Public gets to react to A2D2 plan at tonight's City Council meeting

What kind of design guidelines should influence development in downtown Ann Arbor?

Finding that answer has been years in the making, most of it involving committees and city staff.

Now City Council members will hold a public hearing on the revised A2D2 Downtown Design Guidelines tonight at their regular meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. on the second floor of City Hall.

Putting the public reaction to the plan on the record the next step toward making A2D2 official.

The city recently posted a revised A2D2 proposal on its website, which outlines its best recommendations for setting standards downtown, which is available

Whether design guidelines should be mandatory may drive much of the discussion. Previous forums and council comment suggest that some in town may want to make the guidelines more than optional for developers.

Even at a Sept. 14 joint meeting of council, the Ann Arbor Planning Commission and the Downtown Development Authority, no consensus was reached.

That lack of consensus means the plan that will be presented to the public tonight keeps A2D2 optional.

The most recent version of the plan states: "When considering a project downtown, property owners, developers and architects are encouraged to refer to the downtown design guidelines. Compliance with the design guidelines is voluntary."