10-a 20-1591 Brightdawn Site Plan for City Council Approval - This vacant 8-acre site, located at 2805 Burton Road, is currently zoned R4B (Multiple-Family Dwelling District). The petitioner is requesting to construct four, four-story buildings that include 120 units at market rate with parking garages located beneath each building. A community club house is also proposed on the ground floor of Building #2. Staff Recommendation: Approval
As a child advocate, a steward of Swift Run, and proud member of our diverse, tight knit, pedestrian community I oppose this plan.
The only winner here is the developer, and if they have been clear that they plan to sell this property once developed. We will be destroying what is left of the tree canopy at the border of the city limits. People who live in this new development will be crushed next to US 23 and subject to noise and air pollution. Current residents will lose what is left of the buffer of trees between the interstate and one of the last affordable areas in Ann Arbor.
Our community has enthusiastically participated in the Healthy Streets traffic calming measures and the threat to open up Eli Road to more cut through traffic for commuters flies in the face of what we were led to believe matters to city leaders.
This area should be designated as parkland to connect with Sylvan park rather than disturb wetlands and increase vehicle traffic. We can do better than this.
City council has recommended connecting Eli road to Burton as a cut through for the proposed Brightdawn development. I echo the concerns of my neighbors that a traffic study that involves Eli, Yost, Lillian and Brandywine Roads has NOT been done and those roads would be directly impacted by an opening of Eli to Burton. Those existing roads have already been identified as problematic by the city and calming measures have been put in place. Directing another neighborhood of traffic through this already problematic area could exponentially impact the safety of the neighborhood, including the elementary aged school kids who bike and walk in the road to get to Pittsfield Elementary for school and play. Please make safer choices for your constituents and citizen, especially the most vulnerable among us.
The end of Eli should remain closed to vehicle traffic. It was designed in the early 1960s to accommodate a maximum of 20 dwellings before Smokler decided not to build 12 houses along Burton Road. Letting traffic leave the 120 dwellings of Sylvan Hills with parking for 288 vehicles via Eli would send many more vehicles along narrow residential streets than were envisioned when Forestbrooke was laid out. Traffic coming down Eli past Forestbrooke Pool has three choices: turn left at Yost and exit the subdivision to Packard along Brandywine, turn right on Yost and then right on Washtenaw to access U.S. 23 or Ypsilanti, or take Oakwood to Platt past Pittsfield Elementary School to access downtown Ann Arbor. To do any of these things, vehicles would do it exactly where children are playing most days and are walking to school during the school year or are accessing the pool in early morning to evening from school closing to Labor Day. A sidewalk at Eli, yes. A road, no.
As a homeowner in the Forestbrooke neighborhood, I vehemently oppose the proposed Eli to Burton Rd connection for the reasons already mentioned by my neighbors: the lack of a proper traffic study, the hugely detrimental impact another Packard to Washtenaw cut-through would have on our already stressed and poor-quality neighborhood streets, and the direct conflict this influx of cars has with the intent of the "Healthy Streets" initiative.
As a mother of two Pittsfield Elementary School students, I'm also concerned that this connection could have dangerous consequences for all of the young children who walk and bike to school along Yost and other neighborhood streets.
Additionally, I'm concerned that the developers haven't done adequate environmental studies on the soil and water quality of the parcel, as well as not analyzing the amount of noise and air pollution from being located in such close proximity to a busy stretch of US-23 and Washtenaw.
I am in opposition to the planned Eli to Burton Rd connection that is part of this plan. A traffic "study" was completed but as far as I can tell no actual analysis was done. Connecting these roads would bring heavy traffic down Eli to Yost to access Washtenaw and US-23. Yost already gets an extreme amount of traffic with cars cutting through between Packard and Carpenter. Additionally, Yost and Eli have been designated as "Healthy Streets". Bringing additional traffic to these streets would have a negative impact on this initiative.
The city has done a lot of work recently to increase pedestrian and bicyclists safety. This connection is in direct opposition to that work. Please conduct a proper study and share with the affected neighbors.
I oppose the planned Eli to Burton Rd connection that is part of this plan due to insufficient traffic analysis done on traffic that will cut through the Forestbrooke subdivision to go to Washtenaw. The study was done without any actual analysis or data of vehicular traffic in the subdivision and has only two comments in the entire document that are subjective and full of conjecture.
Additionally, this study was done prior to the city's "Healthy Streets" initiative that completely encapsulate Eli Rd. Given the lack of information, analysis, data collection, and Healthy Streets impact, I Implore that the planning commission reconsider the connector until a proper study has been conducted.
I'll also note that this exact topic was brought up during the previously submitted 160 unit plan and a follow-up study regarding traffic impacts in the Forestbrooke sub was not conducted then. At this point it seems as if this topic is being actively disregarded rather than addressed.
As a child advocate, a steward of Swift Run, and proud member of our diverse, tight knit, pedestrian community I oppose this plan.
The only winner here is the developer, and if they have been clear that they plan to sell this property once developed. We will be destroying what is left of the tree canopy at the border of the city limits. People who live in this new development will be crushed next to US 23 and subject to noise and air pollution. Current residents will lose what is left of the buffer of trees between the interstate and one of the last affordable areas in Ann Arbor.
Our community has enthusiastically participated in the Healthy Streets traffic calming measures and the threat to open up Eli Road to more cut through traffic for commuters flies in the face of what we were led to believe matters to city leaders.
This area should be designated as parkland to connect with Sylvan park rather than disturb wetlands and increase vehicle traffic. We can do better than this.
City council has recommended connecting Eli road to Burton as a cut through for the proposed Brightdawn development. I echo the concerns of my neighbors that a traffic study that involves Eli, Yost, Lillian and Brandywine Roads has NOT been done and those roads would be directly impacted by an opening of Eli to Burton. Those existing roads have already been identified as problematic by the city and calming measures have been put in place. Directing another neighborhood of traffic through this already problematic area could exponentially impact the safety of the neighborhood, including the elementary aged school kids who bike and walk in the road to get to Pittsfield Elementary for school and play. Please make safer choices for your constituents and citizen, especially the most vulnerable among us.
The end of Eli should remain closed to vehicle traffic. It was designed in the early 1960s to accommodate a maximum of 20 dwellings before Smokler decided not to build 12 houses along Burton Road. Letting traffic leave the 120 dwellings of Sylvan Hills with parking for 288 vehicles via Eli would send many more vehicles along narrow residential streets than were envisioned when Forestbrooke was laid out. Traffic coming down Eli past Forestbrooke Pool has three choices: turn left at Yost and exit the subdivision to Packard along Brandywine, turn right on Yost and then right on Washtenaw to access U.S. 23 or Ypsilanti, or take Oakwood to Platt past Pittsfield Elementary School to access downtown Ann Arbor. To do any of these things, vehicles would do it exactly where children are playing most days and are walking to school during the school year or are accessing the pool in early morning to evening from school closing to Labor Day. A sidewalk at Eli, yes. A road, no.
As a homeowner in the Forestbrooke neighborhood, I vehemently oppose the proposed Eli to Burton Rd connection for the reasons already mentioned by my neighbors: the lack of a proper traffic study, the hugely detrimental impact another Packard to Washtenaw cut-through would have on our already stressed and poor-quality neighborhood streets, and the direct conflict this influx of cars has with the intent of the "Healthy Streets" initiative.
As a mother of two Pittsfield Elementary School students, I'm also concerned that this connection could have dangerous consequences for all of the young children who walk and bike to school along Yost and other neighborhood streets.
Additionally, I'm concerned that the developers haven't done adequate environmental studies on the soil and water quality of the parcel, as well as not analyzing the amount of noise and air pollution from being located in such close proximity to a busy stretch of US-23 and Washtenaw.
I am in opposition to the planned Eli to Burton Rd connection that is part of this plan. A traffic "study" was completed but as far as I can tell no actual analysis was done. Connecting these roads would bring heavy traffic down Eli to Yost to access Washtenaw and US-23. Yost already gets an extreme amount of traffic with cars cutting through between Packard and Carpenter. Additionally, Yost and Eli have been designated as "Healthy Streets". Bringing additional traffic to these streets would have a negative impact on this initiative.
The city has done a lot of work recently to increase pedestrian and bicyclists safety. This connection is in direct opposition to that work. Please conduct a proper study and share with the affected neighbors.
I oppose the planned Eli to Burton Rd connection that is part of this plan due to insufficient traffic analysis done on traffic that will cut through the Forestbrooke subdivision to go to Washtenaw. The study was done without any actual analysis or data of vehicular traffic in the subdivision and has only two comments in the entire document that are subjective and full of conjecture.
Additionally, this study was done prior to the city's "Healthy Streets" initiative that completely encapsulate Eli Rd. Given the lack of information, analysis, data collection, and Healthy Streets impact, I Implore that the planning commission reconsider the connector until a proper study has been conducted.
I'll also note that this exact topic was brought up during the previously submitted 160 unit plan and a follow-up study regarding traffic impacts in the Forestbrooke sub was not conducted then. At this point it seems as if this topic is being actively disregarded rather than addressed.