Ann Arbor, Mich. is moving ahead with a project that residents and environmental advocates have pushed for more than a decade: converting a flood-prone, city-owned lot on North Main Street into a stormwater park that would also connect downtown to the Huron River trail system.

The site at 721 N. Main Street is a former city maintenance yard sitting squarely in the Allen Creek floodway, one of the most flood-prone stretches in the city. Allen Creek, buried in a culvert beneath downtown, has caused flooding problems for over a century. The city has studied green infrastructure solutions for the floodplain since at least 2007, and a 2013 task force convened under then-Mayor John Hieftje specifically called out the 721 N. Main parcel as a priority for a stormwater park and trail connector. The project then spent years in planning and funding cycles with little visible progress, frustrating advocates who tracked it closely.

Ann Arbor experienced significant flooding in both 2021 and 2023, amid a documented increase in intense precipitation events across Southeast Michigan. That renewed urgency has aligned with the city's A2ZERO climate plan, adopted in 2020, which commits Ann Arbor to carbon neutrality by 2030 and emphasizes green infrastructure over traditional pipes-and-tanks approaches.

The planned park would handle stormwater detention on what is now an impervious lot, reducing runoff into the Allen Creek system. It would also add trail connections linking downtown to the Border-to-Border Trail along the Huron River and potentially to the planned Allen Creek Greenway corridor. The city has previously secured a Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant to support the project.

The city is now seeking design engineering services to move the site from concept to construction-ready plans. Construction funding and a timeline for breaking ground have not been announced, leaving the question of whether Ann Arbor's long-standing plans for the North Main corridor will finally result in something built.