Ann Arbor Construction updates

[DetroitMan]

‘Bigger is better.’ Downtown zoning changes headed to Ann Arbor council

As officials aim for more housing and greater density, the next change to the regulations may be getting rid of floor-area limits and letting developers automatically build up to height limits without needing to unlock bonus floor-area premiums.

With that, the city would be saying to developers, “Bigger is better, we want density, and we’re going to make it much easier for you to do that,” City Planner Alexis DiLeo said. The city’s Planning Commission voted 7-0 Tuesday night, Sept. 19, to endorse a set of staff-recommended changes that would move the downtown zoning in that direction.

They now await City Council approval. The changes don’t revise height limits that generally range from 60 to 180 feet in D1 and D2 zones, but they would no longer make developers tap into premiums and provide certain features in order to build up to those heights.

Developers still could get a 30% height increase for sustainable and affordable housing and go above the height limits — an incentive offered for development anywhere in the city, officials said. However, that’s technically classified as an exception to height, not a premium.

Ben Carlisle, a consultant with Carlisle Wortman Associates, gave commissioners an overview of the proposed changes Tuesday, saying existing downtown premiums put in place in recent years are not advancing city goals and are potentially stifling development. Carlisle and colleague Megan Masson-Minock also explained the changes in a memo. The changes would make it easier for developers to reach maximum heights, since they would no longer need to navigate the city’s premium process, the consultants said. They predict it would result in an increase in development proposals with more residential units than what the city has seen in the last couple years, going back to facilitating a rate of construction similar to what the city saw from 2014 to 2021.

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor...r-council.html