As the Ann Arbor City Council discussed the possibility of a future downtown park on the Library Lot, Mayor John Hieftje laid out his own vision Monday night.
Hieftje gave a 10-minute slideshow presentation, showing rough sketches and ideas for a string of connected plazas in the downtown core.
The drawings were done by city park planner Amy Kuras based on general ideas Hieftje has been talking about since September 2012.
Starting from Liberty Plaza, an existing park at the southwest corner of Liberty and Division, the images show a colored walkway leading south on Division Street to Library Lane, then extending west to a new plaza envisioned on the Library Lot.
Hieftje noted the drawings don’t show a walkway crossing through First Martin Corp.’s property to directly connect Liberty Plaza with the contemplated Library Lot plaza, because the city doesn’t yet have an agreement to do that.
“But we do use decorative inlaid pavement in the sidewalk to create something like the ‘yellow brick road’ that would go from a re-imagined and re-done Liberty Plaza down Library Lane to a park on top of the library parking structure,” he said. “I guess it’s kind of a ‘rose brick road’ with decorative features along the way.”
From there, the colored walkway continues across Fifth Avenue and down to William Street to another corner plaza with a grand fountain on the Y Lot, which Dennis Dahlmann is planning to develop after buying it from the city.
The colored walkway then continues west along William Street, across Fourth Avenue, down to the northeast corner of Main and William where Hieftje said another plaza could be developed on the Palio Lot, the parking lot next to the Palio restaurant.
Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje gives a presentation before the City Council, laying out his vision for a string of downtown public plazas connected by colored walkways. Hieftje said the colored walkway also could keep going west of Main Street, down to the city-owned Kline Lot at the northeast corner of Ashley and William, where he said there could be another fountain and green space.
From there, he said, it could connect to the future Allen Creek Greenway, starting with an anchor park at First and William and then two more greenway parks on city properties at 415 W. Washington and 721 N. Main.
Hieftje indicated city staff is working on a proposal to take to the city’s Historic District Commission to get approval to demolish the dilapidated building that stands at 415 W. Washington. He said it would cost about $6 million to reuse the building, so the city is looking toward demolition to pave the way for a greenway park.
He said a graduate class at the University of Michigan has agreed to take on a project next fall to develop a master plan for the overall vision.
“If we want to do all these things — and the greenway has been on our to-do list for a very long time, and now we have downtown parks on our to-do list — we have to find a way to pay for it, and then we have to find a way to maintain it,” Hieftje said.
Hieftje suggested the city could look for partners to help bring the vision for more downtown parks to life, and try to convince developers to take on the costs of constructing and maintaining public spaces as they redevelop city-owned sites.
“We have an opportunity both at the top of the Library Lot and at 415 and at the Palio Lot to find a partner,” he said, noting First Martin maintains Liberty Plaza.
Hieftje said he’s very happy to hear Council Member Stephen Kunselman say he wants to see the buildable section of the Library Lot sold for redevelopment.
“We have the opportunity here to incorporate a park into the development, so that we use the developer’s funds to build a park, we use the developer’s funds to maintain the park,” he said, suggesting the city could do the same at 415 W. Washington.
Hieftje acknowledged the city was unsuccessful in fielding a suitable proposal for 415 W. Washington when it issued a request for proposals back in 2008, but he said it wasn’t a good time and the economic climate has changed greatly.
“We have nothing to lose trying to sell that and trying to incorporate the construction and maintenance of a greenway park in the development agreement,” he said.
Hieftje also suggested the Main Street Area Association could be a potential partner in creating a plaza or park space on the Palio Lot, and he said the Downtown Development Authority could help fund the colored walkways.
The images Hieftje showed during his presentation included examples of urban parks in other cities with children’s play areas, water features, creative pavement patterns, green landscaping and public art sculptures.
“I don’t think we’ll have Ray Charles on a piano on top of a fountain as they do (in Albany, Ga.), but we might have Mr. B — who knows,” Hieftje said, referring to the popular pianist who plays at the Ann Arbor Art Fair every year.
Hieftje said the shadow of Liberty Plaza, known for attracting drug users and homeless people, hangs over the idea of any new downtown park.
“I don’t know very many citizens in our neighborhoods who aren’t downtown every day who would tell you they want to go down and visit Liberty Plaza,” he said, suggesting the city needs to focus on how to make Liberty Plaza work.
“Liberty Plaza probably needs to be brought up level,” he said, referring to its sunken nature. “It needs considerable work. We need to figure out a way to make Liberty Plaza a place where all of our citizens would like to go.”
Ryan Stanton covers Ann Arbor city hall for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com or 734-623-2529 or follow him on Twitter.
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