Ypsilanti participated in both our 2017 pilot round of site-specific planning and marketing, supported by MSHDA, as well as in the MEDC Redevelopment Ready Communities pre-development assistance program.
Downtown Parking Strategy
With multiple vacant properties recently redeveloped or in process, Ypsilanti identified the need for a strategic approach to downtown parking management–after decades of incremental, ad hoc adjustments to the parking system, the pace of new downtown investment required a rethink of parking and access.
In 2018, the League contracted with Rich & Associates and Giffels Webster to evaluate the parking systems of downtown Ypsilanti’s three business districts and create a new parking strategy.This work includes an inventory of the city’s existing parking facilities and policies; focus groups in each district; monitoring actual parking use and capacity during typical daytime, evening, and weekend periods; and forecasts of future parking demand for each of the business districts.
The Ypsilanti parking strategy addresses capital improvements and system management for supporting downtown Ypsilanti.
The completed parking strategy was adopted by the Ypsilanti City Council and Downtown Development Authority in spring 2019, and the city expected to begin initial implementation soon after.
The parking strategy was funded primarily by MEDC’s RRC Pre-Development Assistance program, with matching by the city and Ypsilanti DDA.
North Park Street Redevelopment Planning
In early 2017, the League assisted the city of Ypsilanti in preparing marketing materials for a 4-acre vacant city-owned parcel a few blocks from the Depot Town entertainment district, at the edge of the Historic East Side neighborhood.
The League engaged Beckett & Raeder, Inc., (BRI) to create scenarios for site redevelopment that would fit both the city’s new form-based code and the context of the surrounding historic neighborhood. These scenarios looked to a recent residential target market analysis and neighborhood discussions from the recent master planning process to identify “missing middle” housing types for which this site could serve the demand.
The concepts were refined with feedback from city staff, Planning Commission, and Historic District Commission, and used in a developer Request for Qualifications in early 2017 that attracted proposals from multiple development teams.
The League’s work on this project was funded by MSHDA.
Blog Post
Matchmaking to make great places happen – Richard Murphy, Michigan Municipal League, April 14, 2017
Media
Proposed Ypsi parking changes include paid parking in Depot Town and hiring city parking manager – Concentrate, April 4, 2019