Chelsea residents are invited to an open house in March hosted by the city’s Downtown Development Authority.

The event will be from 7 to 9 p.m. March 9 at the Chelsea District Library.

Authority Treasurer Mark Heydlauff told the Chelsea City Council Tuesday night that the DDA had hired Howard Deardorff of Howard Deardorff Design Resources and Lincoln Pollay of Lincoln Pollay Architects to assist as the city considers improvements downtown.

The consultants were hired at a cost not to exceed $50,000, and they'll help create a new comprehensive plan for Chelsea’s downtown.

Heydlauff said the consultants keyed in on five key areas:

• The “Palmer (Ford) block” that takes in the vacant post office building, the old UAW Hall, the Palmer Ford property and a lot behind it.
• The east municipal parking lot near the Purple Rose Theatre, which has liability issues such as a closed pedestrian ramp as well as layout problems.
• The Longworth property, which was purchased by the DDA and slated for demolition last year but has garnered the interest of a group of residents who would like to see the Livery Building saved because they say it’s historic.
• The alleyway next to Winans Jewelry and the one next to Vogel’s and Foster’s, both on South Main Street.
• The old police building on East Middle Street, which will be vacated when the department moves to its new location on three city lots at the corner of South Main Street and East Summit.

Heydlauff said the DDA has “a couple of million it can use,” toward downtown improvements and encourages residents to offer their ideas for projects.

This is the second of several planned open houses that will result in a draft plan for the DDA.

Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter with AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Chelsea stories, visit our Chelsea page.