After 14 years, the
city of Ypsilanti will begin updating its master plan and zoning ordinances. The plan revisions, likely to begin this summer, are made possible through a partnership with Washtenaw County and a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Challenge grant.
The last version (circa 1998) was completed under certain assumptions, such as the continued operation of the former Motor Wheel and Ford plants, says Teresa Gillotti, Ypsilanti city planner. "It didn't have much consideration for transportation and the potential commuter rail, or improving transit like we've seen with the increased service on the number 4. So in a lot of ways, it's out of date."
Depot Town, for example, would be visioned as a transit-oriented development hub with the potential for commuter rail. The city would also like to revisit housing by adding different types and retrofitting downtown buildings, Gillotti adds. She points to the spur of redeveloped lofts in downtown, which has contributed to a 30-40% increase in downtown housing since the last master plan's incarnation.
Certain zoning requirements are also outmoded, she says. "Parking requirements seem to be too high for us being such a dense community. So we might want to look at ... other trade-offs. Like if you provide bicycle parking [or] if you're within a certain distance of a bus stop or for other reasons, you wouldn't necessarily need to have all that parking. Obviously we want to promote walkability and continue to promote that, like we have with our non-motorized transportation plan and the complete streets ordinance and streetscaping and all the different programming."
Ypsilanti's planning commission fielded 33 development applications last year, the busiest since 2003.
Source: Teresa Gillotti, Ypsilanti city planner
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
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