In 2023, Carlisle | Wortman Associates (CWA) evaluated the City of Ann Arbor’s Downtown Zoning with a specific focus on premiums, which had allowed additional building height.

The City’s zoning ordinance offered additional square footage above and beyond the maximum allowed in the downtown D1 and D2 zoning districts if affordable housing, green building, historic preservation, pedestrian amenities, and/or public parking were provided. CWA evaluated the Downtown Premium Goals and City Plan/Policies, the timeline of policy changes, the Downtown project approvals from 2002 to 2022, market data, researched best practices in eighteen (18) different cities, and conducted interviews with City staff as well as non-profit and for-profit developers. 

The evaluation concluded that the premiums the City was offering were not effective in advancing the adopted and established goals of the City. CWA staff worked with City staff, the Planning Commission and City Council to eliminate the premiums option in the D1 and D2 zoning districts.