Detroit planning director outlines youth-focused Plan Detroit update as council moves PDD budget to executive session

Alexa Bush, director of the city's Planning and Development Department, told the City Council Committee of the Whole that the department will prioritize youth engagement, neighborhood framework plans and a retail-focused economic strategy as it advances the Plan Detroit master-plan update.

"We are very excited to work with you," Bush said. "We are a small but mighty team of about 40 FTEs." She told the council PDD's budget is "just shy of $7,000,000" and said most of that funding is for staff capacity, training and software licenses such as AutoCAD and Adobe.

Bush said PDD will expand youth participation in planning through programs the department has piloted, including a master-plan youth summit and neighborhood work in District 7 (the Cody Rouge/Warrendale area). She said the department plans district-by-district public release of draft land-use maps next month and aims for a complete draft of Plan Detroit this summer that would then move through state regulatory steps toward final approval.

"We're looking to expand and touch more neighborhoods with our framework plans and continue to do that over the next four years," Bush said, describing ongoing initiatives that include a citywide historic-preservation plan, targeted neighborhood framework studies (Denby Whittier and Forest Parks), and economic tools to support housing, retail and infrastructure investments.

Bush reported PDD's recent engagement activity: more than 135 public meetings and outreach events, nearly 600 applications for district review last year and more than 150 design reviews coordinated with other departments. She also noted PDD has managed more than 17 tier-1 community benefits ordinance (CBO) processes since the ordinance launched, including work on the DCFC Stadium.

After the presentation the council agreed to move further detailed discussion of the PDD budget into executive session. A council member (recorded in the transcript as the speaker who said "Motion") moved to place the entire planning and development budget into executive session; the chair announced, "Seeing no objections, that action shall be taken." The chair said the department would be allowed to present its slides and closing remarks before that session.

Several council members then made additional motions to add items to the closing resolution or executive session for follow-up. Member Callaway moved to place plans for Bethune School and Coffee School (both in District 2) into the executive session and to add an item to the closing resolution regarding possibilities to repurpose those buildings; the chair accepted the motion and directed a follow-up memo. Callaway also moved to ask staff to explore establishing an indoor/outdoor family-fun space tied to the youth-engagement work; that motion was approved. Member McCampbell successfully moved to add a focus on youth and senior recreation and literacy in District 7 to the closing resolution. Member Miller asked that provisions and protections for historic districts be added for consideration; that was also accepted.

The council recessed and scheduled the afternoon session to reconvene at 2 p.m. for the remainder of budget hearings.