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Council debates Water Street RFQ process and committee role; timeline amendment unresolved as meeting adjourns
Summary
Council considered a staff plan to use an ad hoc citizens committee to develop community benefits and an RFQ for the Water Street redevelopment. Members clashed over pace, committee composition, facilitator use and whether RFQ release should move from June to August; discussion ended without final vote and the item will return to a future meeting.
YPSILANTI, Mich. — The future of the city's largest redevelopment parcel, Water Street, remained unsettled after a protracted council debate about how an ad hoc citizens committee should shape community benefits and a request-for-qualifications process for developers.
Staff proposed a staged timeline: a set of visioning meetings with the ad hoc committee, an RFQ released to the market, developer interviews, and then continued community-benefits negotiation through project milestones. Several council members said the plan should include a professional facilitator for early visioning sessions and that timeframe estimates in staff materials were optimistic. Councilmember Fellows moved to shift the RFQ release to August to allow more committee meetings; that amendment was discussed but the meeting adjourned before final action, and the item will return to a future agenda.
Speakers on council stressed competing priorities. Some urged urgency to move the site toward development and avoid delay; others pushed for deeper community engagement to avoid repeating past controversies. Council members also discussed committee attrition risks, the different skill sets needed for RFQ drafting versus community-benefits bargaining, and the importance of clarifying which committee work occurs before versus after RFQ issuance.
What happens next: The Water Street resolution will return to a future meeting with proposed timeline edits and possible amendments to clarify committee scope and RFQ timing.
