City Sued Again On Site Plan

As anticipated nearly five months ago, Ann Arbor city officials have been sued over their rejection of a site plan for a proposed restaurant on Broadway Street near Plymouth Road. The developer, Ronald E. Hall, who holds an option to purchase the property at 1741 Broadway, filed suit in Washtenaw County Circuit Court seeking an order requiring city approval of nis site plan for the 1.5 acre parcel, Such approval must be obtained before a building permit can be issued. Ann Arbor City Council'and Planning Commission voted to turn down Hall's Sr ' site plan last summercáfter Broadway neighborhood residents protested plans to erect a Ponderosa Restaurant on the site, which is zoned as local business district. The denial was contrary to the recommendation of the city's professional planning staff, which pointed out that Hall's site plan was technically conforming with all applicable state and local laws. Hall accuses the city of arbitrarily denying the site plan, and claims in his lawsuit that the citv mutt - -;t" v, fff k J r plan which conforms to all laws and or- dinances. City officials, however, cited traffic congestión, impact on the neighborhood and violation of the in tent section of C-l zoning in rejecting the restaurant site plan. Hall's lawsuit is not the first time that Ann Arbor has been challenged on its site plan review process. Two cases are now pending in the Michigan Court of Appeals - both involving similar challenges of the validity of the city's site