Planning Commission Approves Revised Site Plan for Downtown Development

Concerns about a on Ann Arbor Trail and Main Street were addressed well enough Wednesday for the City Planning Commission to give a revised site plan approval.

The proposed development, adjacent to the , previously had prompted concerns about inadequate parking and building height issues. On Wednesday, the commission's approval hinged on the building's windows, the stylistic "eyebrows" over the windows and lighting. 

The site plan, which originally was by the commission to include a three-story building, had been reduced to two stories and the structure's height had been adjusted to be in line with the nearby Mayflower Centre building and the Box Bar & Grill. 

Property owners Ed Dombrowski and Omar Hamdan pleaded with commissioners for approval, and the commission initially appeared reluctant to accept updated plans, citing a lack of detail and a final rendering of the development with a visual representation of its changes.

"We've been asked to approve a design we're not seeing," Planning Commissioner Jim Mulhern said. "I have heartburn over these issues because I don't know what I'm approving."

Dombrowski said the commissioners were going into "way too much detail" in approving the plans.

Chairman Conrad Schewe suggested calling a special meeting for May 25, which would be before the next City Commission meeting on June 6. This, he said, would not delay the development, as the property owners already would have to wait for the City Commission's final approval.

Hamdan told the commission that, if the site was not approved then, he would go forward with the previously approved three-story plan.

"We are trying to be good citizens," he said.

The height of the bottom of the proposed building's windows from the sidewalks was a sticking point for commissioners, but Dombrowski said the proposed height was "what the Historical (District Commission) wanted."

Dombrowski provided commissioners with the most recent plans, updated less than a month ago, and the commissioners, who previously had appeared to support Schewe's call for the special meeting in two weeks, said the changes were sufficient enough to approve.

"The community will be much happier with this than with the three-story (building)," commissioner Christopher Harden said, noting the window and lighting changes requested by the commission wouldn't affect the overall footprint or height of the proposed building.

Commissioner John King made the motion to approve the site plan, which then passed with a 5-1 vote. Mulhern cast the lone dissenting vote, while Jennifer Frey and Tara Parks were absent.

Hamdan said after the meeting he was glad the revised project was approved, and he was OK with the changes made to his initial plans.

"I want to live with this building," he said. "We didn't want to push it on the community."

Mulhern said he liked that the property owners heard the commission's initial concerns about the density of the three-story building, but he still had concerns.

"I have issues and concerns with the lackluster quality of the designs that have been seemingly modified on the fly," he said after the meeting. "The quality of the designs have not inspired my confidence up to this point."

About a dozen citizens attended the meeting, but stayed mostly quiet.

William Saxton of Plymouth expressed his concerns about parking downtown.

"We're going to generate the need for 20 or 30 more parking spaces," he said.

He said such developments were "mooching" on existing downtown parking.

The site's final approval is expected to go before the City Commission at its June 6 meeting.