A huge week for housing and safe transportation!
Matt Catanzarite
I am sharing the following information relevant to our interests.
https://engage.a2gov.org/2025-transportation-survey
An annual, city-wide survey used to gather feedback on public's experience and satisfaction with the Ann Arbor transportation systems.
Friends,
This is a very important week. Your actions will help determine:
- if City Council takes real action on road safety, and
- whether the city goes down the road of housing abundance — or cautious, incremental improvement — during planning commission's continued discussion of Chapter 5 of the Land Use Plan draft.
“Vision Zero” Monday 5/5
City Council meeting, City Hall 2nd Fl, 7pm (action not likely until 8pm+) with a hearing dedicated to feedback on the Administrator’s proposed budget — a budget that does not allocate new funding to build out safety improvements on our roads!
Quick action
- Make sure you’ve signed the petition at www.safetyforstadium.org
- Send a short email to city council cityc...@a2gov.org with a clear subject line (could be along the lines of “support quick-build road safety improvements,” “save lives on our roads,” or “less planning, more doing on Vision Zero!”) and a couple of sentences. They could describe your feelings about council’s failure to make our roads safer for everyone, or that you expect them to start taking Vision Zero seriously NOW, or general urging to support a budget amendment to do “quick build” (cheap and effective) road safety improvements like road diets, protected bike lanes, raised crosswalks, and roundabouts. (Our petition focuses on Stadium, for reasons articulated in the petition, but feel free to describe other roads you find unsafe to walk, bike, or drive on!)
Big action
- Come to the meeting or participate by Zoom (www.a2gov.org/councilzoom). Several pro-road-safety activists will be there. We will deliver a petition calling for City Council to amend the budget to allocate money for a “quick-build” safety improvement pilot on Stadium Boulevard, and speak generally to demand action on their poor record on road safety. The hearing on the Administrator’s proposed budget is the last hearing in the section of the agenda that is dedicated to public hearings, which follows the 10 reserved public speaking slots at the top of the meeting, so this is unlikely to happen before 8pm. The agenda is here.
“Housing Abundance” Tuesday 5/6
City Planning Commission meeting, City Hall 2nd Fl, 5:30pm (public hearing up front, no reservation needed); this is a continuation of the extremely consequential discussion on the consultant’s proposed land use districts in Chapter 5 of the draft Comprehensive Plan, and potentially discussion on Chapter 6. I have forwarded the last “action alert” from last week with more background. Please re-read if interested! This is big.
Quick action
- Send a short email to planning commission plan...@a2gov.org with a clear subject line (could be along the lines of “allow high-rises in Transition,” or “don’t downzone multifamily and commercial) and a sentence or two about your feelings on the housing crisis and urging them to impose limits on building size only where absolutely needed — otherwise, allow Transition district wherever possible (like current townhouse and apartment communities, office areas) and high-rises if they’re away from single-family. If you already wrote last week with suggestions on Chapter 5, it couldn’t hurt to re-send your feedback with additional commentary on Chapter 6 if you’d like.
Big action
- Come to the meeting or Zoom in. The public comment period is always at the top of the meeting, so you can be in and out relatively soon. Myself and other housing advocates will be there. A serious issue here — one which will shape the future of housing availability in Ann Arbor for decades to come — is that the drumbeat from planners and politicians is always toward “incremental” change. The problem we’re seeing in almost every high-demand city in the country is a result of 100 years of radical and racially-motivated property manipulation (zoning).
- As a result, one of the core land use reform goals of Neighborhood Institute calls for bold policy change: “Small reforms won’t fix large problems like the housing shortage quickly enough.” For example, we know that City Council is insisting on strictly limiting the height of new buildings in single-family areas, no matter how far the building is from its neighbor. We disagree strongly with this restriction, but this places extra importance on the planning commission to change two things in the draft plan: 1) ensure that as much land as possible is included in the higher-density “Hub” and “Transition” districts, specifically all land non-R1/R2 that is currently multifamily and commercial, and 2) ensure that tall buildings are allowed in this district and that the district not contain a height cap (when not immediately next to single-family areas). Please read the attached "Chapter 5 feedback" document attached from last week for more detail.
“Learning and Libations” Wednesday 5/7
Learning: Traverwood Library, 3333 Traverwood Dr, 3-7pm, the final Comprehensive “open house” if you would like to speak with city staff and submit comments in writing (we recommend comments on more Transition district areas and allowance for high-rises). More information here (the online surveys don’t allow comments on the Transition district)
Libations: “Handlebar Happy Hour”, Bløm Mead + Cider, 100 S Fourth Ave, 5pm, sponsored by Bicycle Alliance
Note: this is in place of Neighborhood Institute’s monthly Urbanism Happy Hour at Blue Tractor
Can you show me a sign?
Proudly show your support for more neighbors with a snazzy “Neighbors for More Neighbors” yard sign! It’s free and delivered right to your door.
https://forms.gle/gtf3mrrMiym9PKfs5
