Redevelopment, street system overhaul and job creation highlights of proposed Ypsilanti master plan
Ypsilanti’s proposed new master plan is complete.
Among the highlights are proposals are an end to the one-way street network; a reconfiguration of the Washtenaw Avenue and Cross Street intersection; a blueprint for Water Street development; improved zoning; ideas to spur job growth; the creation of “festival streets” and plazas; the redevelopment of industrial zones into either “job centers” or residential zones and much more.
On Aug. 21, the Ypsilanti Planning Commission and Ypsilanti City Council held a joint committee in which City Planner Teresa Gillotti and planning consultant Megan Masson-Minock of ENP & Associates presented the plan.
Planning officials will now present the proposed plan to the public over the next several months before the Planning Commission takes it up for approval at its October meeting.
When the process began a nearly year ago, Gillotti was instructed to provide a different document than is standard for master plans, which are required by state law.
“We asked you for something different and outside-the-box and I think that’s what you gave us,” Planning Commission Chair Rod Johnson said.
Gillotti said those working on the proposed plan recognize that master plans have a “shelf life” because changes in the community or market cannot be predicted 10 to 20 years out. This plan was designed to be flexible and serve as a guide to decision making when the master plan doesn’t address a specific situation a decade or two later, Gillotti said. Changes to the street system
One of the most talked-about components of the plan is eliminating Ypsilanti’s one-way roads and changing them into two-way streets.
Gillotti said the purpose is to provide better access to the city for motorists and slow traffic, which makes certain areas - like West Cross Street near EMU - more friendly to pedestrians.
“One-way streets are designed to flow car traffic through a city or to keep the flow steady and efficient,” Gillotti said. “Two-way streets give better access to people trying to get to actual destinations in the city.”
What would be a one-block trip in many parts of downtown turns into a four to five-block trip because of one-way streets. Gillotti says she hears that people will skip destinations because of that, and the city’s aim is to keep people in the downtown area.
“Ann Arbor did this with State Street, which was one-way a long time ago,” Gillotti said. “They made it two-way, and it’s a perfect example of such a change slowing down traffic on a street, creating a better climate for business and pedestrians and really creating a better destination.”
The plan presents rough ideas and designs for roundabouts at the intersection of Hamilton Street, Huron Street and Interstate 94; Michigan Avenue and Congress Street; and at Michigan Avenue and River Street.
The Michigan Avenue roundabouts would be designed to help slow traffic through downtown.
The reconfiguration of the Washtenaw Avenue and Cross Street intersection into two, two-way streets that would serve as a pedestrian-friendly “front door” to Eastern Michigan University is another major piece of the street overhaul.
Road reconfigurations were also suggested for Leforge Road and Huron River Drive just north of EMU, which is awkward for the many pedestrians traveling between campus and the city and could serve as a more lively commercial area.
On the southside, a road diet and zoning changes are proposed for Harriet Street, which planners are hoping can be revived as a commercial center for the dense neighborhoods in that area.
Though the idea of switching roads to two-way streets in phases was floated, several council members and planners didn’t believe that would be possible.
“It would be difficult to unravel it one street at a time,” Council Member Pete Murdock said. “We have to have a plan to do the whole thing. We’d have to find the wherewithal to come up with sketches and designs to take to MDOT and then find the money to (switch the roads),” he said.
Planning officials want to turn the former Visteon plant into a 'job center'.
Tom Perkins | For AnnArbor.com
The proposed master plan includes a number of other fun ideas for creating a pedestrian friendly environment in the downtown districts, including a plaza around the Ypsilanti Freighthouse once a planned commuter train begins stopping there.
It also proposes the creation of “festival streets” along Washington Street between Michigan Avenue and Pearl Street; and at Cross Street and River Street in Depot Town. Festival streets' sidewalks and curbs are flush with the road and can easily be closed to offer a better environment for pedestrians during festivals. Similarly, the plan proposes raising Michigan Avenue in downtown to be level with the sidewalks to provide the same access.
“It’s another approach to try to make the city more walkable and increase vitality in downtown districts,” Gillotti said. “It’s more accessible this way, and there’s easier flow from street to businesses.”
Redevelopment
The proposed plan offers a design for Water Street that would create a downtown atmosphere throughout the 38-acre site and including requiring sidewalks, on-street parking and buildings designed for multiple uses. The buildings would be required to have large front windows and parking lots in the rear, and blocks would be short - limited to a 1,200-foot perimeter.
“It would look and feel like a downtown street,” said Masson-Minnock.
Another key feature of the master plan is a change to form-based zoning. While current zoning can change even mid-block in some areas for no obvious reason, form-based zoning would provide consistent zoning throughout major corridors and different neighborhoods.
For example, the corridor running north on North Huron Street between Michigan Avenue and Cross Street and north on Cross Street to Pearl Street is what planners called a historic district corridor.
It is mostly comprised of historic houses that are used for single-family housing or small businesses. While current zoning is patchy there, form-based zoning would provide a contiguous zone where the buildings and lots are similar.
Gillotti said form-based zoning is advantageous to an older, built city because traditional zoning limits uses in areas where there needs to be multiple uses in a home or building. It also helps keep housing more uniform in neighborhoods throughout the city.
Job Creation
The proposed plan also includes ideas designed to spur job growth. The West Industrial Park at South Mansfield Street and Michigan Avenue could be zoned to allow smaller lots, which would allow parcel owners to split their lots and fit more businesses there.
The same type of idea is proposed for the Angstrom site, which is the former Visteon plant.
New zoning would allow for different types of businesses - be it commercial, manufacturing or industrial - that would create more of a “job center” than a traditional business park or industrial park.
The city wants to foster small, locally-owned craft businesses, which are an increasingly integral part of the Michigan economy, through economic incentives.
“We could keep encouraging those small businesses to move here. We have small spaces available, and they gravitate to Ypsi because we are open-minded, so we want to keep attracting them and having them growing and expanding here,” Gillotti said.
The plan also suggests possibly rezoning the former MotorWheel and current Bay Logistics site north of Depot Town, which Gillotti said she expects will see more housing development pressure once the commuter train is running and EMU keeps growing.
Murdock said he liked the idea but didn’t want the plan to lock the city into transforming its few remaining industrial zones into residential zones.
“If someone wants to build a steel manufacturing plant there, I’m fine with that,” he said.
But one of the advantages of the plan is its flexibility, GIllotti said.
Ypsilanti's 'Guiding Values'
“We’re looking ahead at where we’re going to be in 10 to 20 years, but if the plan doesn’t totally fit, then can fall back on guiding values to help you through the major decisions that are being made,” Minock said.
The “guiding values” that staff, elected officials and planning commissioners can look to in the future sum up the kind of community Ypsilanti residents told planners during input sessions it sees itself as and strives to be.
Per public input, the most important value when considering a decision is safety. Cultural and economic diversity and the city’s sustainability are among its biggest approaches to functioning.
The city sees itself as friendly to business, especially the creative economy and green businesses; and the city strives to offer a complete transportation system with options for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and those utilizing public transportation.
A rubric with a series of questions asking whether or not a proposed change - a rezoning for example, or building a roundabout - fits in with serves as a guide in the decision making process.
“Unlike other master plans, we tried to make ours while being more aware that we can’t predict the future,” Gillottis said. At the point it’s less releveant still have guiding values determine how to provide future requests for rezonings at that point things can evaluated using guiding values.
Tom Perkins is a freelance reporter. Contact the AnnArbor.com news desk at news@annarbor.com.
Comments
Bill
Wed, Aug 28, 2013 : 5:05 p.m.
Keep one way streets! It makes it easier to get to downtown Ypsi. Don't screw up Ypsi streets the way Ann Arbor screwed up State Street. I avoid that part of Ann Arbor now.
Michael-David
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 12:28 a.m.
I believe that it is a function of government to organize and maintain markets, providing appropriate police, fire and other safety related services. For many years, there was a viable, functioning farmers' market in the old freight house. The city leaders closed it down, spent hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars on consultants, and now we don't even have the hope that the Freight House Farmers' Market will reopen. (It hasn't been reported as being included in the new Master Plan.) Growing Hope, a private 501(c)3 organization, has organized the farmers' market in the street north of the Post Office. While this is needed, and Growing Hope is to be thanked for providing a needed service to the city, the Ypsilanti City Government should be filling this governmental function. It should be paid for with tax money and staffed by paid workers, not paid for with donations and volunteer workers. A professionally managed, indoor, well-designed market would boost the Ypsilanti economy. Those of us who were able to attend the old market saw major growth in the Freight House market, especially during its last years of operation. Instead of fixing whatever structural problem that was discovered in the Freight House, the city leaders chose to spend hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars on "planning" and consultants reports. The building remains unoccupied and unusable as a farmer's market. Finally, getting rid of street gutters may be nice for festivals, but I'm afraid that the planners have not even considered the functions gutters provide. Gutters provide drainage and define the areas where cars can legally operate. If the city leaders decide to level the street with the sidewalks, I predict flooding and accidents. Think about the ice buildup in winter--the streets will not be safe for pedestrians or vehicles. Have these consultants ever shoveled snow? Where will it go?
15crown00
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 7:35 p.m.
can't wait to see how this works out.sounds great on paper.
Ypsidoodle
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 9:04 p.m.
We will have people on Mars or the Water Street debt is retired long before any of this gets implemented...
Tom Perkins
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 7:28 p.m.
@Nicholas Urfe Here is a link to the proposed plan: http://shapeypsi.com/ypsilanti-master-plan-draft-available-for-your-review/
Tom Perkins
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 6:46 p.m.
@TK2013 I was just informed by City Planner Teresa Gilloti that the master plan revision process is funded by a grant.
Paul Schreiber
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 7:22 p.m.
@TK2013: I was looking forward to meeting with you. If you change your mind, I'll be at Ypsilanti city hall at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 28. I hope to see you then.
TK2013
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 7:05 p.m.
Sorry, mayor, but I'm not interested in your political spin and gamesmanship. You may disagree with me, I couldn't care less, but the last time I looked free speech remained legal in the U.S.
Tom Perkins
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 1:29 p.m.
But, Steve, staff is required by state law to revise the plan every five years.
Paul Schreiber
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 12:24 p.m.
@TK2013, I hope that you can meet with me on Wednesday, August 28, at 4:30 p.m. at Ypsilanti city hall. We can discuss your ideas for efficient government and I can give you a tour. I'll be there.
TK2013
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 11:57 a.m.
Mayor Who?
TK2013
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 11:51 a.m.
But, Tom, don't you think that staff time is a precious city resource? It's called opportunity cost. While Ms. Gillotti and her consultants are busy preparing another very costly compilation of pipedreams (you know how those "seed planters" are) that will sit idle on the shelves for years, she is NOT working on projects that may actually have real and measurable benefits to the community. So, yes, the city's precious few resources are being wasted. I know you were just trying to be cute, but your retort falls flat.
Tom Perkins
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 12:53 a.m.
@TK2013 But you said it is "an unmitigated waste of the city's precious few resources".
Paul Schreiber
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 9:40 p.m.
Teresa Gillotti is among the many intelligent, hard-working, and comitted Ypsilanti city staff. The demeaning statements made by TK2013 about Ms. Gillotti and other city staff are wildly false.
TK2013
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:54 p.m.
Thanks, Mr. Perkins. It makes me feel so less violated when I know that it's my state and federal tax dollars being squandered for worthless purposes. You should work for government if you think it matters to us "common folk" which pocket is being picked. It doesn't surprise me at all that Gillotti thinks that state and federally-funded grants represent "free" money to be misspent in any way she wishes.
Nicholas Urfe
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 6:15 p.m.
We all know that certain connected people will have early access to this report. To suggest that it will be trickled out to the general public, over many months, is favoritism. It is only a secret to the unconnected public little people.
murph
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 10:33 p.m.
As my reply to your other comment noted, the draft plan is already available, and can be found online here: http://shapeypsi.com/assets/ShapeYpsiDraftMasterPlan-Aug-1.pdf The city's website has a link to this draft on its front page -- if they're trying to limit access, they're doing a lousy job of it.
not a billy
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 5:56 p.m.
Two-way streets? How novel. For the younger generation, if you look way back in the history of Ypsilanti (All the way back into the 1960/1970 era) you would find the complete opposite arguments and opinions were used to turn the streets into the one-way street network that is here today. Deja vu all over again. Speaking of Deja Vu, probably one of the longest operating businesses in the city, stable employment, and brings more visitors to Ypsi than QVC ever will. Create job centers, revitalization of industrial sites, bring more small business because the "city sees itself as friendly to business"??? Sounds like a lot of people are using that funny tobacco stuff.
DJBudSonic
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 2:21 p.m.
I wish the best for Ypsilanti, there are already things happening in Ypsi that Ann Arbor threw away years ago with it's planning; like open-market affordable housing, small affordable spaces for artists and entrepreneurs, and a sense of freedom to try new things, without having to get permission from a development authority. One key to Ypsi's future is to avoid going down the same road as Ann Arbor, and giving too much control to a handful of unelected, busy-body property owners and mayoral cronies, ala the Ann Arbor DDA. These folks tend to do what is best for them and their friends, which includes skimming and redirecting public money for private gain. Ypsi would also do well to work towards a more mutually beneficial relationship with its major university, EMU. Ann Arbor's elected officials seem to have no interest in better engaging the University of Michigan, which has led to some one-sided decisions that are not in the best interest of the city. Good luck!
John
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 5:20 p.m.
"sense of freedom to try new things" I think this is Ypsi's biggest strength. We moved here from A2, and the difference in culture and tenor of the people we meet is noticeable. A2 is very preoccupied with it's history and maintaining its established stereotype, and doesn't seem to like to venture too far from that. As long as people keep putting it on internet lists they're cool where they are. Ypsi, by contrast, is more low-key and DIY, and the hipsters/artists/and change-makers in Ypsi seem to be less overtly pretentious and distracted by simply maintaining an image or being seen. I know that all comes off as divisive or A2-bashing, but it's hard to resist when the change in atmosphere was so palpable moving between the two. A2 can be very insular and intimidating for people who did not grow up or go to school there.
Nicholas Urfe
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 2:01 p.m.
"Planning officials will now present the proposed plan to the public over the next several months" Release the report. Now. Taxpayers paid for it. It isn't anyone's to withold. It should not require a FOIA.
murph
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 10:30 p.m.
The draft plan (and it is a "draft" at this point) has already been released. There's a link to it from the front page of the city's website: http://shapeypsi.com/assets/ShapeYpsiDraftMasterPlan-Aug-1.pdf
Ypsidoodle
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 4:36 p.m.
They need time to water it down so that very few will ask questions for which the answer is political suicide or something they know... if they can be reached for comment that is!
Ypsidoodle
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 1:58 p.m.
"Ann Arbor did this with State Street, which was one-way a long time ago," Gillotti said. "They made it two-way, and it's a perfect example of such a change slowing down traffic on a street, creating a better climate for business and pedestrians and really creating a better destination." One street... the rest of Ann Arbor is still an incoherent maze to the uninitiated yet those people still flock there. Why? Because it has something they want. Make it so Ypsilanti has something people want and don't worry about changing street directions or converting intersections traffic circles (with money we don't even have) until an overwhelming number of the mass of visitors coming to Ypsilanti say that's the reason they don't come back.
Glen S.
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 1:52 a.m.
Actually, "this Gillotti woman" is one of the most talented, hard-working (and patient) government workers in all of Washtenaw County -- and we in Ypsilanti are lucky to have her.
TK2013
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:45 p.m.
This Gillotti woman has to take the prize for the most self-promoting, self-aggrandizing government worker in all of Washtenaw County (and that's saying something)!
AdmiralMoose
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 12:39 p.m.
I like it! Make it so!
AdmiralMoose
Tue, Aug 27, 2013 : 12:36 a.m.
No, life isn't Star Trek. But I'm not throwing away three perfectly good words because some guy from Saline wants to misinterpret them.
John of Saline
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 6:05 p.m.
Life isn't "Star Trek."
Nerak
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 12:29 p.m.
Planners are "seed planters" who collect or create ideas for improving the quality of life, organize them into a logical blueprint, and then recommend how to accomplish the goals over time by using them in public decision-making. This planning effort was outstanding, blending "old" ideas that still have value with new ones and engaging a wide range of citizens. Pretty much everything was on the table. I believe Ypsilanti has a really good document that, if used by all, will accomplish much of what the community needs. Good job!
TK2013
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:42 p.m.
"Seed planters"...now I've seen and heard it all! LOLOLOLOLOL
Nicholas Urfe
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 12:23 p.m.
"We're looking ahead at where we're going to be in 10 to 20 years" Let's hope it isn't bankrupt or under the reign of an emergency manager. But I haven't seen the leadership to get the city out of the present spiral.
Nicholas Urfe
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 12:21 p.m.
"We're looking ahead at where we're going to be in 10 to 20 years" Anything that impacts a city for many years, especially 10 or more, should be put to a vote of the people.
TK2013
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 12:11 p.m.
What an unmitigated waste of the city's precious few resources. The city actually pays consultants and highly compensated staff to develop what is nothing more than a compilation of "wish list" pipedreams that will NEVER happen. The city is on a trajectory toward bankruptcy and this is where our staff spends its time? Government waste at its worst. I'm beginning to think that bankruptcy is the best option for Ypsi. Loss of so-called local control can only be considered a good thing at this point.
Ypsidoodle
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 2 p.m.
Sure, but it doesn't say it has to be a paid consultant, does it?
foobar417
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 1:45 p.m.
Master plans are required to be updated every 5 years *by state law*.
Citywatch
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 12:08 p.m.
Ideas yes, but no plans to fund or accomplish them. Ms. Gillotti and others involved have been earnest in thier effots and are to be commended on doing the job they were supposed to do. However, many of these ideas have been sitting on the shelf for years already and there was previous public input about changing one way streets and ways to revitalize various areas of the city including zoning plans for Water Street and plans for the Freight House area when (and if) the commuter train comes. The auto companies don't want it, the commuter bus folks don't want it, and the airport parking lot people do not want it, so the the commuter train is a complicated issue at best. Regardless, this "new" master plan is primarily a rehash of ideas no one ever acted on. Ypsilanti did not need more plans, we already had plans. Ypsilanti needs more action. Marketing and sales of the city to businesses and vistors for instance. What has our DDA and Visitors and Convention Bureau been doing all this time? What we needed was a grant writer, not another planning consultant! And please no "Festival Streets". Curbs help prevent cars from going onto the sidewalks and endangering pedestrians and businesses. Street cleaning and snow removal depend on curbs as well. They also help pedestrians (including children) know where automobile traffic starts and sidewalks end. Think about it. Curbs are there for a reason, especially in this climate.
TK2013
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 8:39 p.m.
Yeah, the very first thing that the State of Michigan master plan enforcement police force goes after are noncurrent master plans from cities that are going bankrupt. Give us a break! LOLOLOLOLOL
foobar417
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 1:44 p.m.
You do realize that local governments are *required* to update their master plan ever 5 years by state law? And that most grant applications must be consistent with a current master plan?
Stephen Lange Ranzini
Mon, Aug 26, 2013 : 10:17 a.m.
A lot of great ideas outlined here in this forward looking master plan. Some of this costs nothing and hopefully the parts that cost money can be funded and brought to reality, also. Kudos to everyone involved!