[DetroitMan]

15-story Ann Arbor high-rise overlooking Domino’s Pizza approved despite legal threats

City Council voted 9-0 to OK the Five Corners project Monday night, June 3, despite continued legal threats from an attorney for the landlord who owns the Domino’s property.

“We again rise to ask the council to give pause to this project,” attorney Andrew Sugerman told council. Sugerman reiterated his previously stated argument that the city had a legal obligation to give more consideration to the potential detrimental impacts of the development, including the shade it would cast on the smaller pizza shop building.

“This can be worked out outside of litigation,” he told council members, urging them to send the proposal back to the Planning Commission for further review. “Litigation is not our chosen forum. Please don’t force us into that.” Brett Lenart, the city’s planning manager, told council the development meets all of the city’s review standards and there’s no change in land use that would have a detrimental impact on surrounding properties or public utilities, as determined by an engineering staff review of water and sewer capacity.

The city doesn’t have standards for shade or wind impacts in any zoning district and the city’s planned unit development or PUD zoning standards do not require such analysis, he said.

The project achieves numerous city goals, including increasing housing density and sustainability while reducing reliance on automobiles, Lenart said.

There will be a loss of two landmark trees, but that’s a reasonable impact that will be mitigated, he said.

Council members concurred with Lenart’s take and approved the project, some expressing excitement about it.

Council Member Dharma Akmon, D-4th Ward, expressed hopes the increase in population will be a boost to local businesses. Some businesses along the corridor have struggled and there have been empty storefronts and constant rotation, she said.

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor...l-threats.html