The Ann Arbor City Council met at Larcom City Hall Tuesday evening to hear a presentation from the Downtown Development Authority and pass a resolution to purchase park land on Fuller Road.
The meeting began with an update from the Independent Community Police Oversight Commission, an initiative dedicated to fostering a healthy relationship between city residents and the police department. Commission chair Stefani Carter said the commission has increased outreach in the community.
“We had more community events than we’ve had in the past, and we have instituted a planning committee,” Carter said. “This coming year, we’re hoping to have several more events where the public can come in, and we’re asking the public if you have topics that you are interested in with regard to police oversight, with regard to police practices. We would very much like to hear from the community, so that we can bring in experts.”
The meeting then moved to updates from the DDA, a unit dedicated to projects within downtown Ann Arbor. Executive Director Maura Thomson reminded the council of the current development plan requirements, which specifies the activities that the DDA will undertake in the coming years, along with the tax finance plan. The DDA is required to establish a defined downtown boundary before it can build infrastructure and manage programs within that area.
Thomson explained the council decided to expand the downtown boundary north of Kingsley St. towards the Huron River to better connect the DDA’s work to the community’s needs and future development opportunities.
“We believe that expanding to the north strengthens our existing district by allowing us to make improvements to two of the key gateways to our downtown,” Thomson said. “It also allows us to connect our existing district to the river, and it allows the DDA to participate in some key projects.”
The DDA’s plan makes use of tax increment financing, a model used to help local governments to fund public projects. Thomson explained the city, a taxing unit, would receive portions of revenue, but the DDA would also use a portion to help fund the new boundary’s infrastructure.
“What we are recommending is that the taxing units receive 30% of that revenue growth from new development, and the DDA captures 70% of that revenue,” Thomson said. “We believe that this is a sustainable model that allows the DDA to make the investments that we need to make, while also allowing taxing units to benefit from that new development and that revenue growth.”
While Thomson noted that 150 development projects were identified when establishing the plans, she said some main projects rely on the approval of the boundary expansion.
“On 721 N. Main St., we have an estimated $8 million scheduled for remediation and landscape work at that site, and support for a potential (Michigan Department of Transportation) jurisdictional transfer of that road,” Thomson said. “And then the Fifth and Division North/South (Bus Rapid Transit), that is a critical project to improve transit. It’s a complex project that we could not participate in if our boundary does not expand.”
After hearing public comments, councilmembers provided their personal statements. City Councilmember Jenn Cornell, D-Ward 5, addressed a claim during public comment that Ann Arbor residents are no longer venturing downtown due to lack of businesses.
“The data shows that daily activity has increased across all days of the week and that there has been steady recovery and growth (in food traffic) since the pandemic,” Cornell said. “This is still a desirable place for businesses to want to be, and I think it’s really important that we recognize that that’s something as a community we should be proud of, that we can support that type of business activity in our downtown.”
City Councilmember Jen Eyer, D-Ward 4, discussed her time at the Ann Arbor Democratic Party’s Labor Day Picnic hearing challenges faced by local labor advocates, specifically in the Environmental Protection Agency, and shared the importance of supporting organized labor.
“One story that really stood out for me came from the Environmental Protection Agency, where management is escalating a crackdown on unions,” Eyer said. “Going so far as to tell employees that they must seek approval from agency management and ethics officials before working with their union, even on their own personal time. This is an attack on employees’ constitutional right to organize, and it’s deeply troubling. Here in Ann Arbor, we are proud to stand with organized labor.”
Finally, the resolution to purchase land on Fuller Road for $108,500 was unanimously approved. City Councilmember Chris Watson, D-Ward 2, explained that the resolution would approve the purchase of property adjacent to the Furstenberg Nature Area for parks purposes.
“This parcel, known as the Van Dyck Dobos property, has access to Fuller Road, but is otherwise surrounded by Furstenberg Nature Area,” Watson said. “The parcel has been used as a private garden and outdoor recreation space over the last 50 years, and has seen little disturbance over the last decade, making it easy to assimilate into the existing area. Acquiring this missing piece of property will protect the riverfront’s natural areas and public access and prevent further possible boundary disputes.”
Daily Staff Reporter Ava Pustulka can be reached at apustulk@umich.edu.
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