The Ann Arbor City Council met Monday evening to discuss a resolution to dissolve the city’s Brownfield Plan Review Committee, approve upcoming construction projects and hear community feedback on the city’s budget for fiscal year 2024.
During the public commentary portion of the meeting, many Ann Arbor residents expressed concern over Resolution DB-1, which would disband the Brownfield Plan Review Committee. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, brownfields are a property whose redevelopment “may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.”
Ann Arbor’s Brownfield Plan Review Committee determines whether construction projects which applied for brownfield development financial incentives should be recommended to City Council. One such financial incentive is tax increment financing, which reimburses a developer over time using money generated by the increase in tax revenue from a brownfield property after it is improved. The council can then recommend the projects for Washtenaw County’s Brownfield Program.
Ann Arbor resident Ken Garber said removing the Brownfield Plan Review Committee would hurt the city’s ability to review applications for brownfield funding and limit opportunities for input from the public.
“This is a very capable city council, but you simply do not have the time or the bandwidth at your meetings to fully vet these complex and opaque (development) plans,” Garber said. “By dissolving the committee you are also eliminating one of two chances for public comment.”
Councilmember Jen Eyer, D-Ward 4, said the resolution would enable increased public scrutiny of proposed developments and reduce costs by having developers only present their plans at City Council meetings.
“What we are doing is going to increase public participation and transparency regarding the Brownfield review process,” Eyer said. “Instead of a small committee that meets quietly when the public isn’t paying attention, and receives the presentation from the developer (during the committee meeting) … the entire body here will receive that presentation from the developer and will be able to consider the plan as a body.”
During the City Council’s discussion of the resolution, Councilmember Lisa Disch, D-Ward 1, responded to concerns that the resolution gave disproportionate power over brownfield proposals to Washtenaw County. Disch said the decision to recommend development projects for the County Brownfield Program is up to the City Council, and it will remain so under Resolution DB-1.
“The (Brownfield Plan) Review Committee has never been the committee of final review,” Disch said. “It is now and will remain the responsibility of City Council to review brownfield agreements for projects within the city of Ann Arbor and deny or approve them … It is now and will remain the role of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to give final approval to any brownfield plan that comes before it.”
Resolution DB-1 was approved by a vote of councilmembers.
The City Council also approved multiple contracts for construction projects. During the discussion of CA-5, a resolution to approve a contract with Fonson Company for a water main project, Eyer said many of Fonson’s employees did not have safety training from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. To address this, she proposed an amendment that would require all employees on projects contracted by the city of Ann Arbor to complete OSHA training prior to beginning construction.
“From these proposals, Fonson admitted and revealed that they have just two laborers who will supposedly have the (OSHA) training by the time construction begins,” Eyer said. “I’m going to propose an amendment … that companies must provide evidence that all craft labor that will be employed by the bidder on city projects has, or will have prior to commencement of the project, completed at least an authorized 10-hour OSHA construction safety course.”
Several community members spoke during the public hearing on the city’s budget for the fiscal year 2024. Representatives from Ann Arbor for Public Power, a local organization advocating for a publicly-owned energy utility, asked the council to set aside $250,000 for a valuation of DTE, in the event that the city’s feasibility study of public power comes back in favor of doing so.
Ann Arbor resident Lauren Sargent gave an example of a community-owned utility in Holland, Mich. as a model for Ann Arbor. In order to finance the initial cost of improving energy efficiency, Holland created the Holland On-Bill Loan Program, a partnership between the Holland Board of Public Works and the nonprofit Michigan Saves. The program covers the initial costs of the switch to a public energy grid and the funds are repaid in monthly installments as part of residents’ electric bills.
“Holland actually had … a problem twice within the last decade,” said Sargent. “(The first was) how to return all the extra money that they got from the revenues from customers … And also, the electric utilities borrow money for infrastructure repairs at half the rate that DTE does, it’s a budget no-brainer.”
The council will vote on whether to approve the budget at a later meeting. Summer News Editor Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu.