Yes In My Back Yard

Neighbors who oppose development are often dismissed as “NIMBYs”—short for “Not In My Back Yard.” The term expresses a paradox: while most of us recognize that a city has to evolve to meet residents’ changing needs, we also want to protect our homes and families.

Yet North Central has welcomed changes that would seem shocking in other parts of Ann Arbor. When I step out onto my front porch in the morning, I see the fourteen-unit Wickliffe Place, a two-unit luxury condo, and a two-unit, twelve-bed-and-bath apartment building. All are new since I first opened that door in 1980. To my north, both neighboring houses are also new—one occupying what had been a vacant lot, the other a “tear down” that replaced one of the “shotgun shacks.”

The home to my south is a rock of stability, home to six generations of the Baker family over the last ninety-some years. The four-unit apartment past the Bakers is new, however, as is the two-unit condo beside North Main Park.

Yet NCPOA opposed none of these projects, and actively supported every one that required Planning approval. It turns out that there’s an acronym for this, too—though you don’t hear it nearly as often: “Yes In My Back Yard,” or “YIMBY.”

NCPOA embraces change because we plan for it. Our core is the residential neighborhood between Kingsley and Depot. Almost all of it is zoned R4C, which permits a diverse range of housing while preserving a neighborhood scale. With guidance from U-M architecture prof Jim Chaffers's design workshop, we’ve developed a broad vision that includes supporting homes for young families, condos for retirees, and apartments for students and working people.

We also worked with the city to remove an anomalous stretch of Office zoning on Main Street--a holdover from the day when planners couldn’t imagine people wanting to live on Main. The Central Area Plan now calls for this area to become one- and two-family housing. Yet anticipating the planning trend toward mixed uses, we also have supported well-designed office and commercial projects outside the residential core.

Here are some of the “YIMBY” projects that NCPOA has actively endorsed in the city’s planning process:

• The Brauer Building offices at Fifth and Catherine
• The Wickliffe Place condominium between Fifth and Fourth avenues
• The Gandy Dancer and Casey’s Tavern
• The Trailblazers clubhouse on Division (since closed)
• The Washtenaw County Historical Society’s Museum on Main Street

• 645 N. Fourth Ave., a four-unit apartment building
• A four-unit apartment building on Beakes
• The conversion of the former Bethel A.M.E. church to apartments
• The 201 Depot office building