Neighbors,
Â
City municipal offices, including the customer service center at Larcom City Hall, the 15th Judicial District Court, and the city’s compost facility located at 4170 Platt Road will be closed for Presidents Day, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Safety services and utility operations will maintain 24-hour schedules throughout. Trash and recycling curbside collections will not be affected and will be performed on their regularly scheduled days.Â
Â
Due to the holiday, City Council meets Tuesday, February 18 at 7pm. Here are some updates before a preview of our agenda.
Â
New Rebates for Electric Lawn Equipment
This week, the City announced new discounts and rebates for electric leaf blowers and other electric lawn care equipment. Designed to help lower the cost of transitioning from gas to electric lawn care equipment in accordance with Ann Arbor's new leaf blower ordinance, these discounts and rebates will be offered beginning March 1, 2025, through two new programs.
The Electric Lawn Care Equipment Discount Program was designed by the City of Ann Arbor in cooperation with Grainger Industrial Supply and WEINGARTZ. The program will provide discounts on electric lawn care equipment from March 1 through May 31, 2025. Ann Arbor residents as well as lawn care and landscaping businesses that serve Ann Arbor customers will be eligible for the discount. Between March 1 and May 31, interested parties can visit Grainger Industrial Supply, located at 2915 Boardwalk Drive, and WEINGARTZ, located at 5436 Jackson Road, to take advantage of this program.Â
The Electric Leaf Blower Rebate Program establishes rebates for businesses that provide lawn care or landscaping services to properties located in Ann Arbor. These rebates can be used for electric/battery-powered leaf blowers purchased at any retailer and will be offered beginning March 1, 2025, on a first-come, first-served basis. They will be available until May 31, 2025, or until funding is expended, whichever occurs first. The rebate amount will be 50% of the cost of the purchased electric leaf blower to a maximum of $400. To receive a rebate, applicants will be required to trade in old gas-powered leaf blowers by recycling them through the process laid out on the City of Ann Arbor website. Homeowners will not be eligible for this rebate.
For more information, visit: https://www.a2gov.org/sustainability-innovations-home/sustainability-me/for-businesses/gas-leaf-blower-phase-out/
City Council Meeting, Tuesday, February 18 at 7pm
Responses to Council Member Questions. There were no questions submitted by council members for this agenda.
Agenda Highlights
ARPA Reallocation (CA-12). The City was awarded $24,182,630.00 in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. City Council directed the City Administrator to prepare a compliant plan for allocating the funding. This plan was approved by City Council via #R-22-096, which presented a compliant project plan for the funding. This plan was modified on several occasions to meet requirements of the funding, which included "obligation" of funding by December 31, 2024, and expense of the funds by December 31, 2026. Due to various complications, the full obligation requirements were unable to be met on three projects (Mill Avenue Rehabilitation project, Universal Basic Income, and Emergency Operations Center) prior to the established deadline. This resolution will reallocate the unobligated funding of these three projects to an existing executed contract/agreement on an ARPA eligible project, the Barton Dam Embankment Project. Staff is therefore recommending the remaining ARPA funding allocation on the Barton Dam Embankment project be increased, and that the original General Fund allocation to the project be reduced accordingly with funds reallocated to complete the three projects as originally planned.
Resolution to Approve a Professional Services Agreement with CBRE for Brokerage Services for the Sale of City-owned Real Estate (the property commonly referred to as the Kline's Lot and 415 W. Washington) and Appropriate $700,000.00 (CA-15). This resolution is to approve a services agreement with CBRE in the amount of $700,000.00 for real estate brokerage services for the sale and development of the Kline’s lot and the 415 W. Washington parcel. After a competitive RFP process for this work, the city staff recommends the agreement with CBRE to develop a strategic plan for each property that includes a vision that reflects the community’s values without overburdening the scope resulting in an infeasible development. The properties will be actively marketed in a public process open to multiple developers. In consultation with City staff, CBRE will select two or three best offers for each property to present to City Council for consideration. A budget appropriation in the amount of $700,000.00 is required to pay for the requested services, which will be reimbursed by the proceeds of the sale of properties.
Resolution to Approve the Robertson Homes Annexation, 6.3 Acres, 255, 315, 371 Scio Church Road, 2180 Ann Arbor-Saline Road  (PH-2) Approval of this resolution will allow annexation of this Ward 4 Pittsfield Township island into the City. The property is within the City's water and sewer service area, and the proposed use is consistent with the adjacent zoning, land uses and comprehensive plan. Council action on the proposed R4E (Multiple-Family District) zoning with conditions will be scheduled after the annexation process is complete. Learn more about this development proposal.
Resolution to Approve a Professional Services Agreement with NewGen Strategies and Solutions, LLC, to Complete an Electric Grid Asset Valuation and Municipalization Study ($1,728,000.00) (DC-1). This is to conduct a Phase 2 Electric Grid Asset Valuation and Municipalization Study. I do not support the City moving forward with an almost $2million study when I believe we have enough information from the first study to know taking over DTE's grid will be prohibitively expensive; when we have other existing City obligations that need funding; and when we are just getting started on the Sustainable Energy Utility. While I well understand DTE's failure to consistently provide an acceptable level of service, fully support the City's efforts to intervene against DTE on residents' behalf, and believe the State of Michigan is failing to effectively regulate DTE, I do not think it's in residents' best interest to purchase and run DTE's legacy grid.
Resolution to Authorize City Staff to Perform the Preliminary Work Necessary to Put the Question of the Acquisition of DTE Electric Company’s Assets to a Vote of the People and Prepare for Litigation Should the Voters Authorize Such Acquisition (DC-2) (Sponsor: Taylor). Due to the legal expenses the City expects to be involved in acquiring DTE's assets should the City move forward with an MEU, this asks the City Administrator to identify a funding source, which may be in the form of a millage, to support the significant expense the City would incur; and that any ballot measure to authorize the initiation of the acquisition of DTE Assets shall be tie-barred to securing Adequate Funding. While I do not support the MEU, and do not support an additional millage to pay for the legal expenses involved, I think the only responsible approach to authorizing acquisition of DTE Assets is to tie-bar it to adequate funding.Â
Resolution Directing Enhanced Enforcement of Bicycle Lane Ordinances and Identification of Engineering Solutions to Prevent Obstruction of Designated Bicycle Lanes (DC-3) (Sponsors: Akmon, Cornell, Briggs). It is illegal to park vehicles or leave trash bins (and other stationary objects) in bike lanes. However, the City's approach to enforcement has thus far been reactive (citizen complaint-driven) and uneven, and the result is a pattern of flagrant disregard for keeping the lanes clear for the intention they were built. Obstruction of the bike lanes forces people on bikes to merge suddenly into traffic lanes, which is a hazard and defeats the purpose for creating these dedicated lanes. This resolution directs the City Administrator to develop a comprehensive enforcement strategy; proposed tracking metrics for measuring the effectiveness of enforcement efforts; and a public education and outreach plan to promote awareness of bicycle lane regulations via city communication channels. It also asks for quarterly reports to City Council on the pattern of violations, effectiveness of enforcement efforts, and recommendation of engineering solutions to discourage violations.