Development Plan Review To Begin

The first in a lengthy senes of City Planning Commission sessions to review the proposed general development plan for Ann Arbor will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Various groups have been asked to send representatives to these meetings. Following the commission's review, there will be public hearings af ter whieh the final recommendation of the commission will be forwarded to City Council. Assistant Planning Department Director Michael Prochaska believes the process of adopting a general development plan will take between six months and a year. What the plan does not do is probably as important as what it does do. Prochaska points out that the plan does not give a definitive land use base upon which the city can lean for all future zonings. Generally citizens are used to having a master plan which has different colors representing various zonings, Prochaska says. The general development plan does not do this. "This is a policy plan which will be used to guide growth," Prochaska says. "It doesn't say what land will receive what zoning, but the adopted policies will guide these decisions." The plan is an attempt to put together all the data necessary for decisión making. "It shows what the city is faced with in terms of potential growth and it gives alternatives to the city's eventual physical form," Prochaska said. He adds that without the input which will be obtained in coming months from organizations and individuals, the plan is relatively uselss. "This must express community attitudes." The plan whieh eventually will go to council for final adoption will include basic standards for development, practices and goals. "These practices and standards will evolve from the goals set forth. If the council adopts this concept, we won't need a land use plan, it will evolve," Prochaska said. One of the important features of the plan, he adds, is that it will make room for change in the future depending on demand and use. The concept being recommended by the planning staff is the "district center" plan.