Workshop meeting still in session. City Council meeting has not started yet.

Tonight’s meeting agenda can be found here: highlandparkmi.gov/media/mzqnswye…

I’m joining tonight’s meeting on Zoom. The room is well-lit and speakers who use the mics are clearly audible. It looks like there are about 3-5 people besides council members and their staff present.

Meeting began at 7:22. Robinson has excused absence. Everyone else is present.

Mayor McDonald’s address to the public: -Acknowledged the 103rd birthday of one of Highland Park’s oldest residents. -Next Wednesday is last Coffee and Conversation with Mayor McDonald. Mayor’s email is gmcdonald@highlandpark.gov

No one stepped forward during citizen participation, so moving on to agenda item V. Administration.

Resolution to submit application for MSHDA MI Neighborhood Grant: Approved Ash-Shafii wants to see more grant applications that benefit all age groups, not just seniors.

Resolution to renew copier lease: approved

2025 council schedule approved after changing workshop meeting time from 5:30pm to 6pm to accommodate council members’ schedules. Workshops will now only happen once a month.

Resolution to approve 2024 Highland Park Building Department Fee Schedule: Passed

Manica wants to table community development resolutions on tonight’s agenda. She says that a lot goes into selling vacant lots and they aren’t ready to decide. She says she wants to see more resolutions to build housing and schools in the city.

President Thomas opposes this motion. He says that building houses is extremely expensive. He gives a personal example of how expensive renovating his own home has been. He also notes that Detroit housing revitalization has taken 20 years. Manica says HP is not Detroit.

Manica says that when people buy these vacant lots, they just use it for parking. They don’t plant gardens or develop anything. Thomas says he will approve Manica’s motion so they can continue discussing this issue. However, he doesn’t want delay citizen’s applications.

Thomas says that we should allow people to buy these lots and invest in HP. He believes that they have stuck it out in HP and deserve an opportunity to steward land in HP. He says there are no opportunities to buy land in Detroit.

Manica makes official motion to table community development resolutions b-f. It does not pass.

Discussion of resolution to sell vacant land at 350 Elmhurst to Hernandez. He owns the adjacent property and has lived in HP for two years. Martin has concerns but it’s difficult to hear her since she’s not using her mic.

Hernandez has already planted trees and flowers in the vacant lot he wants to buy today. Ash-Shafii says he has a pet peeve of people occupying/developing city land before they officially own it. Manica agrees and says there are fees and taxes associated with altering city land.

Hernandez’s proposal to buy this vacant lot is denied by all council members present.

Discussion about resolution to sell vacant residential lot at 171 Louise to Highland Property Group: Ash-Shafii asks if group’s done anything to improve the lot he just bought. He hasn’t yet, but has remodeled other properties. Ash-Shafii is concerned that group won’t improve lot

Council members want group to continue improving the properties they currently own before selling them another vacant lot. Resolution 7 c. is tabled.

Discussion about resolution to sell vacant residential lot at 98 Tennyson to Smith and Dancy who own the adjacent property: Ash-Shafii makes a motion to table this resolution until the property they already own is improved. Smith says he understands the skepticism.

Resolution to sell vacant residential lot at 191 Winona to Luis who owns the adjacent property is approved. Ash-Shafii says he saw the property today and is confident that she will improve the lot. She wants extra yard space for her kids to play.

Discussion about resolution to sell vacant residential side lots 126 and 130 Kendall to Holy Ghost Temple Church: the church wants green space for community events and extra parking. There is currently very little parking.

7f con’t: Ash-Shafii says lots are behind the church, not adjacent. He says they have denied sales to many people because the lots are not truly adjacent and doesn’t want to be unfair to them. Thomas says the lots are actually adjacent to church. Attorney agrees.

7f con’t: Ash-Shafii wants to table this resolution until they understand the legality better. He also wants to revisit lot sales they have denied over past 2 years because the lots were not adjacent. Manica agrees.

7f con’t: Woman representing church says they started this process in 2022 and was told to make a site plan and get surveyor. Church did those things, still not enough. Ash-Shafii says that none of the council members were present in 2022 when the church started this.

resolution to sell vacant residential side lots 126 and 130 Kendall to Holy Ghost Temple Church: tabled, does not pass

Citizen participation time 🗣️

🗣️ Woman talks about difficulties buying side lots. She says she has lived next to a vacant lot and wasn’t able to mow it or beautify it. It took her 7 years to finally own the side lot.

🗣️Another woman expresses frustration about lot sale process. She commends council for tabling some of the resolutions, but urges council to sell those two lots to the church because of all the work they do in the community.

🗣️Woman representing the church urges council to reconsider. She says it’s deeper than just a parking lot. They are helping the community.

Mayor McDonald discusses lot sales. She agrees they should be sold to people who enhance/improve them. But, she adds, every lot that the city owns is a bill to the citizens, they pay for it in their taxes. When it’s sold to a citizen or other entity, they pay those taxes.

🗣️ Woman says that demand for housing in HP is extremely low. She would rather see those vacant lots sold than just sitting.

🗣️Man from the church reiterates that they have done everything the council asked them to do in 2022. He says they need that extra space.

Ash-Shafii says that there is demand for housing in HP and that he refuses to just approve lot sales. He talks about Midtown, Corktown, and Cass Corridor as examples of people getting pushed out as city develops. He doesn’t want that to happen in HP.

Ash-Shafii asks attorney if he has info about capping property taxes for HP property owners who have owned their property for over five years to protect them. Attorney says he does and that they will discuss.

Martin expresses excitement about HP and feels confident that people do want to move here. Manica adds that to attract families to HP there needs to be more housing. She says that believing that building more house is too expensive is limiting the city.

Thomas disagrees that change is coming quickly. It’s coming, but not quickly. Thomas speaks for about 15 minutes about his experience with real estate in HP, then adjourns the meeting at 9:32pm

There was a ton of back and forth at tonight’s meeting. Some council members, like Ash-Shafii want to be cautious about selling city land and vacant lots. Others, like Thomas, want to give people opportunities to own land in the community they’ve invested their time in.

I understand Ash-Shafii’s concerns about inequity and protecting HP citizens from paying “the price of development.” However…

when a church that has been supporting the community for over 50 years is told they have to wait even longer to buy an empty lot while the legal team looks into the definition of “adjacent,” something isn’t working.

This concludes my live coverage of the Highland Park City Council meeting. For more information check out: documenters.org

If you believe anything in this live coverage is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@outliermedia.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.