Neighbors,
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving enjoying family and friends as well as the arrival of snow! City Council meets on Monday, December 2 at 7pm. Here are some updates before my preview of our agenda.
City Council Planning Session December 9
We will have our annual Planning Session on December 9 at 4pm in Council Chambers (and broadcast on CTN/Zoom). It will include the following topics: Election Wrap-Up; Finance Update; Winter Operations; Police Update; Information Technology - Ask Ann Update; and SEU First Steps.
Conclusion of the City's 3-year Road Bond
In 2022, City Council approved a 3-year road bond to accelerate repairs to city streets. That period has ended, and I'm happy to report that the City was able to treat 25.5 additional surface miles during the three year period that it would not have been able to repair in that time otherwise. You can view a map of all the projects completed with the road bond on the City's GIS dashboard. Ward 4 projects include: Belmar, Potter, W. Keech, Winsted, Sanford, Dunmore, Suffolk, Norfolk, Northbrook, Page, King George, and Tudor.
DTE Launches a Power Improvements Map
Ann Arbor has experienced far too many power outages due, in large part, to DTE's failure to invest in appropriate infrastructure upgrades. I'm sharing a resource that DTE recently shared with the City that aims to allow DTE customers to search their address and find localized projects and performance data. Visit the DTE "Power Improvements Map".
City Council Meeting, Monday, December 2 at 7pm
Responses to Council Member Questions: this has not been posted at the time of this writing, probably due to the holiday week.
Agenda Highlights
Supplemental Residential Street Plowing Services (CA-1). This resolution would approve a contract (not to exceed $500k) to supplement the City's residential street plowing service. Last year you may recall that a couple of snow events left Ann Arbor's residential streets an icy, impassable mess. Currently, the City's goal is to have all local roads plowed and hills, curves and intersections salted within 24 hours after snow stops falling. The assignment of trucks to perform this task is limited until all major salt routes have been treated to bare pavement, leaving the residential roads without attention until well after a storm is over. Wind and snow squalls that frequently move through the area after a major snow event also draw resources back out of locals to focus on keeping major routes clear. This delayed response often leads to hard packed snow on residential roads that cannot be removed with plowing alone and can turn to ice with freeze/thaw cycles. The current practice of not treating residential roads to bare pavement creates issues for all road users. This supplemental residential street plowing service will improve plowing response times in residential neighborhoods.
Ordinance to Amend CH 26 (Solid Waste) Banning Curb Carts in Bike Lanes (PH-1). This is the second reading of an ordinance to ban curb carts from bike lanes. The City's current ordinance regarding curbside trash collection does not include directives with respect to placement in bike lanes, even though other City regulations prohibit their placement there. Because the regulations are not incorporated in the ordinance, Community Standards has not had clear direction and the regulation has not been enforced. This ordinance change seeks to address that and ultimately ensure that bike lanes are free of obstacles that force people on bikes into moving automobile traffic. The proposed amendment modifies the City's ordinance to prohibit curb carts from being placed in bicycle lanes and bicycle paths. It also directs residents to the Solid Waste Regulations regarding the location of curb carts where there are bicycle lanes and bicycle paths, and where dumpsters should be located. The regulations (not the ordinance) are written by staff after the ordinance is passed and can be adjusted depending on the particular bike facility type. (Sponsors: Akmon, Briggs, and Disch)(Note: as this is a public hearing, you do not need to sign up in advance to provide public comment on this item)
Ann Arbor Airport Runway Extension Project (DS-1). Approval of this grant would fund the design, bidding and construction administration of the Ann Arbor Airport Runway Extension project to "shift runway 6/24 150' to the southwest, extend runway 6/24 an additional 720' to the southwest, install new navigational aids and runway lighting, extend the parallel taxiway A to match the runway length, relocate taxiway D, and other associated improvements to improve safety and make the runway compliant with current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) design standards." The idea of extending runway 6/24 has been around a long time. In 2009, City Council authorized the undertaking of the environmental assessment (EA) to identify potential impacts that may be related to the safety extension of runway 6/24 at the Ann Arbor Airport. In 2023, the FAA and MDOT-Aero issued a Finding of No Significant Impact for the proposed project after a lengthy and extensive review of Environmental Assessment study for the project. While I recognize that the airport serves an important role in pilot training and positive local economic benefit, I will not be supporting this project for the following reasons:
Lack of community support to expand operations of this airport. The first time I became aware of this project was when I was campaigning for City Council in 2022. I learned about it when I knocked on doors in the King George neighborhood in Ward 4 and heard the concerns of residents who live in an area of town that is most impacted by airport traffic. Almost universally, they voiced opposition to the expansion based on the threat of increased air traffic and associated levels of increased noise. As stated in the Final Environmental Assessment (EA), "the purpose of the proposed action is to improve operational utility of the Airport by meeting the takeoff and landing runway length requirements of aircraft that currently operate at the Airport and are projected to gradually increase operations over time." I do not believe that the stated benefits of the project outweighs the negative impacts to residents.
Alternative options exist locally. The EA states that the current configuration of Ann Arbor's 6/24 runway means that "aircraft with similar operational performance characteristics routinely use ARB and have runway requirements that exceed the current 3,505- foot length of Runway 6/24 under normal operating conditions. For these users to conduct operations on the existing runway, undue concessions in reduced fuel, passengers and/or cargo loads are often needed. Diversions to other airports are also commonly needed when the runway surface is wet, or during the summer months when higher temperatures reduce aircraft performance." They use Willow Run, an airport about 12 miles away from Ann Arbor. Since other regional options exist, I do not regard this as an undue burden.
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