Dharma's Council Newsletter, March 15, 2026

Neighbors,

City Council meets Monday, March 16th at 7 p.m. (full agenda) The biggest news to share is that adoption of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan is subject to a public hearing and vote of Council. As a reminder, you need not sign up in advance to speak during a public hearing item. City Council will also vote on issuing capital improvement bonds for the 350 S. Fifth Ave. Affordable Housing Development. 

City Council Will Vote to Adopt a New Comprehensive Land Use Plan

 In 2023, City Council set in motion work to update Ann Arbor’s very out-of-date Comprehensive Land Use Plan. After close to three years of public engagement and a tremendous amount of work by City Planning staff and our Planning Commission, City Council will vote on adopting the new land use plan. For me, this vote is about the kind of city we want to become.

When I ran for City Council, I said clearly that Ann Arbor needs to create more housing. The trajectory of our city has long been obvious: more people want to live here than we currently make room for. That demand exists because Ann Arbor is successful. The University of Michigan, our hospitals, our research economy, and our quality of life attract people from around the country and the world.

Our city’s success comes with responsibility. If we refuse to grapple meaningfully with that reality, we are making a quiet but powerful decision about who gets to live here. We cannot claim to be a welcoming city while locking new residents out. And we cannot claim to take the housing crisis seriously while continuing to make it difficult to build homes.

The real question is not whether we grow

Ann Arbor is not deciding whether it will grow. That decision was effectively made long ago by the presence of one of the world’s great universities and one of the most innovative regional economies in the country. People will continue to want to live here. The question is whether we grow in a thoughtful and more equitable way across the city. Planning is how cities make that choice deliberately instead of reacting to it piecemeal.

A generational question

There is a generational dimension to this conversation that I think we should be honest about. Many longtime homeowners in Ann Arbor bought their homes when housing here was dramatically more attainable. Younger residents today face a very different reality. Students who graduate from the university, young professionals starting careers, teachers, nurses, city employees...many struggle to find a place they can afford in the city they want to be part of. A city that values opportunity owes its younger residents a fair shot. More housing helps bridge that generational gap.

Some have argued that the city should focus only on affordable housing or nonprofit housing rather than allowing more market-rate homes. Affordable housing absolutely needs to be part of the solution, and the city is, and should continue, investing in it. But Ann Arbor simply does not have the resources to build enough publicly funded housing to meet the demand we face. A city cannot solve a housing shortage while making it harder to build housing.

For me, this vote is simple: I ran on helping Ann Arbor make room for more neighbors.

Adopting this Comprehensive Land Use Plan will not create housing overnight. But it sets the direction that future zoning changes and housing policies will follow. It is a step toward aligning our rules with the reality of the city we are becoming.

Ann Arbor has been studying housing and land use for years. We have commissioned studies, held workshops, conducted surveys, and produced multiple drafts of this plan. At some point, a city has to decide whether it is planning for the future or endlessly postponing it.

On Monday, City Council will make that choice. I plan to vote to move Ann Arbor forward.

I'd love to hear from you.

Feel free to reach out any time with your questions, concerns, or ideas:

Email: DAkmon@a2gov.org

Phone/Text: 734-492-5866

There are also several ways to share your thoughts with the full City Council:

• Submit an eComment online

• Email all of Council: CityCouncil@a2gov.org

• Speak at a Council meeting (in person or remote):Call the City Clerk’s office at 734-794-6140 starting at 8 a.m. on the day of the meeting to reserve a speaking time.Note: You do not need to reserve time to speak during a formal public hearing.

Thank you for staying informed and engaged!