Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

City Council, Ho Hum Edition

18. April 2006 • Dale Winling
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Lost in the excitement and intrigue of annual city council primaries and election speculation is the bi-weekly grind of caucus and council meetings, the actual work of elected officials.

Tonight City Council’s agenda seems to lack controversy, but includes a number of hearings and discussions that bear scrutiny.

Upzoning 202 S. Division for the Metro 202 development. This is the second public hearing on the proposal.

Proposal to raise meter rates for Ann Arbor taxicabs.

Plan to hold a citywide millage vote (with language to be determined) on funds for street reconstruction.

As usual, Mayor John Hieftje will kick things off at 7 pm at City Hall. City Council meetings are televised live on CTN, channel 16 on Comcast. Feel free to live blog.



  1. Drat, I knew there was something I meant to watch last night!

    Of particular interest to me on the agenda was the Big George’s Building. OK, so it is a big, one-story building with parking in the front, which is exactly what we don’t want on Stadium. However, they are planning to put a green roof on it! This would make it the only commercial building in Ann Arbor with a green roof and only the second building in Ann Arbor with a green roof (I think Bob Grese’s garage has the only green roof in Ann Arbor; the Mallett’s creek Library was originally supposed to have one, but I don’t think it happened).


       —Juliew    Apr. 18 '06 - 06:59PM    #
  2. Malletts Creek Branch does indeed have a green roof; so does the Collegian on Maynard, although almost no-one can see it. The new Northeast branch on Traverwood drive is also planned to have a green roof.


       —eli    Apr. 18 '06 - 07:19PM    #
  3. Malletts Branch does have a green roof, but sadly the Collegian does not; it was cut for financial reasons. I look forward to seeing both the NE Branch and Big George’s roofs, hopefully they will advertise what a great technique a green roof can be for sustainable development.


       —KGS    Apr. 18 '06 - 07:47PM    #
  4. Good to know that Mallett’s creek does indeed have a green roof. I saw lots of references to it in the design plans, but then nothing in their current description so I thought it had been cut. The picture makes it hard to see since there is snow on it.


       —Juliew    Apr. 18 '06 - 07:59PM    #
  5. Actually, based on my recollection of the article in the News from a few weeks back, I think the Big George’s is going to be better than Juliew suggests. I believe that it’s in fact going to be two stories high, and will be built right to the sidewalk line on a corner near their current spot where they’ll be tearing something else (a gas station?) down. And I believe that the parking lot is going to be on the south side of the building, so alongside rather than in front, which is better but not as ideal as behind. So not perfect, but all in all a positive development.

    That half mile or so of Stadium is pretty much the only sprawl in town that has the potential to eventually be “urban”. Several of the buildings, like Bell’s/Stadium Hardware are already built to the sidewalk, so it’s nice to see new stuff filling in one of the many gaps. And the new lights/sidewalks/crossings don’t hurt.


       —Parking Structure Dude!    Apr. 18 '06 - 10:49PM    #
  6. Sorry, PSD, the plan that was approved by the Planning Commission and was on the table last night at Council is for a one-story building with parking in the front. The .pdf from the city with all the details is here. Strictly suburban stripmall style, but with a nice green roof.


       —Juliew    Apr. 19 '06 - 12:54AM    #
  7. I should have known it was too good to be true….


       —Parking Structure Dude!    Apr. 19 '06 - 01:14AM    #