The Detroit City Council voted to table the proposal to sell John Hantz roughly 140 acres of land on Detroit’s east side.
Hantz has proposed converting the acreage into hardwood tree farm. The plan has been controversial. Some grassroots urban agriculture groups have opposed the Hantz Farm concept as an agri-business intrusion into what has largely been a community-based movement. Hantz supporters have argued the project would move city-owned vacant land into private hands and generate tax revenue.
Today’s Council meeting was the body’s last regularly scheduled session in 2012. However, Council plans to organize a public hearing with the City Planning Commission and bring the Hantz proposal back to a vote at a special Council session on December 11.
