A2Council Meeting Summaries

Month: March 2022

Ann Arbor City Council: March 21, 2022

This Ann Arbor City Council meeting was held in person at City Hall. Members of the public can participate in public hearings and public comment either in person or via phone.

Legistar
YouTube
Newsletter
Voting Chart

Ann Arbor City Council Meeting Summary

APPROVED: A resolution asking that an employment contract be negotiated for Milton Dohoney Jr to be hired as a permanent City Administrator for the City of Ann Arbor. (Legistar)

APPROVED: The City will move forward with a list of recommendations to improve the City’s food procurement policies. The City will offer more nutritious and health-enhancing, ideally locally sourced, choices at City facilities. For City vending and event catering, the City will develop a directory of preferred restaurants, caterers, and other eating places that provide plant-based alternatives, support the local food system, and minimize wasteful packaging. The City will work with Washtenaw County Food Policy Council (WCFPC) and attend their meetings. An “A2ZERO Preferred” labeling system will be established to identify sustainable choices at vending machines, snack bars, and other City-operated points of purchase. (Legistar)

APPROVED: A contract for $120,000 with Dykema Gossett, PLLC will fund lobbying services at the state and federal level. This contract displaces a $48,000 contract for state lobbying services that were provided by GCSI (Governmental Consultant Services Inc) for the last 21 years. (Legistar)

APPROVED: Downtown streets will be closed to promote increased seating and sales capacity at local businesses during the warmer season. Main Street (William to Washington), West Liberty (Ashley to Main), and East Liberty (Main to Fourth) will be closed to vehicular traffic on Thursdays at 4 p.m. and through 6 a.m. on Mondays. West Washington (Ashley to Main) will be closed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These closures may start as early as Thursday, May 5, 2022, and may continue as late as October 31, 2022. (Legistar)

A2ELNEL Voting Chart

Ann Arbor City Council Voting Chart for March 21, 2022 Part 1
Ann Arbor City Council Voting Chart for March 21, 2022 Part 2

Ann Arbor City Planning Commission: March 15, 2022

This meeting was held in person at City Hall.

APPROVED: Recommendations that City Council approve amendments to the UDC

  • Religious assembly added as a permitted use in the M1 (Limited Industrial) zoning district.
  • Reducing minimums for lot size, lot width, and lot area per dwelling unit in R2A district
    • 8500 square feet reduced to 5000 square feet minimum lot size
    • 60 feet to 40 feet minimum lot width
    • 4,250 square feet to 2500 square feet minimum lot area per dwelling unit

APPROVED: Recommendations that City Council approve amendments to the UDC

  • Amendment to reduce minimum rear setback in R2A – 30 feet reduced to 20 feet.
  • Commissioner Lee recused himself from discussion and action on this amendment.

APPROVED: Recommendations that City Council approve amendments to the UDC

  • Permitting any number of marijuana facilities on a single lot, allowing multiple of the same kinds of marijuana license types on a single lot.
  • Street tree requirements exclude curb cuts from street tree planting frontage calculations. Street tree planting fee replaces reference to street tree escrow.
  • Flexibility in street tree requirements for modification of a proposed site plan.

All of the above UDC amendments were approved by City Council at the August 15, 2022 meeting: https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-council-august-15-2022

APPROVED: Expansion (9,200 square feet) of Ann Arbor Chinese Church at 1750 Dhu Varren Road. Landscape modifications will permit existing landscape islands to remain, without bio-retention capacity and parking lot will continue with more that 15 spaces per row, without a landscape island.

Legistar and Video Links

Legistar: https://a2gov.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=931697&GUID=F0798D5B-6DB0-438F-92CD-3EACAF58477E

YouTube: not available

CTN Video: https://ctnvideo.a2gov.org/CablecastPublicSite/show/6591

Meeting Length: 3h 8m

Ann Arbor City Council: March 7, 2022

This Ann Arbor City Council meeting was held in person at City Hall. Members of the public can participate in public hearings and public comment either in person or via phone.

Legistar
YouTube
Newsletter
Voting Chart

Ann Arbor City Council Meeting Summary

APPROVED: A $1,360,502.72 construction contract with Bailey Excavating for replacement of a water main, street surfacing, and construction of curbs, gutters, and sidewalk ramps as part of the Third and Mosley Water Main and Resurfacing Project. (Legistar)

Two resolutions related to traffic calming

APPROVED: An Industrial Development District (IDD) is established at 3874 Research Park Drive (plus four adjacent vacant lots), as requested by Sartorius BioAnalytical Instruments, Inc. for Sartorius/Research Park. An IDD will allow for local Tax Abatement for the benefit of Sartorius, through an Industrial Facilities Exemption Certificate. (Legistar)

APPROVED: Appropriation of $30,177.39 from the General Fund toward a Design and Cost Estimate of an East-West Pathway under the East Medical Center Drive bridge. (Legistar)

APPROVED: In anticipation of the retirement of current City Attorney Stephen Postema (3/11/22) and the employment of successor City Attorney Atleen Kaur (beginning on 4/11/22), Chief Deputy City Attorney Kevin McDonald is appointed Interim City Attorney from March 12 until April 10, 2022. Mr McDonald will be paid the current salary for the City Attorney while he serves as Interim City Attorney. (Legistar)

A2ELNEL Voting Chart

Ann Arbor City Council Voting Chart for March 7, 2022 Part 1
Ann Arbor City Council Voting Chart for March 7, 2022 Part 2

Ann Arbor City Planning Commission: March 1, 2022

This meeting was held in person at City Hall.

POSTPONED: Recommendation that City Council approve amendments to the UDC:

  • Religious assembly added as a permitted use in the M1 (Limited Industrial) zoning district.
  • Permitting any number of marijuana facilities on a single lot, allowing multiple of the same kinds of marijuana license types on a single lot.
  • Reducing minimums for lot size, lot width, and lot area per dwelling unit in R2A district
    • 8500 square feet reduced to 5000 square feet minimum lot size
    • 60 feet to 40 feet minimum lot width
    • 4,250 square feet to 2500 square feet minimum lot area per dwelling unit
  • Street tree requirements exclude curb cuts from street tree planting frontage calculations. Street tree planting fee replaces reference to street tree escrow
  • Flexibility in street tree requirements for modification of a proposed site plan

These UDC amendments items were discussed and approved at the March 15, 2022 meeting: https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-planning-commission-march-15-2022

Legistar and Video Links

Legistar: https://a2gov.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=931696&GUID=C949A199-C809-4AAF-8946-1E7E0676BE1D

YouTube: https://youtu.be/dIA1gs2JD7s

CTN Video: https://ctnvideo.a2gov.org/CablecastPublicSite/show/6528

Meeting Length: 1h 34m

Subscribe To My Newsletter

My name is Elizabeth Nelson, and I believe that your local government should be accessible and transparent. Since 2018 , I have sent out a newsletter before every Council meeting with my summary of agenda items coming before City Council, plus news and events of interest to Ann Arbor residents.

After each Council meeting, I create and post voting charts so that you can easily see how Council voted, and update this website with meeting summaries that include links to the City’s Legistar website, CTN’s YouTube video, and articles published on MLive.

Subscribe