Ann Arbor proposals A and B could settle -- or extend -- 7-year impasse over top of underground lot

[RandySF]

For seven years, a simmering dispute over a prime piece of property in the heart of Ann Arbor’s downtown has kept it from being developed.

It's the concrete top of an underground parking structure, called the Library Lane Parking Structure. The vote in the Tuesday, August 5 primary on Proposals A and B will give city residents yet another chance to decide its fate.

I asked Ann Arbor District Library Director Eli Neiburger to meet me at the lot and describe what he saw.

"Well, we're standing on the surface parking lot on the top of the Library Lane parking structure," he began. "Most of the site is taken up by stairs and ramps and elevators. And there's a few planters and a lot of parked cars."



https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2025-07-31/ann-arbor-proposals-a-and-b-could-settle-or-extend-7-year-impasse-over-top-of-underground-lot

[LisaM]

1. I really hope this fails.

Ann Arbor is in the midst of an absolute unfettered development spree. Under the guise of providing affordable housing, the entire city is being ripped apart and urban canyons are going up everywhere. The problem is that no matter how much they build, they haven't created any affordable housing. All they build are small and expensive apartments. According to a local realtor, there is a fair amount of inventory actually on the market, it's simply not affordable.

I don't know who this library with a high rise development will benefit but you can bet it's not families that need affordable housing. There is a pro development faction absolutely determined to turn Ann Arbor into a concrete disaster. Kind of belies the "Arbor" in the name.