West side neighbors blast student housing complex

[DetroitMan]

IMO, a student housing project would have been out of place here, but to have the city planning commission reccomend its approval and to have city council reject it makes A2 seem dysfunctional when it comes to development. Also the comments of one of the residents protesting this project seem a little extreme.

http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/ind....xml&coll=2

[mendelman]

IMO, a student housing project would have been out of place here, but to have the city planning commission reccomend its approval and to have city council reject it makes A2 seem dysfunctional when it comes to development. Also the comments of one of the residents protesting this project seem a little extreme.

http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/ind....xml&coll=2

[wolverine]

The opponents of this project had silly comments. It doesn't matter what it is. They will hate it for the sake of change. About every resident here fears the riff raff associated with student housing. I highly doubt this development would be a problem.

I respect anyone who is for or against this project. We all have our own opinions. But it's comments like these that makes me think that Ann Arbor has a bunch of fools:

Parks said the group would fight the project being built and occupied. He said they wouldn't injure employees or destroy equipment, but promised "black ops'' and referred to his past military training.

"Don't skimp on the security budget,'' Parks said. "See you on the barricades.

[mgman]

Whether or not it is student housing is irrevelant. This project (as recommended by staff) looks like a perfectly acceptable development for the location.

Traffic studies showed no problems. It has more than enough parking (by a factor of 3 even and some of it is being land banked), it only needed a building height variance (which for a development and site like this that is OK), and it met and exceeded all the other development regulations for the zoning district.

From reviewing the staff report and the site plans, the project appears to be completely contextual in that location. Plus, the residents quoted in the article are just fishing for red herrings. And that guy basically threatening the developers with "black ops" is absurd.

[wolverine]

If the plan was appropriate, can they sue the city?

[mgman]

If the plan was appropriate, can they sue the city?

[mendelman]

Hmmm, that depends I think. My first answer would be no but I am also not entirely sure why they were in front of the city. Was there any thing special about the project, were they trying to get any variances or was it a PUD. I think that if the city felt that the project was too large or has too much parking, then I would say no but I do not know much about zoning and planning law.