Implementation Status

In December 2007, the City Planning Commission began working with staff to develop and review master plan and code amendments to implement the recommended zoning and urban design changes. These implementation efforts are described below.

Downtown Plan Amendments

Resolutions R-07-494 and R-07-495, approved by City Council in October 2007, call for the City Planning Commission to initiate supporting amendments to the Downtown Plan to implement the A2D2 zoning and design guidelines recommendations.

The Planning Commission's Master Plan Review Committee met six times between January and July 2008 to create updates to the Downtown Plan. The draft amendments were distributed for comment in May 2008, and comments were collected by the Washtenaw County Planning Advisory Board in July 2008.

The Planning Commission held public hearings on the Downtown Plan amendments on August 5, 2008 and February 19, 2009. The Planning Commission adopted the Downtown Plan amendments on February 19, 2009. On April 20, 2009, City Council sent the Downtown Plan back to the Planning Commission for further revisions.

On May 19, 2009, the Planning Commission held a public hearing and adopted amendments in response to City Council comments . On June 15, 2009, City Council held a public hearing and approved the amended Downtown Plan. A link to the amended plan is provided below.

Downtown Plan (3 MB pdf) - Adopted May 19, 2009

Zoning and Parking Amendments

Resolutions R-07-494 and R-07-495, approved by City Council in October 2007, call for the City Planning Commission to draft new downtown zoning districts and regulations and implement downtown design guidelines, based on recommendations provided by the A2D2 advisory committees.

From January to April 2008, City staff and the Planning Commission developed code and map amendments to implement the A2D2 recommendations. Opportunities for review and comment on the proposed amendments were provided throughout May 2008 at public open houses, a public hearing and individual meetings with staff. On May 20, 2008, the City Planning Commission tabled action on the proposed amendments to allow consideration of the comments.

Since May 2008, the A2D2 steering committee and the Planning Commission have met several times with staff to revise the proposal. The revised amendments are available for review on the Proposed Code Changes page. The downtown design amendments have been separated from the proposal for further review (see below).

The Planning Commission recommended approval of the A2D2 zoning and parking amendments, with some revisions, on September 16, 2008. A series of briefings on the draft amendmeents were held from October through December 2008. Links to the briefing slide presentation and a replay of the November 5th briefing are provided below:

Briefing slide presentation (pdf) - October 2008

The A2D2 Steering Committee met on December 3, 2008 to review the comments received from the briefings. Links to a compilation of the written comments and a memo summarizing themes from the briefings are provided below:

Comments on September 16 draft amendments (1.1 MB pdf) - Updated February 5, 2009
Summary of briefing comments (pdf) - Updated February 5, 2009

The Planning Commission discussed the briefing comments at its working session of February 10, 2009. The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the A2D2 zoning and parking amendments on February 19, 2009 and recommended approval of the proposal to City Council, with some changes, on March 3, 2009. A link to the memorandum to City Council summarizing the Commission's responses to the briefing comments is provided below.

Memorandum to City Council (pdf) - March 3, 2009

For updates on City Council consideration of the zoning and parking amendments, visit the Proposed Code Changes page.

Design Amendments

In December 2008, the City Planning Commission began working with staff to develop code amendments to implement the recommended design guidelines changes .

In May 2008, Planning Commission held a public hearing on draft downtown zoning amendments, which included proposed massing standards, design guidelines and a design review process.

After review of the initial comments, the A2D2 Steering Committee recommended removing the design guidelines and design review process from the zoning amendment draft to allow for additional refinement.

Work on these changes will continue while the A2D2 zoning and parking amendments move forward, with the goal of having them follow closely behind their approval. Final adoption of the historic district design guidelines will be scheduled when the downtown design process and changes move forward.

6/16/09 Update: The A2D2 Steering Commission has proposed that Winter & Company be retained to make revisions to the draft design guidelines. City Council authorized this contract at its June 15, 2009 meeting.

For updates on City Council consideration of the design guidelines, visit the Design Guidelines page.