Ellsworth Road townhomes development headed to Ann Arbor City Council for final approval

The proposal, which now goes to the Ann Arbor City Council for final approval, calls for constructing two dozen attached residential units (each roughly 1,300 square feet) on a 3-acre site on the north side of Ellsworth Road, just east of Stone School Road.

The proposed layout shows four two-story buildings varying in size from 80 to 160 feet long, with an attached one-car garage for each residential unit.

Wendy Rampson, the city's planning manager, said the project remains unchanged from when it came before the Planning Commission late last year.

The site plan was postponed by the Planning Commission at its Nov. 20 meeting, but it received unanimous approval Thursday night with all but two members present.

Leonard Michaels of Ohio-based CIW Engineering is representing the developer, Shawn Barrow of Orlando-based GROWWWWLEE LLC.

The property at 2081 E. Ellsworth Road is in the process of being annexed from Pittsfield Township and the petition is now at the state of Michigan awaiting final approval.

The site is proposed to be accessed by one driveway on Ellsworth Road. There would be two surface parking areas, each with 12 spaces, on the eastern and western sides of the property.

A public sidewalk is proposed along Ellsworth with interior sidewalks along the drives, and a small recreation area next to the parking lot in the southwest corner. Stormwater management would be provided under the parking lot and proposed open space on the western side.

The property is vacant after a single-family house and detached garage were demolished last summer in preparation for the new development.

Residents of the nearby Forest Hills Cooperative — a 306-unit, federally subsidized housing complex built in the early 1970s — came to speak against the project last June, saying the area already is overly dense, lacks amenities like parks and has traffic problems.

Claudia Myszke, manager of the cooperative, continued to express those concerns in written communications to the city and the developer in the weeks following last June's meeting.