Mary Sheffield, the president pro tempore, said she anticipates it would take several weeks for her and her council colleagues to mull whether to establish a new lower threshold from the $75 million that currently exists for so-called tier-one projects. She and others have publicly discussed a $50 million trigger, but she said she is open to other figures as well.

"I have talked to some individuals in the business and development community and heard from a couple who agree the threshold should be lower," Sheffield said. "They probably wouldn't publicly say that, but they said that the threshold should be lowered. Fifty may not be the right number, but this starts the conversation."

She said the threshold is too high because she has "seen how communities and neighborhoods have been left behind."

Lowering the threshold would mean that more development projects would be subject to the tier-one community benefits process, which was passed by Detroit voters in November 2016 and enacted Jan. 1, 2017. The council had to wait a year before amending it. Proposal B, as it was called then, was viewed in the real estate community as less onerous because it required a much higher investment to set in motion the tier-one project provisions than Proposal A, which had a $15 million threshold.

It requires community benefits agreements for $75 million and up developments that receive $1 million or more in public incentives or which are situated on public property with a cumulative market value of $1 million or more that was sold or transfered to a developer.

For those projects, it requires the establishment of a Neighborhood Advisory Council, the majority of the members of which are appointed by city officials, and at least one public NAC meeting and a community benefits report outlining the benefits to be provided to the surrounding community.

Sheffield is also floating raising the minimum number of meetings to five, as well as changing the name of the law to the Community Engagement Ordinance.

"These are just suggestions to allow the council and development community to react," she said.

Her district includes busy neighborhoods like the New Center area, Midtown, Eastern Market, Brush Park and portions of the central business district. Council member Raquel Castañeda-López, whose district includes southwest Detroit, Corktown, the District Detroit development area and the western portion of downtown, has also advocated for a stricter community benefits ordinance, including lowering the investment threshold.