ANN ARBOR, MI – What does the future hold for Ann Arbor’s downtown Library Lot?

That’s for the community to decide, and the Center of the City Task Force is now seeking ideas for implementing a voter-approved concept for an urban park and civic center commons.

The City Council-appointed body has been meeting since August and is preparing to hold a community open house.

Residents are invited to join the task force any time between 6-8 p.m. Nov. 6 and share ideas about what could make a park/commons successful and what elements people would like to see, whether that’s a children’s play area, a stage for outdoor concerts, a civic building of some kind, specific activities or something else.

The meeting takes place inside the fourth-floor meeting room of the downtown library, 343 S. Fifth Ave.

About 53% of city voters approved the citizen-initiated central park proposal in November 2018, halting plans for a 17-story high-rise and developer-funded plaza on the Library Lot, the surface of the city's underground parking garage next to the library.

City officials planned to sell the 0.8-acre lot to Chicago developer Core Spaces for $10 million and put at least half the sale proceeds toward affordable housing.

But Proposal A’s passage amended the city charter to stipulate all city-owned land on the block, including the Library Lot and Liberty Plaza, must remain under public ownership and be developed as an urban park and civic center commons known as the Center of the City.

The citizen-led task force is now helping the city figure out what exactly that might entail and how it can best serve the community.

The group is scheduled to make recommendations to council in February 2020.

Its members include two council representatives — Jeff Hayner and Chip Smith — and nine residents chosen by council, led by Chair Meghan Musolff and Vice Chair Miles Klapthor.

There’s been lacking interest in the process to date and outreach efforts haven’t netted much response, task force members said, but they’re hoping that changes with the Nov. 6 open house.

Another community meeting is planned Jan. 15.

The task force is still in its initial phase, which includes collecting information and input, said Norm Tyler, who has been involved in reaching out to neighbors of the Library Lot.

The task force will switch gears by the end of November and the second phase involves refining the concept and presenting ideas for discussion and feedback, Tyler said.

The task force has formed subgroups, including some dealing with security and programming issues, and the commons concept.

It’s yet to be decided whether the task force will recommend a specific plan or just give council different options and next steps to consider. It’s not planning to draw up a conceptual vision.

“We’re not going to design something because we’re not equipped as a task force to do any design work,” Tyler said.

In last year’s divisive community debate over the central park proposal, Tyler said he wasn’t on either side, but he and other task force members are hoping the community can come together now.

They’re also considering the future of the Y Lot, another city parking lot across the street next to the Blake Transit Center where the city is exploring options for affordable housing. They’re interested in how that might tie in with what happens on the Library Lot, possibly with a pedestrian bridge across Fifth Avenue.

Ahead of any major transformation of the Library Lot, city officials are discussing interim steps to transition the site from its current use as a public parking lot to a space for community activities.

They’re also considering task force member Alan Haber’s idea of temporarily placing a pop-up dome structure known as a DecaDome on the lot to give people a place to stop and share ideas about what they want to see happen on the site.

City staff recently met with Haber and central park proponent Eric Lipson, owner of the company behind DecaDome, to discuss the idea of renting a dome from Lipson.

It could cost the city $8,900, including $3,000 for dome rental for three months, $500 for electrical hookup/insurance and $5,400 to staff it with an “ambassador greeter” three hours per day at $20 per hour, according to city documents. The dome would serve as an office mailbox, suggestion box, reading room and gallery.

“If using anybody hired by the city for staffing, amenities such as water, bathrooms, and heating/cooling are required,” according to a memo shared with the task force. “Two staff members would also need to be present for each shift due to safety concerns.”

Lipson, a former Ann Arbor planning commissioner who was treasurer for one of the groups behind the central park campaign, proposed a rental rate of $1,000 per month with the option for the city to buy the dome after 10 months, for a total of $10,000.

The issue was discussed at recent task force meetings and it’s yet to be decided if the city will rent a dome or for how long.

Some aren’t sure it’s worth the cost and what the benefit would be versus occasionally having a table at the library, Smith said.

Haber, one of the leaders of last year’s central park campaign, said he’s not happy with how things are going on the task force and he feels he’s in the minority in pushing the original idea of a commons.

He argues there’s resistance on the task force to implementing what voters approved or partnering with the Library Green Conservancy, a nonprofit behind the central park campaign.

“There’s a bias that people don’t really want what was passed in the election, so they’re looking for other input,” he said.

Smith, D-5th Ward, doesn’t see it that way. He argues Haber is interested in selling his own vision, while the task force is doing its due diligence to figure out what the community really wants.

The ballot proposal didn’t clearly define what’s to be included in an urban park or civic center commons, Smith said, and the task force is now trying to figure out what would work and how it would integrate with surrounding properties on the block.

Smith, who wanted to sell the property to Core Spaces, opposed the central park proposal last year. Voters have spoken, though, he said, and it’s time to figure out the best way forward.

Haber said he hopes the final plan for the Library Lot includes a civic center building with classroom/meeting space and perhaps a cafe. He’s also interested in how it would link with Liberty Plaza.

“The task force has been focused on what is the concept and I have been more focused on what are the ideas of what can be created there,” he said. “They don’t want any drawings or specifications. It is a move away from specificity and toward more generality.”

Smith said he doesn’t think there’s any pushback on the task force regarding Haber’s idea of a civic building. There are a lot of thoughtful people on the task force and they still have a lot to figure out by the time they report to council in February, he said.

Read more stories about the Library Lot.