New map shows big ways Ann Arbor may be rezoned for more density

Related: See ways downtown Ann Arbor may change under new list of recommendations

ANN ARBOR, MI — Ann Arbor officials have unveiled a possible plan for densifying the city, adding more housing and getting more businesses in neighborhoods so more residents can easily walk to places such as cafes and retail shops.

That could mean sweeping changes to divide most of the city into three broad zoning categories: a low-rise residential zone, a mixed-use transition zone and a mixed-use hub zone.

Following months of planning, the city’s comprehensive plan team laid out tentative ideas for discussion during a public meeting at the downtown library on Wednesday, Oct. 23.

“There’s currently 34 zoning districts within the city,” said Jamie Granger, a city-hired consultant who noted the goal is fewer and simpler zoning districts with more flexibility.

As presented, the low-rise residential district could replace typical neighborhood zoning throughout Ann Arbor and allow up to four-unit dwellings on properties that in many cases now only allow a single-family home and an accessory dwelling unit. A 35-foot height limit — three stories — is proposed for those lower-density areas, with limited neighborhood commercial uses.

“That’s something we’ve heard throughout the process is people really have a desire to have ... neighborhood commercial spaces that they can walk to, which are currently outlawed in a lot of the zoning districts,” Granger said.

A step up from that, along several main corridors throughout the city like Miller Avenue, Packard Street and others, new mixed-use transition zoning allowing residential and commercial uses could pave the way for buildings up to 80 feet tall — or up to 55 feet tall if within 50 feet of a low-rise zone.

And for areas for the most part already zoned for high-density development, including downtown and some of the city’s major transit corridors, the proposed mixed-use hub zoning could allow buildings over 300 feet tall — significantly more than what’s currently allowed in some cases. The idea laid out calls for an 80-foot height limit by right and developers could gradually go higher the farther they are from low-rise zones.

For that high-density zoning, the map presented shows a possible expansion of the downtown boundaries, extending south all the way to State and Packard, while the Briarwood Mall property also would be included.

40,000 new housing units, expanding downtown among big ideas for Ann Arbor

In addition to those three main zoning categories emphasizing denser housing, there could be some “flex business” zoning as well, which Granger described as a way to continue to allow some industrial land uses.

The map separately shows public land, including the University of Michigan in blue and the city’s vast network of parks in green.

Through surveys, stakeholder interviews, public meetings and pop-up events, thousands of community members have engaged in the city’s planning process over several months and a desire for more types of housing has been a recurring theme, along with being able to get around without a car, Granger said.

A working slogan for the plan is “Ann Arbor for all,” with goals to make the city more affordable, sustainable, equitable and dynamic, balancing natural features protection with increased housing density, while creating more complete neighborhoods and reducing carbon emissions.

When it comes to new development, a lot of it is outside the city’s control, Granger said, but the city gets to set the land use and zoning policies. That will be a decision for City Council once presented with a final plan in 2025.

Granger emphasized it’s still a work in progress and none of the ideas are set in stone.

Brett Lenart, the city’s planning manager, explained the thinking behind proposing a four-unit limit on allowable housing density for most neighborhood properties, saying going from two units up to four may feel like a big change for a lot of residents, some of whom might be fearful of any change, and the city is trying to take an incremental approach.

“That is a reasonable increase in flexibility that homes could realize within their existing walls or with new development to realize some new housing,” he said, adding he could envision it allowing a row of new townhomes, for example.

The city allowed greater density in neighborhoods over half a century ago. Buildings such as a three-story, eight-unit apartment building built in 1966 among the single-family homes on Third Street, and even larger ones in some cases, still stand as relics of times past when such density was permitted and before historic districts were created to stop more from being built.

As for whether the city might allow more than quadplexes in low-rise areas if buildings stayed within the proposed three-story scale, Lenart said that could be a viable direction, but at whatever scale, achieving more density in neighborhoods is going to be a very long game and very incremental.

“But we’ve got a lot of other opportunities in the city to go bigger, to go with more density, and so frankly it seems like a reasonable balance,” he said of what’s laid out.

Though some residents fear the city may try to undo historic designations for some areas, while others believe that should be looked at, Lenart said it’s not currently a goal.

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