City To Weigh Curb On Growth

Ann Arbor's immediate and long-range growth patterns will rest uneasily in the hands of n men next Monday night as City Council sits in working committee to determine if it is time to slow down. No final verdict will be given next week, except whether the present growth policy needs re-examination. But if the council determines there is the need for such a study, annexations and developments will doubtless remain in limbo for a number of months. "The city's traditional policy concerning residential annexations has been to favor them,;; Mayor Robert J. Harris told councïl last night in a prelude to a suggested review of that policy. "Wel have not sought in any way to limit the pace of home building within our city limits. Our cfflef concern has been to see that housing supply grows as fast as housing de mand. Other public policies have been subordinated to this one. "Several recent trends cast doubt on the continuing wisdom of this policy," Harris said. 'We have about reached, if not exceeded, the capacity of our sewage treatment.svstem. The major plant expansióiï wr have been planning for years is now either doomed or postponed indefinitely because the State Water Resources Commission abandon ourjlant rather than expand it." Harris also pointed to TO&ÍQr road improvements that are stalledbèaüse of the lack of fundsand manpower, the inability of the city personnel to adequately inspect new dyelpjiments, the lack of manpower needed to plan for all that is being built, and the school overcrowding situation ín various serlnrs of the city. In past yearsTthe mayor said, housing was built to meet demand. "Now, as University enrollment fails to increase and local jobs increase slowly, we nevertheless see a resurgence of present and proposed residential construction. It is hard to explain it except in terms of efforts by deyeiopers to attract, as local housing customers, people who work relatively farïrbm Ann Arbor." The mayor s'aicTtiTese factors suggest the possibility of a new city policy "that would have these outlines: "1) We would prescribe the contribu-l tion each developer must make to helpl créate new schoQlsJ__new major roads.l and new sewage treatment capacity - I both to make suretEat his developmentl is not being subsidized by the rest of the! city or schogLjïjstrict, and to make surj that the public improvements are inl place when the private homes are com-l pleted: j "2) We woulcl tixnu ber of units of housing that would be authorized by Uity Council in each i dar year - gearing_this to our sewage treatment plant capacity, our planning and regulatory manpower, and the pace of school and major road constructionand "3) We would have guidelines so that council could ration annexation approvals much as ït now' rations liquor licenses or park acquisition funds." Harris estimates it will take four months at the minimum to gather the necessary information for council to make a decisión on the growth question. While this study is being made, Harris suggested that council "proceed with annexations that deserve special priority and that we leave other annexation proposals in limbo." Two annexation proposals the mayor believed deserved special consideration were on last night's agenda- one was passed and one was deferred pending the outcome of next week's work session. Council approved annexing 22 Pittsfield Township "islands" totaling 80 acres, but deferred a c t i o n on the Smokler-Popkins land totaling 242 acres at Plymouth Rd. and US-23. On the uestion of approving site plans for pareéis already in the city and zoned, Harris said each should be considered on its merits. "In closing," Harris said, "I wish to emphasize the difference between the Iproblem of regulating the ns nf city [ growth and the much' more momentous problem of regulating the pace of growth of the greater Ann Arbor area. The former is within our power. The latter apparently is not"For in a few years the adjacent townships will have the ability to furnish water and sewage treatment facilities, and hinceforth the bulk of the growth in the greater Ann Arbor area will be under _township, not city, auspices." ■ One of the mayor's major concerns relating to development in the townships as opposed to the city is his fear that subsidized housing will not proceed outside the city limits, therefore not providing needed sTïëlter for low and moderate income families. It was this reason - along wltlT"the developer's offer of a school site - that prompted Harris to endorse the Smokler-Popkins annexation. Fourth Ward Councilman James Stephenson said the Smokler devlopment had a potential for some 1,000 housing units and said it would have an impact on the sewage capacity. He asked that - _ I this annexation be postponed for one I week and the council - save for I cond Ward Councilman Robert Faber I - voted with Stephenson to defer. The city's Planning Commission, which has also expressed concerns whether Ann Arbor can continue to adquately service annexations, has asked ;hat the Public Works Deprtment present a report on the capacity of the J age treatment piant.' Harrïs añcl other councilmen noted that no single development would extend the sewage plant beyond its capacity but that there is concern over the cumulative effect of all developments. The Pitfsfield Township annexations , will be senfTiTtïïé State Boundary Commission for approval. This procedure I was elso recommended for the Smoker J pracel which twice in 1970 was rejected overwhelmingly by city voters. Noting those two elections, the Northeast Area Planning Review Committee told council last night, "You are being asked to make a mockery of the democratie process ... We now find that despite these two votes that it (council) proposed that the city submit thisi development to the State Bondary ComJ mission, thus effecüvely negating the democratie process." The committee, through its spokesman Meivin Larson, said there are a number I of unresolved questions relating to the I Smokler parcel and growth in general. The offer of the school site, Larson I said, "only does two things: Gives the I developer a magnificent selling and promotional tooi, and pre-empts operating budget monies from an already-lean school district budget for the payments for the school buildings and for the subsequent staffing, maintenance andl operation of the schools." In addition to the Smokler annextion, I another proposed development was held I up by council because of the pending I work session on growth. Council voted to I defer for one week action on the 1 nary plat for the Glacier Highlands No. I 5 subdivisión totaling 38 acres in the I Earhart Rd. and US-23 area. (Other City Council news appears 1 day on pages 12 and 20.) I