FORMER WARD 4 City Council member Marcia Higgins, along with Mayoral candidates Christopher Taylor and Sabra Briere all voted to allow the city’s parkland to be “repurposed” for “transit.” It was Higgins who inserted language into a zoning proposal which would allow bus stations as well as airports to be constructed on city parkland. In 2012, Ward 2 Council member Jane Lumm proposed a Charter amendment which would have protected parkland from leasing (which is how Mayor Hieftje and his supporters—including Taylor and Briere—planned to use a river front parcel of parkland on Fuller Road for a 900-car parking to be used almost exclusively by the University of Michigan).
The most recent tug-o-war over parkland is taking place over a downtown parcel, atop the $50 million underground parking garage. There, a group of citizens who came together several years ago to form the Library Green Conservancy, are lobbying for creation of a downtown park on the city-owned Library Lot.
It’s proving to be an uphill battle to get Ann Arbor’s current mayor, as well as the current mayoral candidates to get behind the concept of a downtown park or open space plan.
Ward 5 Council member Mike Anglin was the lone vote against the Underground Parking Garage on Fifth Avenue, and he has been outspoken in his support of a “commons,” as he calls it, or a downtown “plaza.” Anglin has worked with the members of the Library Green Conservancy over the past four years.
“A downtown park would be for the community by the community,” says Anglin. “It would be a central gathering place, something our community just doesn’t have downtown.”
Mayoral candidate Christopher Taylor added yet another vote against parkland creation and protection to his record on Monday March 17 when he was one of three votes against the creation of a park on top of the public-owned Library Lot. Taylor was joined by Mayor Hieftje and the Mayor Pro Tempore—Ward 4 Council member Margie Teall in opposing the establishment of open space on the parcel.
A proposal to establish a 12,000 square foot park next to the downtown library was proposed by Anglin, Ward 4 Council member Jack Eaton, Ward 2 Council member Jane Lumm and Ward 1 Council member Sumi Kailasapathy.
Mayoral candidate Sabra Briere proposed an amendment to their proposal which reduced the area available for public use from 12,000 to 6,500 square feet—equivalent to a 130 foot by 50 foot lot. Briere proposed Ann Arbor’s central park—it’s only downtown park—would occupy about 1/7th of an acre.
She explained that the space she envisions, “will not be a very big space that will serve well as a gathering space, or a commons or a place for parades.”
According to City Assessor’s Records, Briere’s home is situated on a 165 foot by 178 foot lot, some 29,370 square feet.That’s more than quadruple the size of the “central park” the mayoral candidate supports for the use of Ann Arbor’s 112,000 residents.
Mayoral candidate Stephen Kunselman did not support Briere’s proposal to cut the size of the proposed central park from 12,000 square feet to 6,500 square feet. While Kunselman brought forward the proposal to sell the entire parcel, he was clear in his support of an open space with “no limitations on politics or music.”
Mayoral candidate Sally Hart Petersen was not present at the meeting at which the votes were taken. According to two Council members who spoke directly to Petersen, they report her saying she would not vote in favor of the proposal for a “central park” on the Library Lot parcel.
However, in response to a question about her colleagues’ comments, Sally Petersen said via email, “Not true- I DO want an urban plaza on the library lot significantly larger than what was called for in the CWS plan. I also want to see some sort of development on the east side. I wanted both resolutions postponed on Monday night in favor of a single, wholistic resolution reflecting a coordinated plan. The site is too small to do it piecemeal.”
Council member Jack Eaton points to Briere’s amendment of the proposal to establish a downtown park, as well as the final vote itself, as an excellent way for residents to judge the candidates for mayor. His colleague Mike Anglin agrees.
“Candidates can and will tell voters anything,” said Anglin, “but votes are votes and you can’t run away from them.”
Members of the group who have been working to find support for a downtown “commons” were angry that Ward 1 Council member Briere proposed a “compromise” to a plan that has already been subject to many compromises on the part of its supporters, including both residents and its political backers.
Alan Haber, a long-time political activist, said this in response to the vote: “The Mayor and the three mayoral candidates who voted on the question, Kunselman, Briere, and Taylor (Peterson was absent and didn’t declare herself) put money before people: sell the public land before even exploring potential public uses.”
Ann Arbor’s current mayor, as well as current mayoral candidate Christopher Taylor (whose candidacy Hieftje has said he supports) argue that Ann Arbor has more than enough parkland. On his campaign website, Taylor writes: “We are blessed with over 2,000 acres of parks, which are vital to our quality of life. However, these parks and the advantages they provide require maintenance and capital improvement.”
At the same time Council members are busy creating public open space on the Library Lot parcel, there is a movement afoot to sell the land for development.
In 2009, Council members voted to spend $5 million to have additional structural supports added to the parking garage sufficient to support a 10-story structure. When a resident complained about the expense in an email to John Hieftje, he replied via email that the site would “probably remain undeveloped for a decade.”
Then, in August of 2009, former Ward 1 Council member Sandy Smith and former Ward 4 Council member Marcia Higgins proposed issuing an RFP in order to explore what kinds of ideas developers might have for the Library Lot parcel.
This was done before the underground parking garage construction had even begun. Emails released in response to 2009 and 2010 Freedom of Information Act requests revealed that not only had DDA Executive Director been in contact with a particular developer with respect to the Library Lot parcel, but Mayor Hieftje had circulated the developer’s proposed conference center plans to Sandi Smith and Sabra Briere.
It was this backroom dealing—revealed by citizen FOIA requests—that launched the movement to demand citizen involvement in the development of the Library Lot parcel.
While its supporters see the approval of a 1/7th acre park as a setback, Council parkland supporters point out that it will take eight votes to sell the parcel.
It’s quite possible that the proposal for a larger park will be brought back and tied to any proposal for a sale of the Library Lot parcel.
