OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Planning and Economic Development Committee Meeting - November 20, 2025

City Council — Thursday, November 20, 2025
BodyDetroit, Michigan
SessionCity Council
DateThursday, November 20, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:52:22

Transcript — Verbatim
0:01

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back.

0:04

We are now going to reconvene the planning and economic development standing committee for today, Thursday, November 20th, 2025.

0:12

Madam Clerk, hope you had an opportunity to grab some lunch and get a little recess.

0:18

We are back.

0:19

Okay.

0:19

Council President Pro Tim James Tate.

0:22

Here.

0:22

Councilmember Fred Dernhall.

0:24

Present.

0:25

Councilmember Letitia Johnson.

0:26

Present.

0:27

We have quorum, Mr.

0:28

Chair.

0:28

Thank you, man.

0:29

We have quorum, which means we're now in session.

0:31

We pretty much cleared the agenda minus uh all of the DCFC items as well as line item 8.1, which we brought back at the end of the agenda.

0:41

We're going to ask uh for motion to discuss, please.

0:45

Line item 8.1.

0:46

So move.

0:47

Thank you, sir.

0:48

All right.

0:49

I see Mr.

0:49

Mahoney there.

0:50

Uh, thank you for being here.

0:52

You can please introduce yourself for the record.

0:54

Good afternoon.

0:55

Keegan Mahoney, housing and revitalization.

0:57

Thank you, sir.

0:58

Um, this item, line item 8.1.

1:00

I kind of brought back a couple of times and may have been some lost uh translation.

1:05

I'll take responsibility for that.

1:07

My apologies.

1:08

But was trying to find out um, you know, proof of performance.

1:12

Like, what does this show us how the uh this this service actually has provided us uh a benefit in the city of Detroit?

1:21

And that's where I'm I'm trying to draw a conclusion.

1:25

I I don't see it just yet.

1:26

Not saying that it doesn't, but I'm I'm looking for that response, please.

1:30

Sure, absolutely.

1:30

Thanks for the opportunity to discuss.

1:33

Um, so it's uh within the the DNA of the housing and revitalization department to make sure that we are data driven in our recommendations and decisions around housing investments.

1:44

A lot of funding uh is invested through HRD into various housing programs and services, and it's important that that's done so in a data-driven way.

1:54

Uh, in addition, our team often is called upon to provide housing data to other city departments, uh, to uh city council and to community partners.

2:04

Uh and uh in order to do that, we often need to draw on a wide variety of data sets uh that are uh some of them are spread across city government on our open data portal in our VSA system and through a number of other city data platforms.

2:18

We also pull a lot of federal data from the census, uh, from the Postal Service uh and from um uh data regarding uh mortgage lending and mortgage denials uh and other uh public data sets.

2:31

And importantly, we have a lot of data around uh program performance within HRD.

2:36

Uh how much and where are home repair investments happening, uh, how much and where are dollars being invested into multifamily uh rental housing?

2:44

And so a lot of evaluation and analysis is always uh required of our departments.

2:50

Um, as you can imagine, knowing how to access and manage data from all of those different sources is quite difficult and and time consuming.

2:58

And it takes a lot of technical expertise uh to incorporate that data into GIS software and other other complex software platforms.

3:06

So, what this service does is it taps into all of those data sources and has a very uh easy user-friendly uh sets of layers that can be turned on and turned off so we can answer key questions about how our neighborhood uh housing values changing as a result of persistent investment in home repair, or you know, how are we seeing uh neighborhoods change as the result of a concentration of new multifamily housing developments and uh a wide variety of other types of analysis that can be done.

3:36

Again, this is typically very time consuming and and requires a lot of technical expertise.

3:41

So this software makes it much cheaper and much faster uh for us to do this type of of data analysis.

3:47

Okay, and uh just talk to me just last thing, and uh in terms of this being a sole uh provider, so to speak.

3:54

Does that cause any consternation at all?

3:59

Any you know, question because anytime we have a sole provider, and if they go belly up or if something happens with them, then it now leaves us in a situation where we're in a lurch because we've put all of our eggs in that particular basket.

4:12

Yeah, so this uh was uh uh uh procured and RFP was uh released uh in a previous contract cycle.

4:20

Um, and so uh we negotiated a contract and uh pay for a lot of the setup uh of uh of the Detroit configuration of this, integrating different uh those different data sets into this platform.

4:33

Uh so uh this is a uh uh an a continuation of uh uh building on what we've already uh invested in building the platform.

4:42

Um this was a new contract instead of an amendment to the previous contract because there was a merger between the the company that we originally contracted with and a new company, so we were unable to just uh request an extension of that existing contract, uh, which is why this is being presented as a new a new contract.

5:00

But this is building on work that was competitively procured and taking advantage of investment we've already made in building out this platform.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Community Engagement███████████████████████████████████████████43%
Transportation███████████████████19%
Zoning and Land Use█████████9%
Procedural███████7%
Public Engagement█████5%
Affordable Housing█████5%
Data Privacy███3%
Environmental Protection███3%
Historic Preservation███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Planning and Economic Development Committee Meeting - November 20, 2025

The Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee convened on Thursday, November 20, 2025, to conclude the term by approving major housing and infrastructure projects in the DCFC Stadium district, addressing parking and community concerns, and handling routine zoning extensions. The committee approved a data software contract, a comprehensive Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) for the DCFC stadium, and multiple commercial rehabilitation and brownfield plans following extensive public commentary and NAC testimony.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved Line Item 8.1: A new contract for a housing data and revitalization software service from a sole provider, ensuring continued data-driven analysis for the Housing and Revitalization Department.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Brie Williamson (NAC Communicator): Expressed opposition to the Community Benefits Agreement. She stated that the current CBO process is flawed, creates adversarial conditions among residents, shifts power from the democratically elected City Council to volunteers, and results in "nearly impossible" conditions for securing true community benefits. She noted that neighbors used threatening language against her during the process.
  • Danielle Manley (NAC Documenter): Expressed full support for the Community Benefits Agreement. She stated she believes the negotiation achieved necessary benefits for the community, including amenities and local opportunities, and urged approval to ensure Detroit has amenities like the stadium for all Detroiters, including legacy residents.
  • Blandina Rose Willis (NAC Member): Stated the community is not fully satisfied with the amount of monetary benefits for housing upgrades, calling it a "drop in the bucket," but acknowledged the NAC did the best possible job within the constraints. She expressed willingness to work with the outcome despite the concerns.
  • Sam Butler (NAC Member): Expressed conditional support, noting that parking and traffic were the number one concern. He argued that the CBO process should be reformed to include a "floor" or preset menu of benefits (like Cleveland) rather than arguing over the same issues each time. He supported the agreement specifically for the inclusion of union neutrality and the $17/hour wage floor.
  • Danny Patton (NAC Alternate): Expressed support for the developer (DCFC) as a "good actor" but argued the current CBO process fails to reward good actors and sets residents up to feel failure if they cannot solve macroeconomic issues like deferred housing maintenance through a single agreement. He suggested using the NAC as a "pressure release valve" for broader concerns rather than the only avenue for resolution.
  • Councilmember Letitia Johnson (Community Concerns): Expressed significant concern regarding parking adequacy, noting that current residential parking challenges are already severe and the new stadium will exacerbate them. She questioned the lack of a concrete "litmus test" for parking availability before the venue opens.

Discussion Items

  • Data Software Contract (8.1): Keegan Mahoney (HRD) explained that a new contract was necessary due to a merger of the previous provider, though the service builds on 100% of the prior investment. When asked about the risk of sole provider reliance, Mahoney confirmed the service consolidates critical data sources to save time and technical expertise for the department. The committee expressed no further objections after clarification.
  • DCFC Stadium CBA and Infrastructure (Items 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 9.35):
    • Project Scope: The DCFC Tier 1 project involves a $192 million investment for a 15,000-seat stadium, parking, and 76 affordable housing units (40-80% AMI) with 20% of two-bedroom units affordable at 50% AMI.
    • Parking Plan: Consultant Sean Mann and Adam McArthur explained the plan aims to meet the code requirement of 2,500 spaces. They confirmed 421 spaces in the on-site deck, 1,200 spaces on land owned/controlled by DCFC, and partnerships adding 450 spaces, totaling an anticipated 1,650 to 2,500+ spaces. They cited benchmarking studies suggesting 3,000 spaces are needed for similar venues to accommodate demand.
    • Stormwater: Ed Siegel described a 160,000 cubic foot below-field water retention system (thermoboid) that will treat and reuse stormwater for field landscaping.
    • Cultural Commemoration: Sean Mann promised community engagement in early 2026 to design a sculpture using the facade of the former Southwest General Hospital, with the goal of installation by the stadium's 2027 opening. He noted he has final say on budget and scale but values community input.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved Line Item 8.1: Motion to approve the data software contract passed unanimously.
  • Approved Line Items 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 9.35: Motion to send the commercial rehabilitation certificates, brownfield plan, and Community Benefits Agreement to formal with a recommendation to approve passed unanimously.
  • Approved Walk-on Resolutions: Two zoning text amendments (General Text Amendment and Chapter 50/Housing & Parking) were walked on and approved unanimously to ensure they remain on the agenda for the next council session.
  • Adjournment: The committee adjourned, with members expressing gratitude for their terms and future collaborative efforts, particularly regarding the R2 zoning ordinance and the BZA rules hearing scheduled for December 15th.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back. We are now going to reconvene the planning and economic development standing committee for today, Thursday, November 20th, 2025. Madam Clerk, hope you had an opportunity to grab some lunch and get a little recess. We are back. Okay. Council President Pro Tim James Tate. Here. Councilmember Fred Dernhall. Present. Councilmember Letitia Johnson. Present. We have quorum, Mr. Chair. Thank you, man. We have quorum, which means we're now in session. We pretty much cleared the agenda minus uh all of the DCFC items as well as line item 8.1, which we brought back at the end of the agenda. We're going to ask uh for motion to discuss, please. Line item 8.1. So move. Thank you, sir. All right. I see Mr. Mahoney there. Uh, thank you for being here. You can please introduce yourself for the record. Good afternoon. Keegan Mahoney, housing and revitalization. Thank you, sir. Um, this item, line item 8.1. I kind of brought back a couple of times and may have been some lost uh translation. I'll take responsibility for that. My apologies. But was trying to find out um, you know, proof of performance. Like, what does this show us how the uh this this service actually has provided us uh a benefit in the city of Detroit? And that's where I'm I'm trying to draw a conclusion. I I don't see it just yet. Not saying that it doesn't, but I'm I'm looking for that response, please. Sure, absolutely. Thanks for the opportunity to discuss. Um, so it's uh within the the DNA of the housing and revitalization department to make sure that we are data driven in our recommendations and decisions around housing investments. A lot of funding uh is invested through HRD into various housing programs and services, and it's important that that's done so in a data-driven way. Uh, in addition, our team often is called upon to provide housing data to other city departments, uh, to uh city council and to community partners. Uh and uh in order to do that, we often need to draw on a wide variety of data sets uh that are uh some of them are spread across city government on our open data portal in our VSA system and through a number of other city data platforms. We also pull a lot of federal data from the census, uh, from the Postal Service uh and from um uh data regarding uh mortgage lending and mortgage denials uh and other uh public data sets. And importantly, we have a lot of data around uh program performance within HRD. Uh how much and where are home repair investments happening, uh, how much and where are dollars being invested into multifamily uh rental housing? And so a lot of evaluation and analysis is always uh required of our departments. Um, as you can imagine, knowing how to access and manage data from all of those different sources is quite difficult and and time consuming. And it takes a lot of technical expertise uh to incorporate that data into GIS software and other other complex software platforms. So, what this service does is it taps into all of those data sources and has a very uh easy user-friendly uh sets of layers that can be turned on and turned off so we can answer key questions about how our neighborhood uh housing values changing as a result of persistent investment in home repair, or you know, how are we seeing uh neighborhoods change as the result of a concentration of new multifamily housing developments and uh a wide variety of other types of analysis that can be done.

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