Planning board recommends denial of parking waiver and site-plan changes for 479 S. Old Woodward

The Birmingham Planning Board voted 6–1 on July 23 to recommend that the City Commission deny both a special land use permit and a final site-plan and design-review amendment for 479 South Old Woodward (the Birmingham Tower), after staff and several residents said the proposal would create an on-site parking deficit the public system could not absorb.

The project team wants to change the building’s approved mix — shifting a residential floor to commercial use so the building would have two commercial floors, two office floors and one residential floor. Planning staff told the board that change increases the site’s required spaces and leaves the project 49 spaces short of the zoning requirement even after previously granted reductions and variances.

Planning director Nick Dupuis said staff’s technical review focused on the parking analysis and concluded the application did not meet site-plan standards because of the gap between required and provided parking. “They’re short 49,” Dupuis said during his presentation, and later, “we don't feel they meet the standards of site plan review in this case due to the the significant, gap between the required and provided parking.”

Why it matters: The planning department’s memo concluded the 49-space deficit would have to be absorbed by Birmingham’s public parking system. Nearby residents and business owners warned that would shift parking demand onto streets and the adjacent Birmingham Place condominium parking, aggravating congestion for neighbors and customers…