Voters in Ann Arbor will render a final decision on two ballot proposals on August 5th. Proposals A and B would approve the sale of city owned land for a new downtown library. Opponents say the city is reneging on its promise to turn the land into an urban park and civic commons called the “Center of the City.” And now, a lawsuit accuses the City of “perpetrating a fraud upon the electorate” through misleading ballot language. WEMU’s Caroline MacGregor explores what has become a contentious issue in an off-year summer election.
If Ann Arbor voters approve the interdependent proposals, the current city charter would be amended to sell the surface of the city-owned Underground Library Lane parking structure at the corner of South Fifth and South Division to the Ann Arbor District Library. To get a first-hand look at the Library Lane property, I met up with president of the Library Green Conservancy, Rita Mitchell, and the nonprofit organization's director, Alice Ralph.
RITA MITCHELL: Hi, nice to meet you, Caroline!
CAROLINE MACGREGOR: You too! And you're?
ALICE RALPH: Alice.
CAROLINE MACGREGOR: OK, and we're outside the downtown district library. This is the site of so much controversy.
ALICE RALPH: Lately it has been, yeah.
To understand why there is controversy over these ballot measures, we need to understand what they ask. Proposal A asks voters to authorize the actual transfer of the land from the city to the library for use of a new and larger library with room for a multi-use development. Proposal B would repeal the voter-approved 2018 charter amendment that designated the space for use as an urban park and civic commons known as the "Center of the City."
Proposal A is contingent upon Proposal B. The initiative does not include new taxes, and the city would still own the Library Lane parking structure through 2042 when the library would purchase it from the city at a nominal cost.
The Library Lane parcel lies across the road from the Ann Arbor Transit Center, surrounded by apartments and cars parked atop the underground parking structure next to the library.
As we walked, noise from construction on a new high-rise on East William Street at times drowned out our conversation.
RITA MITCHELL: This could be either a building, or it could be open space, and this could be cleared and made into a park, an urban park. You know, it is a different kind of park. It's a gathering place, an event place. There's no other place downtown. We lost our courthouse years ago. We don't have a city gathering place.
So, the question is why do proponents of A and B want a new library? Library officials say the current downtown branch is in disrepair with water damage and structural deficits. It has only one elevator and was built before the Americans with Disabilities Act.
District Library Director Eli Neiburger says the building has also outgrown its available space.
ELI NEIBURGER: Who does the public want to be responsible for this space? Would the public like to leave it as it is now in the situation that it's in right now? Or would the public like to see what the library can do with that space? Because people who want to see open space, programmable venue space, all the things that the Library Green Conservancy has called for over the years, the library is the best partner to actually deliver those things.
He says a new state-of-the-art downtown library would provide more meeting space, retail and business incubation. And in addition to mixed-income housing, it would also boast 10,000 square feet of public open space. But opponents accuse the city of backtracking on its promise to develop the Library Lane area into a Center of the City park. They point to the voter-approved 2018 charter amendment that set aside the land to remain city owned in perpetuity.
Mitchell says, despite good faith efforts, their work with the city stalled because of a lack of response.
RITA MITCHELL: I don't have any contention with the library itself. The contention I have is with the lack of discussion between the library and the City of Ann Arbor and our group as a all-volunteer, nonprofit organization. How can we accomplish all of this together?
Longtime Ann Arbor resident and activist Alan Haber spearheaded ballot petitions in 2016 and 2017 to establish a center of the city above the parking structure. Enough voter signatures were gathered to place the issue on the November 2018 ballot. He calls the city's handling of the land a betrayal of trust and an insult to democracy and to the people who have worked hard to create a public space.
ALAN HABER: What they are doing is taking the opportunity for a beautiful development in the Center of the City and ending it--killing it. For no good reason, they are committed to this sense of big building and money, taxes for the city, and the library is getting itself involved.
Haber says the city has bypassed its obligations to hire outside independent public consultants to help develop the Center of the City.
ALAN HABER: It has been a betrayal of the people of Ann Arbor who voted for this, who worked for this, and, as a free speech area, it's a betrayal of the artists and activists who have done beautiful programs for Earth Day and Peace Day and Human Rights Day and Martin Luther King Day. None of that is going to happen if the library is running it.
After voters approved the 2018 charter amendment, creating the Center of the City Project, a task force and a Council of the Commons was created. Recommendations were made to remove cars from the underground parking structure next door to the library and to commission outside consultants in the planning and design of an urban park.
At the conclusion of the Council of the City Commons in 2023, Mitchell says a draft of their MOU was presented to the city administration, including Ann Arbor City Administrator Milton Dohoney Jr.
RITA MITCHELL: In May of 2023, we never got a follow-up from city officials on next steps. Other than from Mr. Dohoney, there was no appetite for this project. And I don't want to waste your time or ours. I'm moving forward. I believe that that's representing the mayor and City Council.
As for public opinion, a packed June 24 public forum, organized by the Washtenaw County League of Women Voters, featured library and city officials. Ann Arbor residents got the opportunity to speak in favor of or against Proposals A and B.
ODILE HUGONOT HABER: My name is Odile Haber, and I am French, but I have been in Ann Arbor for 35 years. And I think when the people voted for the Commons, it's because they were afraid that Ann Arbor will become a very big city with buildings everywhere and no central focal part for the children to go and for people to meet.
A2 RESIDENT MARK SCERBO: I guess my question is... Why is the idea of partnering with a library, which is very good at engaging the public with activities, with events, with programming, allowing the library to utilize a common space and get a larger library facility over both blocks? Why is that not in line with the 2018 vote? And as a voter, as one of those many voters who voted in favor of the amendment, why am I not allowed to change my view or make my desires more nuanced? Thank you.
UNNAMED A2 RESIDENT: I have one more thing that's important, because the entire basis of fundraising in this context is you have to have an MOU, period, full stop, every time. This city refused to sign one, and to be constantly condemned, the Library Green and Proponents, that they didn't fundraise to the extent necessary, is totally on the city blocking the MOU. Look at the skate park. The skate park had an MOU. They raised money from the state, the county, matching funds, and the city coughed up 100 grand when they did miss their funding deadline. Because the city wanted the skate park.
A2 RESIDENT MAGGIE HALPERN: No matter what, the Library Lane is an inhospitable place. That's what I've learned living in Ann Arbor for 15 years. Concrete downtown is hot and disgusting in the summer, and it's cold and windy in the winter. If we want to gather in a place like that, we should be working on improving West Park. I want everything that will come from a large library downtown. Thank you.
Many opponents at that forum and since have questioned the timing of the ballot proposals, including Mitchell, who worries about lower voter turnout in an off-year summer election.
RITA MITCHELL: Even though, right now, our election regulations have changed, so it's opened up early voting and absentee voting without a reason, it's still different. People's attention is different. And this will be an interesting test of public.
Ann Arbor District Library Director Eli Neiburger disputes this contention.
ELI NEIBURGER: August elections are very normal. There are a lot of other places in Michigan that have elections right now asking questions about libraries or other public services. And this is an urgent situation for the library in that we have the exterior skin of the building is failing and the cheapest time to replace a facility is always right now.
Not only are there disputes about what will be done with the site, now there is a legal challenge to the ballot proposals themselves. An emergency lawsuit filed against the city on July 16th on behalf of two Ann Arbor residents accuses the city of perpetrating a fraud upon the electorate through misleading ballot language.
Neiburger says that assertion is a false narrative, and the city would be vulnerable to its own lawsuit if it misled the public.
ELI NEIBURGER: It's a very specious argument saying that there's some secret trick that's happening here. The ballot question says, "Hey, voters! Do you want this to happen?" That's not what the 2018 proposal said.
Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor said the lawsuit came as no surprise.
CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR: It's no surprise to me that opponents of proposals A and B would take extraordinary, unreasonable measures to contest A & B. I don't think that we're going to have any problem defending the lawsuit. And I look forward to that day.
Taylor believes Proposals A and B are a huge opportunity for the city, and placing them on the August ballot is based on the library's needs. He says the idea of a park on top of the existing parking structure, something supporters say has been achieved in other cities, is a fantasy.
CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR: You'd need billions of dollars to create some kind of design that would take into account the immutable fact that it is a parking structure and that the open space on top of the parking structure is the roof of the parking structure. You can't put dirt and grand, beautiful trees on top of this parking structure roof. It just won't work. It would never work. And the city doesn't participate in fantasy. The city is bound by reality.
As for the lawsuit against the city, Noah Hurwitz with Hurwitz PLLC law firm has requested the court allow for an emergency hearing prior to the election.
NOAH HURWITZ: These proposals are complicated issues, right? These are divisive issues. But the lawsuit is actually about something pretty simple, and that is whether or not the ballot proposal language accurately reflects the law that would happen if the ballot is passed. Again, we're not taking a side on anything. All that we're looking at is what will be the disposition of this property if it were to be sold to the Ann Arbor District Library.
As of this story, an emergency hearing has not been granted. A hearing scheduled at the time of the lawsuit's filing remains set for August 27th.
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