City Planners OK Plat For Research Park

City Planners OK Plat For Research Park

It’s Another Step Toward Development Of 210-Acre Parcel

Approval of a preliminary plat for the 98-acre western half of the Research Park was given last night by the City Planning Commission.

The action was another step leading toward development of the 210-acre park that is bounded by the 1-94 (US-12) Expressway, S. State and Ellsworth Rds. Monday night the City Council ordered the preparation of plans for construction of a sanitary sewer to the western portion of the area.

The plat (which is an official map of the lots and street rights-of-way) shows 33 lots ranging in size from 105,000 square feet to 175,000 square feet. James F. Brinkerhoff, chairman of the committee which drew the plat, said nearly two acres at the entrance to the park at S. State Rd. will be a green area of grass and trees.

He said the park will face inward and that there will be a 30-foot wide "green belt” surrounding it.

City Planning Director Robert M. Leary had high praise for the plat and the committee which produced it. In addition to Brinkerhoff it includes City Administrator Guy C. Larcom, jr., Donald F. Wright, Eino O. Kainlauri, Gordon J Lebrasse. Robert J. Jagow, Leary, Harold A. Ohlgren, George Catlin, Robert Howard and Harlow O. Whittemore.

In other commission business, Leary said 1960 had seen 904 acres of land annexed in 28 actions. “One of the annexations took place by election, with 27 being accomplished by concurrent action of the city and townships,” he said.

“The amount of land added to the city resulted in a 10 per cent increase in its size so that Ann Arbor now contains just under 15 square miles of territory. It is interesting to note that the city in 1945 encompassed 6.1 square miles. In 15 years the size of Ann Arbor has grown by about 150 per cent. Other cities may have more dramatic individual annexations about which to brag but Ann Arbor’s sustained growth record is rather unique for cities of this size,” Leary concluded.