Why We Made This Resource:
We hoped that Ann Arbor's Comprehensive Plan would start with facts and genuine input from the whole community. What we found instead was a vision document created by a few, with incredibly limited public engagement begun after the fact. Just 2% of residents participated in the city's survey, which largely missed students, renters, newer residents, and lower-income households. Yet despite this failure, the plan proposes drastic changes that would affect every neighborhood in our city and threaten natural features that we prize.
Instead of sharing realistic growth numbers based on official forecasts and recent population trends, the Planning Commission created its own inflated projections without explaining how it arrived at them.
What's even more troubling? There's no financial analysis showing how we'd pay for the billions in required infrastructure. There is no real plan for housing affordability. Without this crucial information, we're concerned about what could follow: unsustainable tax burdens and unaffordable gentrification—which always hits vulnerable working families, young renters, and fixed-income seniors the hardest.
That's why we created this resource. Ann Arbor deserves what other forward-thinking cities expect and receive. That is a plan built on real community conversations, accurate data, and realistic projections which provide clear pathways to reach our common goals. 💙
-A2N2 Steering Committee: Hank Barry, Lisa Jevens, John Godfrey, Ann Arbaugh, Nancy Leff, Brad Pritts, Ellen Ramsburgh, Rita Mitchell, Irma Majer, Tom Stulberg, Barry Checkoway, Karen Wight, Wendy Carman
The Draft Plan Being Crafted:
Watch the Ann Arbor Planning Commission in action as they discuss and debate key information and edits to the Comprehensive Plan.
May 2025 Vacancy Rates:
The City of Ann Arbor's Draft Comprehensive Plan relies on vacancy data from 2022, which does not reflect the most current market conditions. More recent data from multiple sources, including CoStar Real Estate Information (May 2025), the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) for 2023, and SEMCOG (July 2024 estimates), indicate significantly higher vacancy rates than those cited plan:
Specifically, the Draft Comprehensive Plan states on page 48: "Current vacancy rates are extremely low, creating an unhealthy balance between supply and demand: owner vacancy is 1.1% and renter vacancy is 3.1%."
However, May 2025 CoStar data shows a market-rate rental vacancy of 6.9%, a figure that falls within the 5-8% range often considered indicative of a "healthy" housing market, a definition acknowledged within the Draft Comprehensive Plan itself.
Market Rate Units: 6.9% vacancy (23,664 total; 1,633 vacant)
Student Housing Units: 5.3% vacancy (11,913 total; 631 vacant)
Total Vacant Units and Beds: 6,018 (including student + market-rate)
The selective use of older data misrepresents current housing availability, directly misinforms residents, creates a skewed public engagement process, and undermines public trust. The Draft Comprehensive Plan must be updated to incorporate the latest available data to ensure an accurate foundation for future planning and development strategies.
Note: The City of Ann Arbor pays for CoStar and has access to the same real-time vacancy data (City of A2 OpenBook):
Official Stuff & Things to Read:
The following are essential resources that need to be considered for any comprehensive plan. SEMCOG’s data is required by law for regional transit planning, and in 2024 the City of Ann Arbor took a $45,000 grant from SEMCOG’s Planning Assistance Program while developing our own transit plans.
Additionally, the Michigan Statewide Housing Plan has offered numerous incentives since 2022 for municipalities end the housing crisis. A key tenant of the Statewide Housing Plan is affordable housing and ending homelessness.
In 2024 the State Plan achieved $1.2B in housing production investment, more than ever before. Construction and rehabilitation of 44,303 housing units meant crossing the half-way milestone towards 75,000-unit five-year goal. Key data and analysis in Ann Arbor’s draft comprehensive plan stops at 2022 - before the State Housing Plan ramped up… 🤔
📄 AICP PAS Report 758, Sustaining Places, Best Practices for Comprehensive Plans
📄 AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
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📄 SEMCOG Master Plan Data and Tools
📄 SEMCOG Ann Arbor Community Page
📄 SEMCOG Ann Arbor Community Explorer Map
📄 SEMCOG Population and Household Estimates for Southeast Michigan (December 2024)
📄 SEMCOG 2050 Forecasts (March 23, 2023)
📄 SEMCOG 2050 Forecasts PDF Version (March 23, 2023)
📄 SEMCOG Planning Assistance Program
📄 SEMCOG Planning Assistance Program FAQ
📄 SEMCOG Planning Assistance Program Interactive Map
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📄 Statewide Housing Plan Site
📄 2022 Statewide Housing Plan PDF Version
📄 Official State of Michigan Housing Data Portal
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📄 Official State of Michigan Housing Data - Full Ann Arbor Housing Report
📄 State of Michigan Center for Data and Analytics 2050 Population Projections (March 6, 2025)
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📄 2023 Ann Arbor Population - U.S. Census quick Facts
📄 2023 Ann Arbor Population - Neilsberg
📄 Data Commons - Ann Arbor Official Data
📄 State of Michigan Building Permits Tracker
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📄 Washtenaw County Economic Outlook by U-M RSQE
📄 Michigan Labor Market Information
📄 State of Michigan Press Release on March Unemployment
📄 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Year over Year Unemployment
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📄 University of Michigan Federal Orders, Memos, and Agency Guidance
📄 University of Michigan Major Projects
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📄 City of Ann Arbor File # 23-0597 - 4/17/23 - Interface Studios Comp Plan RFP & Contract
📄 City of Ann Arbor Comprehensive Plan RFP
📄Interface Studios Comprehensive Plan Proposal
📄 Interface Studios Comprehensive Plan Contract
📄 City of Ann Arbor File # 25-0185 - 3/3/25 - Interface Studio - Amendment 1 to PSA
📄 Interface Studios Comprehensive Plan Budget Amendment Request
📄 Ann Arbor Draft Comprehensive Plan (April 7, 2025)
📄 Ann Arbor Comprehensive Plan Website
📄 Ann Arbor Comprehensive Plan Stakeholder Interview Summary
📄 11/20/2024 - Ann Arbor Comprehensive Steering Committee Slides
📄 09/19/1024 - Ann Arbor Comprehensive Meeting in a Box
📄 09/18/2024 - Ann Arbor Comprehensive Steering Committee Slides
📄 07/17/2024 - Ann Arbor Comprehensive Steering Committee Slides
📄 05/15/2024 - Ann Arbor Comprehensive Steering Committee Slides
📄 Ann Arbor DDA 2024 Post Pandemic Circulation Report
📄 City of Ann Arbor OSI Dashboard - Transit
📄 City of Ann Arbor Active Projects & Plans
📄 City of Ann Arbor Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) 2026-2031
📄 City of Ann Arbor Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) 2026-2031 by Project Report
📄 The Comprehensive Plan will complement three existing plans:
The Treeline Allen Creek Urban Trail Master Plan (PDF) - 2017
The Moving Together Towards Vision Zero - Comprehensive Transportation Plan (PDF) - 2021
Parks and Recreation Open Space Plan (PDF) - 2023
Get The Memo To The City:
📢 Make your voice heard by Emailing or Calling the Ann Arbor City Council and demand they Pause the Plan Now!
Contact an individual Ann Arbor City Council Member, or all: