The Ann Arbor City Council is set to vote tonight on an ordinance that if passed, would ban upholstered furniture from porches across the city.

The proposed ordinance, which is being formally opposed by the Michigan Student Assembly Executive Board, was re-hashed in response to a deadly house fire near campus last April that authorities believe started with an outdoor porch sofa catching fire. The fire — which occurred at a rental house on South State St. — killed one tenant, an Eastern Michigan University student, and sent two others to the hospital.

City Council approved a first reading of the ordinance at its Aug. 6 meeting.

According to Council member Christopher Taylor (D–Ward 3), who backed the ordinance, the council decided to vote on the resolution tonight so that students would get the chance to voice their concerns. Taylor said the council normally votes on resolutions at the council meeting immediately following the first reading.

“The (postponement) allows students to have a say,” Taylor said in an interview yesterday.

But despite City Council’s decision to postpone voting, MSA vice president Jason Raymond said council members haven’t done enough to get student input on the resolution.

“We’re disappointed that City Council never reached out to the University community to really collaborate on this issue,” Raymond said.

Raymond added that though the assembly supports fire prevention measures, they are disappointed that the council considered the ordinance over the summer and did not attempt to get students involved in the process.

“When the City Council tries to impose itself on these issues without talking to all parties involved, then you run into problems of communication,” he said.

Though Taylor said he didn’t think City Council targeted student groups for input on the ordinance, he argued that such a measure was not necessary.

“It is an ordinance which … is not exclusively related to students,” Taylor said.

Taylor added that public conversations about the ordinance have been happening as far back as last April, when a local resident urged City Council to consider banning upholstered porch furniture in light of the on-campus blaze.

Despite opposing the ordinance, Raymond said the assembly is prepared to work with City Council to discuss more comprehensive fire prevention measures in the future.

City Council took up a similar resolution in April 2004 that would have banned upholstered furniture on porches, noting that it could impede residents’ ability to get out of the house in case of a fire.

In August 2004, City Council postponed the resolution indefinitely.