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Arbor South financing pulled from agenda after sharp public concern over parking and public risk
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Summary
Council removed Arbor South brownfield and financing items from the Nov. 17 agenda after public commenters and some council members raised concerns that the project’s financing would have the city owning and reimbursing three parking structures and expose public money through TIF/brownfield support.
The Ann Arbor City Council on Nov. 17 pulled key items tied to the Arbor South project after public concern about the proposed financing structure and city exposure.
Mayor Taylor opened the meeting and announced that public hearing No. 5 and agenda items DS1 and DS2 — the Arbor South brownfield plan and development agreement — were removed because the proposal remains under modification and council members had raised concerns.
Supporters urged approval. Robert Malcolm Sr., a lifetime Ann Arbor resident and member of Laborers Local 499, told the council the project would create hundreds of jobs for union trades and about 200 affordable housing units, calling it “a step in the right direction.”
Opponents and cautious voices questioned the financing. Alex Lowe, calling in, said he supports more housing generally but called DS2 a “poison pill,” criticizing an element he described as $166,000,000 in city-backed bonding to add parking and arguing the proposal shifts risk onto the city while private profits remain with the developer.
Eric Ivancich of the 3rd Ward told council he values transit-oriented redevelopment but could not support the project “as it’s currently structured.” Ivancich flagged the plan’s expectation that the city would own, operate and maintain three parking structures that, he said, would serve primarily the private development and place “significant risk on the public.”
Council member Lisa Dish (Ward 1) said she intended to support the Arbor South package but acknowledged the complexity and defended the financing as the only financially feasible way to realize the transit-corridor goals. Dish said the developer would invest more than $400 million and that brownfield tax-increment financing would provide roughly $346 million in public monies, some of which would be used to replace surface parking with three parking structures to support the project.
Dish framed the parking structures as part of a plan to replace 1,500 surface spaces with structured parking — a net increase in capacity to serve new housing and retail — and said TIF reimbursements would not divert existing tax revenue but instead reimburse improvements that generate new tax value.
No vote on DS1/DS2 occurred on Nov. 17 because those items were removed. Council members and staff repeatedly stressed work remains to refine the deal and address concerns about public risk, parking demand and long-term district benefits.
The developer and city staff have not yet returned a new draft to council; Dish said staff aims to bring the first statutory step of the DDA plan to the Dec. 15 meeting if schedule and outstanding issues permit.
What’s next: Council has not set a new hearing date for DS1/DS2; the meeting closed without votes on the Arbor South financing and members said they expect continued negotiation between the city, staff and the developer.
