ANN ARBOR, MI – Bring on more density.

That was the message several residents conveyed to Ann Arbor’s Planning Commission Tuesday night, Oct. 1, and commissioners indicated they share that enthusiasm.

The commission is now considering a proposed ordinance to create a new zoning designation to encourage higher-density development outside of downtown along transit corridors.

The proposed “T1 Transit Support” district is intended to require mixed uses in sufficient density to support transit systems, provide more housing choices and further the goals of the city’s master plan, according to city planning officials.

The commission held an initial public hearing and discussion of the proposal Tuesday night.

Commissioners said they’re excited about it and they’ve been waiting years for this to come to them, but they tabled it for now to allow further discussion and closer consideration of certain aspects.

“I definitely want to move forward with it,” said Commissioner Shannan Gibb-Randall.

The commission heard from residents who argued more dense housing and mixed-use development along the city’s major corridors like South State Street and Washtenaw Avenue can help address a global climate crisis by getting people out of cars and closer to jobs and transit, and help address a housing supply shortage and affordability challenges.

University of Michigan enrollment is increasing, the city’s job base is growing and more people need to be able to live here versus commuting, said Kirk Westphal, a former City Council member and former city planning commissioner.

“We have a climate crisis,” he said. “This is due in large part because hundreds of local governments decided long ago that our homes and yards should be big, apartments rare, and destinations spread out.”

That gave rise to sprawl, which continues to erode the environmental, fiscal and social fabric, Westphal said.

“Local governments can’t control all the pieces of the climate crisis, but we can help thousands more people lead lower-carbon lives right in our city by changing our outdated zoning,” he said.

Housing prices in Ann Arbor continue to skyrocket and tens of thousands of people are commuting by car into the city for work and school every day, said Ann Arbor resident Adam Goodman.

In the roughly 15 years he’s been here, he said, almost all high-density developments have been downtown.

“I think it’s great. But considered alone, it will never be a solution to the scope of the problem that we have in our community,” he said. “We need to look beyond downtown, and building denser construction along transit corridors seems like a great place to start.”

6 Ann Arbor plans new T1 Zoning

The T1 district could be immediately appropriate for the South State Street corridor, including extensions along East and West Eisenhower Parkway, and the Washtenaw Avenue corridor, City Planner Alexis DiLeo told the commission in a report.

The T1 district — or a similar T2 or T3 district — also may be appropriate for the West Stadium Boulevard, Plymouth Road, Packard Street and Ann Arbor-Saline Road corridors, DiLeo said.

“Every time I drive up and down Plymouth, I just think it screams for more density,” said Commissioner Sara Hammerschmidt, who called the T1 proposal “incredibly exciting.”

Reducing the need for people to use or own cars will go a long way toward addressing climate change and affordability, said Joan Lowenstein, a former City Council member who spoke in support of the proposal as a Washtenaw Housing Alliance board member.

“It seems like an impossibility, but people do evolve, and so people are starting to learn about not going everywhere in cars and not having one person per car,” she said.

Lowenstein said she serves on the Downtown Development Authority board and developers are coming to the DDA asking to buy permits in the city parking system to meet city parking requirements.

It turns out high-rise developers are being forced to provide more parking spaces than their tenants actually want, she said.

“Even students are evolving and figuring out they don’t need to bring a car to campus,” she said.

As proposed, buildings in the T1 district would have to be at least two stories tall, with no maximum height limit unless within 300 feet of a residential zone, in which case there would be an 80-foot limit.

Developments would have to include residential uses, be close to the street and be designed to accommodate all modes of transportation with an emphasis on pedestrians and non-motorized modes.

Ann Arbor resident Tom Stulberg said he thinks T1 zoning is a great idea. But if the city wants to see affordable housing, he said, it should set height limits and have zoning premiums that allow building taller in exchange for providing affordable housing. That’s something commissioners indicated they’d like to consider.

Julie Ritter, another resident who spoke, suggested city officials shouldn’t take action on the T1 proposal ahead of a master plan review process that’s expected to start soon and take 18 months.

“I feel so disrespected,” she said, noting she’s on a committee helping choose a consultant for the master plan review.

“Ann Arbor has no transit,” Ritter said, arguing the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority “struggles mightily” to provide bus services and doesn’t provide enough service to outlying areas.

“Until we get transit, why have a transit corridor?” she said.

Commissioners pushed back, arguing Ann Arbor has a good bus system and AAATA clocked nearly 7 million rides last year.

“While a lot of areas in Washtenaw County are in transit deserts, the transit corridors we have in town work really well,” Commissioner Zachary Ackerman said. “As long as you live or work along one of our primary transit corridors, it works really well.”

There are certainly opportunities to improve transit services, but that’s not what’s being discussed right now, Ackerman said.

“We’re talking about where it does work well, how can we make it work even better,” he said.

“It is so exciting to finally see something in front of us,” Commissioner Erica Briggs said.

“We really have been working on this for at least the last decade,” she said, referencing the ReImagine Washtenaw initiative to encourage transit-oriented development along Washtenaw Avenue.

“This has been a long time coming. And if anything, I think that we should have brought this forth sooner.”

Commissioners indicated they want to further explore issues such as parking, open space and height requirements, as well as how dense development might interface with residential neighborhoods.