This meeting was held in person at City Hall.
APPROVED: 1601 South State Street (“Southtown”) Rezoning – Offer to Amend Conditional Zoning Statement of Conditions A petition to amend the Southtown Conditional Zoning Statement of Conditions, adopted and incorporated by Ordinance No. 23-24 to zone a 1.66-acre site C1A/R (Campus Business Residential) District with Conditions, by restating paragraph 2. D. from “The Property shall have no natural gas connections except for emergency back-up power,” to “The Property will demonstrate continuous microgrid operation at 60-75% less Carbon Intensity (CI) than electricity incumbent DTE.” (Legistar)
- Planning approved the rezoning to C1A/R on June 21, 2023: https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-planning-commission-june-21-2023/
- Council approved the rezoning to C1A/R on Aug 7, 2023: https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-council-august-7-2023/
- The terms of the rezoning approved in 2023 added conditions, including a limitation on natural gas hookups: “the property shall have no natural gas connections except for emergency back-up power”
- The developer now requests an amendment to change this condition to: “the property will demonstrate continuous microgrid at 60-75% less carbon intensity (CI) than electricity incumbent DTE”
- According to the Planning staff report (link), the developer plans to “generate its own electricity from fuel cells using renewable natural gas fuels or hydrogen fuels”
- A letter from the Southtown designer (link) explains the developers plan to utilize renewable natural gas (RNG) from “agricultural emissions or via biodigestion, if commercially available.” The developer plans to eventually shift to “green hydrogen” or “blue hydrogen” neither of which is yet commercially available. If unavailable, the developer plans to purchase RNG from DTE.
- The current chair of the City’s Environmental Commission has raised concerns that RNG from factory farms generates the same harmful pollutants as the fossil fuel industry. For more on how RNG has been promoted by the fossil fuel industry, see:
- The Conservation Law Foundation describes “renewable natural gas” as greenwashing:
- City Council adopted the amended conditions at second reading on July 15, 2024, and approved the first amendment to the Southtown development agreement the same night. https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-council-july-15-2024/
Legistar and Video Links
Legistar: https://a2gov.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1147057&GUID=302441BD-F47A-4F59-9D4D-C274A7FF0AF8
YouTube: https://youtu.be/qQQWNrT7tRw
CTN Video: https://ctnvideo.a2gov.org/CablecastPublicSite/show/9576
Meeting Length: 2h 53m