The families near the Green and Hubbard Road intersection in Ann Arbor are organizing a coalition in response to the University of Michigan's plans to move and expand their Transit Hub to this intersection, within our neighborhood.  The facility will house 60 buses and service over 1,000 work vehicles.  We ask neighbors and community members to join our efforts in stopping this from happening.

Background

For the past two years, our City Council representatives and neighbors have requested more information on this proposal.  We've been given nothing but promises that the University would host a community forum once schematics were submitted.  Now we know the University Regents have already approved the conceptual design and to move forward with the Green and Hubbard location, all without community input. Only on February 25, 2016 did the University finally host a community forum that included families from Green Baxter Court, Greenbrier Apartments, Glacier Highlands Neighborhood, Greenbrier Neighborhood, and the Northwood Graduate Housing Complex, all of whose borders lie within 200 ft of the proposed facility.

In this meeting, the University shared:

• The morning start of 60 Bio-Diesel buses will begin at 5:30 am and involve all buses idling while they are inspected and wait to depart.
• Bus service in and out of the Hub will be for 22.5 hours a day - from 5:30 am to 4 am, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. 
• Light trucks  awaiting service will be stored in a strip of parking along Hubbard Rd and will have to use their back-up beepers to move from these spaces.
• It is estimated there will be over 50 interchanging vehicles per day. All buses will be refueled and washed in a station along Green Rd, which is within 150 ft of Green Rd homes.
• No environmental, water or noise impact studies have been completed though plans and schematics have been approved. 
• UM’s own traffic study indicates a large increase in traffic on Hubbard and Baxter during peak hours - upwards of 140 vehicles (or 70 on each road) per hour during peak rush hour. In other words, 1 vehicle per minute entering and/or exiting Hubbard and Baxter during peak rush hour.
• The project will bring approximately 10 acres of impermeable surface to the corner of Green and Hubbard, without any requirement to meet City/State standards for a 100 year flood.

In light of these facts given to us by the University of Michigan, we, the undersigned:

1. Call on the University of Michigan to STOP actively planning for the relocation of their new Transit Hub at the intersection of 5 existing residential neighborhoods.
2. Demand that the Regents of the University of Michigan RESCIND THEIR APPROVAL for the development of this facility in a residential area where young children and families will be subject to 22 hours of bus traffic, exhaust from bus starts and idling vehicles, and a HIGH increase of traffic on Hubbard and Baxter Roads.
3. Recommend that the University seek to place this site in a non-residential area on North Campus and reconsider their use of the Green/Hubbard/Baxter land for a purpose more in harmony with the residential nature of this area.
4. Urge the University of Michigan to seek to be “Leaders and the Best” in their planning for a University community that respects and supports the residential neighborhoods where their faculty, staff, students and other community members live.
5. Encourage the University of Michigan to follow their own published sustainability standards, which state “We will pursue land and water management, built environment, and product sourcing strategies toward improving the health of ecosystems and communities.” Pursuant to this goal, UM further states it will “protect Huron River water quality by minimizing runoff from impervious surfaces and reducing the volume of land management chemicals used on campus by 40%” and “pursue stakeholder engagement, education, and evaluation strategies toward a campus-wide ethic of sustainability.” These standards and goals are NOT being met in the current project at Green and Hubbard.

Please visit www.nea2cc.org for the UM Regents' email addresses and examples of letters being sent protesting the bus yard.