Posted on 11/22/2011 10:09:45 PM PST by Darren McCarty
Ann Arbor officials are considering an expansion of the Greenbelt district boundaries one mile east into Salem Township and one mile west and south into Lodi Township.
The Greenbelt Advisory Commission recommended the expansion plan at its Sept. 14 meeting, and GAC Chairman Dan Ezekiel, a local science teacher, appeared before the Ann Arbor City Council Monday night to lobby for its approval by council.
"The result would be to add seven sections in Lodi and three sections in Salem, and a section is a square mile," Ezekiel told council members.
The council voted 9-1 to give initial approval to the expansion, with dissent from Council Member Jane Lumm, an Independent representing the 2nd Ward.
The plan comes back for final approval Dec. 5.
Ezekiel said Lodi Township has partnered with the city on purchase of conservation easements, and Salem Township recently passed a purchase of development rights ordinance and allocated a sum of money for land preservation.
....
The city pays for Greenbelt purchases using proceeds from the Open Space and Parkland Preservation millage, which brings in more than $2 million annually from city taxpayers.
The Greenbelt program was approved by Ann Arbor voters in November 2003, at a time when a significant amount of development activity was occurring around Washtenaw County and farmland was being sold for development.
Ann Arbor voters authorized a 0.5-mill tax for 30 years, which provides funds for parkland acquisition within the city and the preservation of open space, agricultural land, and other natural habitats outside the city in a designated Greenbelt district.
The purchase of development rights keeps the property in the hands of the owner but ensures the land can't be developed and will remain preserved as open space.
(Excerpt) Read more at annarbor.com ...
If I was paying for this though, it would be bad, bad, bad.
Ann Arbor, like any college town, lives off the tuition payments of hard-working parents and students from other places. There’s nothing dishonorable about that, but it’s an economically-non-productive gravy train that leads to foolish governance like this.
“GAC Chairman Dan Ezekiel, a local science teacher, appeared before the Ann Arbor City Council Monday night to lobby for its approval by council.”
This the kind of crap that goes on all over the United States. One a’hole Marxist shows up at the local council, gives his Marxist spiel, and the idiots on the council vote to steal more property rights.
Where are the conservatives? They’re sitting on the fat butts doing nothing. They can’t be bothered to participate in local government. Pathetic.
If I had a choice of vaporizing Detroit or Ann Arbor, Detroit would still be standing in the morning.
Detroit is an indifferent parasite but Ann Arbor is a self righteous, angry, and demanding parasite.
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