsohn’s office, like the entire complex of buildings on a hill overlooking Traver Road, still holds artifacts from the days when Eugene and Emily Leslie lived there: An old LC Smith Corona typewriter sits high on a shelf, just below more than a dozen faded green volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Leslies moved to Ann Arbor from New York in the early 1920s, and set up a homestead that also served as a laboratory and workplace for Eugene Leslie, a University of Michigan professor and chemical engineer.

Childless, the Leslies both died in 1976 and bequeathed their property to the city of Ann Arbor. A decade later, the city developed a master plan for the site, with the goal of focusing on educational programs. The first year of operation, in 1990, 121 people participated in the center’s programs, Levinsohn says. This year, that number reached around 44,000.

Kirsten Levinsohn, executive director of Leslie Science and Nature Center, watches as kids in the holiday break camp go sledding on Thursday.

Levinsohn was there from the beginning, starting out as part-time staff and working 10 hours a week. She was pregnant with her youngest son, Erik, and her eldest, Jonathan, was a toddler, so the schedule was a good fit.

Her job and its duties grew as her children did, she says, noting that her son Jonathan refers to the center as her third child. It’s a family-oriented place, both for its focus on programs for school-age children as well as the flexibility afforded its staff, many of whom have raised their own children with the center as an integral part of their lives.

By the time the center separated from the city in 2007 to become an independent nonprofit, Levinsohn had already been at the helm for several years.

Looking Ahead

The search committee for Levinsohn’s replacement has narrowed the field to five candidates, including two from this area. While in the past this type of organization would look for someone primarily with credentials as an environmentalist or naturalist, she says, today there’s a recognition that having professional management skills is important, too.

The executive director oversees a staff of five full-time employees, 10 part-timers and a coterie of volunteers. The center, which sits on about 50 acres of land, has a budget of roughly $500,000 – about half of that comes from program fees, like the $185 per child charge for this week’s four-day holiday break camp.

Support from the city of Ann Arbor accounts for about 6% of the total budget, or about $30,000. Although that annual funding is part of an agreement between the city and LSNC, this spring city administrator Roger Fraser had proposed cutting it from the city’s current fiscal year budget, as part of a broader effort to cut expenses from the general fund.

Supporters of the center protested, and city councilmembers ultimately passed budget amendments ensuring funding this year. The bulk of that funding was achieved by eliminating $24,000 previously allocated for historic district consulting.  But the budget scenario is even grimmer for fiscal 2011, which begins July 1, 2010 – council will be making decisions about that budget by May. [See Chronicle coverage: "Ann Arbor City Budget: Cuts Begin Now"]

Kirsten Levinsohn at her desk in the main office of the Leslie Science and Nature Center.

Public schools are another source of LSNC revenue that might be in jeopardy because of the current budget crisis.  Schools programming accounts for  $60-$70,000 annually. It’s also a core part of  the center’s mission.

All LSNC programs for schools complement the state science standards and classroom curriculum, Levinsohn notes. Students get up-close experiences with nature that they wouldn’t otherwise have – including the center’s bald eagle, peregrine falcon and red-tailed hawk, among other raptors kept on site.

For the most part, other revenue comes from grants and contributions. A whiteboard in Levinsohn’s office lists the status of various grant requests – successful applications include $10,000 from the James A. and Faith Knight Foundation, and funding from the Mericos Foundation and Wolf Foundation.

The staff also is working on ideas for other programs that would fit LSNC’s mission, and diversify its revenue sources. One possibility is to work with patients at the Veterans Administration hospital, who are being treated for depression or war trauma – studies show that being out in nature helps treatment, Levinsohn says.

Levinsohn also says she’d love to see a preschool based at the center – the Kalamazoo Nature Center has one that’s successful.

Moving On

But development of any of those ideas will be under someone else’s watch. Levinsohn’s last day will be around Feb. 10. The plan is to overlap with the new director for only one day, she says, then to be on call after that. She says she’s talked to all of the candidates and offered her help at any time – if they want it.

But she quickly adds that any of the candidates would be fully capable of stepping in without her advice. To ensure the transition will be smooth, Levinsohn has also been cross-training other staff members in some of her tasks, like payroll, and documenting the center’s procedures in a black three-ring binder that sits on a shelf next to her desk.

But part of her attention is already turning to “the next adventure of my life,” she says. Her husband, Jim Levinsohn – who’s been a UM professor of public policy and economics – has taken a job at Yale University as the first director of the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. Though she’s explored opportunities at a few nonprofits in the New Haven, Conn., area, Levinsohn says she isn’t going to decide her next move until they relocate.

She does know that she’ll miss Ann Arbor, and the center. “We’re really rooted in this community – we love Ann Arbor,” she says.

But it’s also time to move on. “Twenty years is long enough for anyone,” Levinsohn says. “I think this is going to be a great thing for the center.”

Anastasia Shchurin and Michelle Zorine work on a four-season diorama at the Leslie Science and Nature Center's holiday break camp.

Isabel Ahbel-Rappe finishes her Happy New Year's hat on Thursday at the Leslie Science and Nature Center's holiday break camp.

Kirsten Levinsohn helps a little sledder with his coat.

A sign at the Leslie Science and Nature Center says good-bye to 2009.