Re-Elect Mayor John Hieftje

Parks & Greenbelt

Wonderful parks are significant to Ann Arbor’s special character. To that end, key new natural area parks recently have been added to an already exceptional park system. Despite the gloomy fiscal climate statewide, Mayor Hieftje believes park maintenance must continue as a high civic priority. He believes the city should apply the same type of sound organizational policy to park management as to the rest of city entities: continuous quality control and improvement.

Mayor Hieftje wrote the resolution insuring that the parks general fund subsidy would be preserved and increased, consistent with the promise City Council made to voters in the fall of 2006. He co-sponsored this resolution with Council Member Johnson. Download the City Council resolution (PDF).

Ann Arbor’s Natural Areas Preservation Unit (NAP) is often used as a model by cities across the country. Changes in funding put in place a few years ago assured the growth and bright future of NAP.

The city has written off the debt accrued by the Huron Hills Golf Course and is moving forward with a plan to enhance the courses and put them back in a positive financial position.

Mayor Hieftje is the sponsor of a ballot measure for the November 2008 election that would close an arguable “loophole” in the City Charter. Under Michigan statute it is prohibited for a local government to sell parkland. However, at least two Michigan cities have maneuvered around this requirement by rezoning land, then selling it. If approved, the new charter language would eliminate the possibility of this happening. Although the Mayor knows no one currently on Council would attempt to make use of the “loophole,” he wants to insure the protection of Ann Arbor’s parks far into the future.

Greenbelt

The Greenbelt is growing faster than even two years ago, which insures that open land around Ann Arbor will be preserved forever. There has been a surge in applications for the program and the cost of saving open space has dropped considerably with the recent decline in real estate prices.

Although State matching funds have disappeared with the state-wide recession and Federal matching funds for land preservation have diminished, Ann Arbor continues to procure financial support for land preservation. 90% of federal monies allocated to Michigan for farmland protection go directly to Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. Three townships have followed Ann Arbor’s lead by passing their own millages and this helps to narrow funding gaps. Ann Arbor continues to work with the County on saving parkland and open space. Given the drop in prices and thanks to ready and willing partners, our original goal to save 7,000 acres from sprawl is well within reach.

In addition to mitigating unsustainable sprawl and preserving the Huron River Watershed by limiting runoff, the Greenbelt insures that agricultural land will always be available close to the city. With rising fuel costs for shipping foods as well as growing demand for local produce, agricultural production close to home becomes vitally important. Our Farmer’s Market will not only survive far into the future but thrive with locally grown fruit, vegetables, eggs and more.