The Water Street Redevelopment Area has been identified as the Ypsilanti City Council’s top priority for 2026 with a 95% consensus among council members. Now, city officials are working with residents to establish an ad hoc citizens committee to help make decisions for its redevelopment.
At a special council meeting Jan. 22, 2026, Morgan Milner, an organizational behavior expert and professor of management at Eastern Michigan University, presented the results of a City Council budget prioritization session he facilitated during the Jan. 20 City Council meeting, with Water Street ranked at the top of the list.
The priority declaration was followed by a community meeting Jan. 28 to discuss the next steps for the development and the formation of a Water Street ad hoc citizens committee. Council Chambers was filled during the meeting with approximately 60 attendees.
The meeting room saw residents eager to show their interest in the ad hoc committee, many with strong convictions of what should and should not happen with the Water Street area.
Water Street history
First purchased by the city in 1999, the Water Street Redevelopment Area is a 32-acre site east of downtown Ypsilanti, situated between Michigan Avenue and the Huron River.
The city’s original hope for the area was to increase Ypsilanti’s tax revenue and improve its overall image. Redevelopment plans have been persisting unsuccessfully since then.
Water Street is considered a brownfield, which has complicated the redevelopment process. A brownfield is an area of land that has been contaminated from prior industrial and commercial use. The contamination of Water Street has been a concern for the community, with three resident speakers questioning the city’s plans to effectively clean the brownfield area before redevelopment at the Jan. 28 meeting.
In spring 2025, the City of Ypsilanti held three community engagement sessions regarding the state of Water Street and its future, followed by four focus groups in the fall to gather community feedback. During the focus groups, the city took notes of the community’s hopes, fears, wants and needs concerning the Water Street Redevelopment Area.
Now, the City of Ypsilanti has applied for a United States Environmental Protection Agency Cleanup Grant, requesting $1,890,350 to complete Polychlorinated Biphenyl, or PCB, cleanup efforts for Water Street. If awarded, the USEPA Cleanup Grant would fund the final PCB cleanup needed for Water Street, which is set to begin in summer 2026.
Ad hoc committee
The City of Ypsilanti is working to create an ad hoc citizens committee to assist in drafting a Request for Qualifications to identify a developer for the site.
The ad hoc committee will be made up of three city council members, six to eight city residents, and up to two non-residents with relevant expertise.
After six committee meetings, the RFQ is planned for release in August 2026. After its release, the committee will recommend developers to City Council and work with them to create a Community Benefits Agreement with Developers.
During the Jan. 28 meeting, Ward 3 City Councilor Amber Fellows explained the purpose of the committee and encouraged residents to participate.
“This is a significant intervention to traditional developments,” Fellows said. “Instead of just having developers give us their pitch and then we try to change it from antagonism in the community, instead we’re coming together to do collective visioning.”
At the Jan. 28 meeting, there was confusion between attendees and city officials surrounding whether a straw poll would be conducted to nominate residents to the committee.
An unofficial vote was taken at the end of the meeting, when attendees raised their hands to show support for 11 residents intending to apply. Fellows said that the nominations will be considered by City Council when they select applicants for the committee. The city is still accepting online applications for those who did not attend the meeting.
Community feedback
A common concern among the community meeting's attendees involved the relocation of unhoused individuals residing in the Water Street area before developing the land.
Brian Geiringer, a 10-year Ypsilanti resident and previous campaign manager for Councilor Amber Fellows, pointed to a sign in the back of the room that read, “Your development is our displacement,” referring to unhoused individuals living in the area.
“No matter what happens here, that [displacement] has to be front of mind, because we’re talking about people’s lives,” Geiringer said.
Another resident, Elka Chamberlain, voiced her concerns about the extent of community involvement in the ad hoc committee and the overall development of Water Street.
“My biggest concern … is to make sure that people that live in this community are involved,” Chamberlain said. “What kind of apprenticeships might be available for people so that we can put people to work?”
Nathan Phillips, originally from Omaha, Nebraska, has lived in Ypsilanti for the last few decades. He recounted to the community his experiences with homelessness, financial hardship and loss. As a Native American, Phillips feels strongly about using the land respectfully.
“I want to see something right for that land,” Phillips said. “I owe the spirits that are in that land a debt of gratitude because they comforted me when I needed it. I do believe that whatever happens there, there should be a recognition of the indigenous people that were here.”
Several attendees mentioned the area’s contamination and doubted its safety for future use, with one resident, Lee Tooson, recalling his work on Water Street several decades ago.
“70 years [I’ve lived] in Ypsi, I worked at various places on Water Street … the old convertible factory,” Tooson said. “What did we do with all the solvent we cleaned the metal with? We poured it in the ground.”
Next steps
Applications are currently open on the City of Ypsilanti’s website for residents to apply for the Water Street ad hoc citizens committee. The committee will be approved by City Council during its Feb. 17, 2026, meeting.
A Water Street community engagement survey can also be found on the city’s website. Residents can complete the survey to share their hopes and fears for the space.
Ypsilanti’s Community, Economic Development and Equity Manager Katie Jones said she was encouraged by the amount of people who showed up to the community meeting and hopes that the diversity of their voices will be represented in the development moving forward.
