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.
A2Council Update Video
Ann Arbor City Council Meeting Summary
APPROVED: By resolution, City Council asserts spending priorities for millage rebate funds that will be received if a Washtenaw County millage is approved. This refers to the extension of a County-wide millage from 2017 to fund mental health services and the County Sheriff’s department. The terms of the millage include a ‘rebate’ for those communities (including Ann Arbor) that maintain their own police forces. The Millage rebate funds will enter the City’s general fund untethered as to purpose. (Legistar)
- City Council approves the following spending priorities for the 2024 County millage rebate:
- 40% to unarmed response
- 40% for supportive housing services through the Ann Arbor Housing Commission
- 20% for bicycle and pedestrian safety
- Seven years ago, in anticipation of the original County millage, Council approved a similar resolution directing priorities for the rebate. In 2017, Council approved the following priorities to spend the County millage rebate:
- 40% toward construction, renovation, and capital improvements of affordable housing assets
- 40% to effect the goals of Ann Arbor’s Climate Action Plan
- 20% to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety
- A significant number of voters were completely unaware of that resolution; for these voters, the ballot offered no indication that allocations were “promised” or that any of the funds were committed to goals other than community mental health or public safety. Alternatively, local environmental nonprofits were well aware of the 2017 resolution and helped promote the County millage among their members, relying on the promise of funding. After approval of the millage, advocates for mental health services challenged allocations that strayed so far from the language that voters saw on the ballot.
- Ann Arbor was the only municipality to anticipate this County millage rebate with a resolution directing future allocations. In the other six municipalities that received this rebate, elected leaders recognized that the funds were entering local budgets untethered as to purpose, and allocation decisions would have to happen in the context of a regular budget process, among the leaders in office during that process.
- I wrote about it at the time: A2ELNEL: Additional Thoughts (Mar 3, 2019) – Mental Health Millage Rebate
- https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2024/10/ann-arbor-aims-to-shift-public-safety-millage-funds-to-unarmed-alternatives-to-police.html
APPROVED: The City will accept a $483,000 grant from the Michigan State Police to fund Community Based Crisis Response Pilot program. This item appeared on (and was removed from) three previous Council agendas. Approval was delayed due to concerns around State review and audit and violations of privacy. Staff reported that these concerns have been addressed. (Legistar)
- The Council Administration Committee discussed concerns about the grant at their meeting on August 19, 2024. https://a2council.com/council-administration-committee-august-19-2024/
- Link to recording of meeting (discussion of grant begins at time stamp 8:33): https://youtu.be/ApNp_M4dOgM&t=513
APPROVED: A Brownfield Plan for 300-312 E. Huron that includes public subsidy of $749,529 in tax incremental financing (TIF). (Legistar)
- The plan will provide TIF funding, as requested by the developer of a six-story, 139 room AC Hotel. The location is eligible for public funds through the Local Site Remediation Revolving Fund (LSRRF), due to high levels of tetrachloroethylene (PCE). Past uses of the site include a gas station, car stereo installation center, garage, and dry cleaner.
- The hotel is supported by $16 million in private investment. The developer initially requested up to $1.167 million in TIF subsidy to reimburse for environmental investigation, contaminated soil removal, and vapor mitigation controls, and site demolition activities. The Washtenaw County Brownfield Review Authority approved TIF subsidy totaling $749,529.
- According to the staff report, the project meets all applicable standards for approval, except for those relating to funding gaps and feasibility. Two standards for approval refer to the need for brownfield fund awards because:
- A real financial gap in project feasibility can be demonstrated.
- The environmental conditions and/or extraordinary costs associated with urban, infill development prevent a reasonable return on Investment for the developer.
- Staff explain that neither of these standards can be calculated, because construction of the hotel is already underway and “It is not normal practice to offer Brownfield TIF post project approval.” From their report (link): “As stated above, the developer could make cuts elsewhere to offset the additional remediation expenses. Those cuts would likely result in less energy efficiency and sustainability upgrades. In this situation, the intent of awarding a brownfield TIF is to ensure these updates are completed as promised.”
- When the hotel site plan was presented to the City Planning Commission, the City’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations did not recommend approval (link): “While OSI recognizes the work done to install on-site solar and storage, the inclusion of a thought-out construction and demolition waste management plan, and various other strategies that align with the A2 ZERO plan, the use of fossil fuels in any capacity goes against the goals of A2 ZERO and the OSI will not recommend approval for any project that does not achieve full building electrification.”
- The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the hotel site plan. https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-planning-commission-november-14-2023/
- This week’s proposed Brownfield Plan was approved by the Washtenaw County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority on August 22, 2024 and must be approved by City Council.
- On May 1, 2023, City Council voted to dissolve the City committee that reviewed Brownfield Plans prior to consideration by the whole of Council. I wrote about it here: A2ELNEL: Dissolving Brownfields Plan Review Committee: “Streamlined” Process to Give Money to Developers
APPROVED: Amendments to the Home Energy Rating Disclosure (HERD) ordinance. (Legistar)
- Amendments will clarify that:
- An energy rating must be posted continuously in a publicly accessible real estate listing for as long as the property is on the market for sale
- A report must align with templates from the federal Department of Energy (DOE)
- A report will include recommendations for improvement in CO2 emission reductions
- The HERD ordinance may be enforced by staff other than Building and Rental Services Unit Employees or Development Services Inspectors.
- The HERD ordinance was originally approved in September 2023 (https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-council-september-5-2023/) requiring home sellers to provide a Home Energy Score Report completed by a Home Energy Assessor (certified by the US Department of Energy).These reports estimate annual and monthly energy use and cost by fuel type, as well as comparative Home energy scores for similar dwellings. These seller disclosure requirements may be waived at the “sole discretion” of the Director of the Sustainability and Innovations department (Dr. Missy Stults).
- HERD requirements do not apply to multi-story/multi-family housing, accessory dwelling units, mobile homes, or commercial buildings. This week’s amendments rephrase terms emphasizing that they do not apply to a single unit for sale within a vertically-stacked multi-family structure.
APPROVED: The Unified Development Code (UDC) will be amended to change standards in the Transit Corridor (TC-1) zoning district. (Legistar)
- Proposed amendments will:
- Increase allowable number of curb cuts
- Increase allowable building dimensions
- Eliminate minimum building frontage
- Remove prohibition on housing within 100 feet of signaled intersections
- Remove requirement for active first floor use on streets
- Eliminate requirement that larger sites be designed as two or more blocks
- The last of these changes refers to a site larger than 62,500 square feet, which is a little over 1.4 acres.
- All of these changes were specifically requested by developers Crawford-Hoying and Oxford Companies in a letter dated March 22, 2024 to the Planning Department (link)
- The chair of the Planning Commission, Wonwoo Lee, is the chief real estate officer of Oxford Companies. Lee was recused from voting on these amendments when they were considered and approved unanimously by the Planning Commission. https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-planning-commission-july-16-2024/
- https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2024/10/ann-arbor-council-split-on-pretty-drastic-transit-corridor-zoning-changes.html
POSTPONED: The Unified Development Code (UDC) will be amended to improve “clarity and efficiency.” (Legistar)
- This was second reading, and was postponed to the October 21, 2024 Council meeting.
- Proposed amendments will:
- Exclude elevator/stairwell enclosures from the calculation of FAR relative to permissible height.
- Remove site plan review when interior construction increases the number of dwelling units
- Remove County stormwater review except for sites in their geographic jurisdiction
- Change formula for calculating “finished grade”
- These amendments were approved unanimously by the Planning Commission in July 2024. https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-planning-commission-july-16-2024/
APPROVED (First Reading): Amendments to the City’s nondiscrimination ordinance will add a requirement that employers in any business – e.g. manufacturing, retail, store, department store, laundry, hotel, restaurant, fast food and drive thru establishments, hairdressers, barbers, and estheticians – make seating available to employees where sitting would not interfere with the duties of employment. This must be provided regardless of any employee disability. The employer must demonstrate seating would actually interfere with the duties of employment. (Legistar)
- This addition to the City’s nondiscrimination ordinance is related to terms from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As an accommodation for people living with disabilities, the ADA would grant employees the right to sit. Asserting such a right under the ADA, an employee would request the accommodation with evidence of disability. The proposed changes would reverse that negotiation: an employer would have to demonstrate standing as a job requirement, rather than the employee demonstrating a personal need to sit.
- Last year, the Guardian wrote about the “right to sit” and inequities between jobs where sitting is permitted and where it is not: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/28/sitting-at-work-employees-rest-worker-rights
- The amendments proposed this week are consistent with reform happening elsewhere. E.g. The state of New York is in the process of approving similar legislation: “Sitting is Tiring” (SIT) Act in New York State: https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1608352
- https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2024/09/ann-arbor-standing-up-for-the-right-to-sit-down-at-work.html
- https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2024/10/right-to-sit-law-to-protect-ann-arbor-workers-advances-in-11-0-vote.html
APPROVED (First Reading): By ordinance, the City officially adopts a new City flag. (Legistar)
- City Council approved the flag design by resolution on September 3, 2024: https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-council-september-3-2024/
- https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2024/09/a-great-city-deserves-a-great-flag-ann-arbors-new-city-flag-unveiled.html
APPROVED (First Reading): An ordinance amendment will clarify language and authorize the City Office of Sustainability and Innovations to issue citations in enforcement of Energy and Water Benchmarking standards. (Legistar)
- Originally approved in 2021 (Legistar), the benchmarking ordinance requires private property owners to annually report data on water and energy use for properties exceeding 20,000 gross square feet.
APPROVED (First Reading): A recently annexed 1.66 acre parcel at 3474 Huron River Drive will be rezoned from TWP (township) to R1D (Single-family dwelling district). (Legistar)
- This rezoning was approved by the City Planning Commission on April 16, 2024. The petitioner requested R1A zoning, but the City Planning Commission approved R1D zoning. https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-planning-commission-april-16-2024/
A2ELNEL Voting Chart
