Update on the City of Ann Arbor Comprehensive Plan, as of March 2025
- by Wendy Carman
OHMHA held a Meeting in a Box at Thurston Elementary School in October 2024
Public Engagement
The City and the Comprehensive Plan consultants held public open houses at the downtown library in 2024 to share ideas and collect data. They also held some small group meetings, including reaching out to people who do not live in Ann Arbor and some groups thought not to usually participate.
They did not hold publicized meetings with neighborhoods. Instead, they created what they called a Meeting in a Box, making it possible for anyone who knew about this opportunity to obtain surveys, potentially meet with friends and neighbors, and submit them. These surveys did not require the respondents to provide their names but did ask questions about where they lived. OHMHA held a Meeting-in-a-Box workshop in October 2024 and delivered completed surveys from attendees to the City and to our 2nd ward City Council Members.
Meeting-in-a-Box surveys were not meant to be representative of the opinions of the adult residents of Ann Arbor or of single-family neighborhoods. The planning director felt a representative sample of residents would be too costly and was not needed.
The surveys asked questions about replacing single-family zoning with a zoning category called Low-rise Residential, which would allow up to 4 units per lot.
The adult population of Ann Arbor is about 104,000 persons. The City ultimately received about 3000 surveys (approx. 3%). They are now reporting that 70% of those respondents were in favor of growth and densification and eliminating single-family zoning).
The City and the Comprehensive Plan consultants held public open houses at the downtown library in 2024 to share ideas and collect data. They also held some small group meetings, including reaching out to people who do not live in Ann Arbor and some groups thought not to usually participate.
They did not hold publicized meetings with neighborhoods. Instead, they created what they called a Meeting in a Box, making it possible for anyone who knew about this opportunity to obtain surveys, potentially meet with friends and neighbors, and submit them. These surveys did not require the respondents to provide their names but did ask questions about where they lived. OHMHA held a Meeting-in-a-Box workshop in October 2024 and delivered completed surveys from attendees to the City and to our 2nd ward City Council Members.
Meeting-in-a-Box surveys were not meant to be representative of the opinions of the adult residents of Ann Arbor or of single-family neighborhoods. The planning director felt a representative sample of residents would be too costly and was not needed.
The surveys asked questions about replacing single-family zoning with a zoning category called Low-rise Residential, which would allow up to 4 units per lot.
The adult population of Ann Arbor is about 104,000 persons. The City ultimately received about 3000 surveys (approx. 3%). They are now reporting that 70% of those respondents were in favor of growth and densification and eliminating single-family zoning).
Central to the Comprehensive Plan is the assumption that the City wants to add a substantial number of residents by adding between 30,000 to 97,000 housing units over the next thirty years. This can only be accomplished with significant increases in population density.
Updates from Staff
The City of Ann Arbor staff presented their vision to the Planning Commission on January 23, 2025 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH34npp8vyw] in a long discussion. It was then presented to the City Council on Feb 10, 2025 [Ann Arbor City Council Work Session 2/10/25 - YouTube, starting at 46 mins and 11 seconds]. This presentation has been summarized by MLIVE [https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2025/02/10-highlights-as-ann-arbor-discusses-evolving-vision-for-a-denser-future.html?outputType=amp].
This vision includes some proposals that were not part of the previous presentations to the public or part of the survey, including:
Next Steps
The City of Ann Arbor staff and consultants are now shifting from public engagement to drafting a proposed plan, a vision of how the development of Ann Arbor should take place. They hope to have a draft plan ready in about 6 weeks when it will come back to the Planning Commission for review and public hearings.
Once approved by the Planning Commission, the Commission will make a recommendation to the City Council to approve the document. The Comprehensive Plan will then be referred to the City Council for review and a public hearing. The Comprehensive Plan is likely to be ready for City Council approval as early as this Fall.
The actual implementation process was not discussed at these meetings. Staff indicated to City council that it may be necessary to ask for more time and money to finish this process. Once approved, implementation will require many changes to the Unified Development Code. It is not clear how this process will work. However, it does seem likely that the “rezoning of property” may not provide property owners a way to effectively oppose their rezoning.
While the current focus is on one aspect of our future: the preferred land use and zoning requirements. Many other aspects of our city will be impacted as these changes progress, such as transportation systems including roads, transit, and “nonmotorized” travel – cycle and pedestrian; storm water; utilities – particularly water and sewer; public safety (fire and police protection); social services, and other municipal activities.
Updates from Staff
The City of Ann Arbor staff presented their vision to the Planning Commission on January 23, 2025 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH34npp8vyw] in a long discussion. It was then presented to the City Council on Feb 10, 2025 [Ann Arbor City Council Work Session 2/10/25 - YouTube, starting at 46 mins and 11 seconds]. This presentation has been summarized by MLIVE [https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2025/02/10-highlights-as-ann-arbor-discusses-evolving-vision-for-a-denser-future.html?outputType=amp].
This vision includes some proposals that were not part of the previous presentations to the public or part of the survey, including:
- Sentiment for allowing more residential densification than 4 units per lot for low-rise residential areas by increasing allowed heights and allowing an unlimited number of units
- Creating special “zoning districts: a Core District, a Retail District, an Innovation District, and an Employment District. [There is a discussion of this in the YouTube link to the 2/10/25 work session provided above]
- Of Note, the Plymouth Road Corridor and Green Road would be designated as an Innovation District. This would expand the mixed-use development to more than the existing TC1 properties, limit the amount of residential use allowed, and permit the highest height/density development potential in the City. Ostensibly, this would allow land to be used by companies with business spinoffs from the nearby university land.
Next Steps
The City of Ann Arbor staff and consultants are now shifting from public engagement to drafting a proposed plan, a vision of how the development of Ann Arbor should take place. They hope to have a draft plan ready in about 6 weeks when it will come back to the Planning Commission for review and public hearings.
Once approved by the Planning Commission, the Commission will make a recommendation to the City Council to approve the document. The Comprehensive Plan will then be referred to the City Council for review and a public hearing. The Comprehensive Plan is likely to be ready for City Council approval as early as this Fall.
The actual implementation process was not discussed at these meetings. Staff indicated to City council that it may be necessary to ask for more time and money to finish this process. Once approved, implementation will require many changes to the Unified Development Code. It is not clear how this process will work. However, it does seem likely that the “rezoning of property” may not provide property owners a way to effectively oppose their rezoning.
While the current focus is on one aspect of our future: the preferred land use and zoning requirements. Many other aspects of our city will be impacted as these changes progress, such as transportation systems including roads, transit, and “nonmotorized” travel – cycle and pedestrian; storm water; utilities – particularly water and sewer; public safety (fire and police protection); social services, and other municipal activities.